CMS needs to see the world with God's eyes, not just the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's, said outgoing General Secretary Rev John Bales in his address at Saturday's opening session of 2011's CMS Summer School.

"Every year, we send medical elective students to Murgwanza [Tanzania]. But if you go to the DFAT website, it says, don't go to Murgwanza, it's too dangerous.  Where do we turn for the criteria for sending people around the world? We must turn to God's word.

"In human terms, we would never send people to Afghanistan, or Pakistan or India or Bangladesh: all of those places are too hard.  Yet we must continue to do that, because we must view the world from a gospel perspective.'

Reflecting on 1 Peter 1, he was also emphatic that CMS remain an "evangelical', gospel-centred society.

"The preaching of the gospel is at the heart of all that we do,' he said.

"We must be committed to a gospel that changes people. It doesn't matter how religious or unreligious people might be. It doesn't matter if they're Muslim or Hindu or Sikh or Christian, Catholic or Orthodox or Anglican or any other background.  Each of us needs to be born again and be converted.

"There's got to be a gospel heart in each and every one of our missionaries,' he said.

Pointing out that Peter wrote letters not primarily to individuals but churches, he emphasised CMS's commitment to church-based ministry.

"We don't send people as lone rangers, but in partnership with other churches " here and overseas,' he said.

Mr Bales' address concludes his five years service as General Secretary for CMS-NSW & ACT.

He has seen CMS grow more flexible in how and where it's placed missionaries, is "thrilled' about the significant growth in support from the Canberra-Goulburn region, and is excited about CMS's unique and growing contribution to ministry with Muslims.

Many of CMS's future challenges are financial, he said.

While he is strongly committed to CMS's distinctive pooled support structure, where funds are shared among all the missionaries, he fears that it is increasingly difficult to maintain under financial pressure.

"As missionaries increase, we need to increase our support base,' he said.

Stronger connections with regional NSW and ACT dioceses are part of this, but he hopes that CMS will be increasingly supported by non-Anglican churches as well.

Currently, half of CMS's missionaries work in non-Anglican contexts.

With his wife Jan, he will begin serving in parish ministry in Greenacre, south-western Sydney in mid-February.

Malcolm Richards, who with his wife Elizabeth has recently returned from the DR Congo, steps in as new General Secretary in May.