this year is the 200th anniversary of the banning of the slave trade in british law. expect lots of activity, celebration and campaigning this year. it has a special connection for CMS, as william wilberforce was one of the founders of CMS and the MP who drew up the parliamentary bill. (as an aside there is a really interesting chapter in the spider and the starfish on the abolition of slavery and how the quaker network enabled a series of starfish campaigning groups to be catalysed – well worth a read).

the current CMS magazine focuses on the issue of slavery – the sad irony of course is that there are more slaves in the world today than 200 years ago. you can download a copy from the yes magazine page. gareth (of moot) did the design.

it’s always good to hear a story that’s good news and this story from bangladesh shows the church in mission bringing good news to women in bangladesh helping prevent trafficking.

the youth team at cms are embarked on a huge cathedral tour free for all that’s probably coming to a city near you. if you know youthworkers and schools in those areas make sure you get them to get involved.

am off to northern ireland tomorrow and am looking forward to meeting people at the soliton sessions. will be good to catch up with si and hear the latest developments in protest4 too…