i don't normally blog news of bishop appointments but today is an exception. tim dakin who has been the leader of cms (community leader and executive director) for the 9 years i have worked with cms has been announced today as the new bishop of winchester which means a time of change for cms.

tim has overseen extraordinary change in cms over a ten year period and been a brilliant strategist. i'll mention two of the key changes. one has been helping cms let go of british governance to shift towards being a networked family of mission agencies around the world. cms africa is now self governed and asia and south america are on their way. this sets cms up for mission in a post colonial world. another has been the shift to being a mission community – an acknowledged community of the church of england. i have blogged about this before but whilst it's a recognition of what cms is it is also a huge change and repositioning of cms. the constitution of this community is really the key document that shapes the vision for cms' future.

he has also been an amazing mission theologian, reading an incredible amount of books and passing them on – puzzling out what mission in today's global context means, drawing on the riches of the mission tradition of cms to refound her.

anyway congratulations to tim! and it's great to see key roles in the church of england filled by people who are passionate about mission.