From the beginning the Columbans have worked in partnership with local churches, with associate priests from various dioceses and most recently with lay missionaries. The CLMP began through the efforts of lay people themselves who wanted to share in the Columban mission. In 1989 the first teams of lay missionaries were sent from the Philippines to Pakistan and from Korea to the Philippines.
Today there are over seventy lay missionaries working in eleven countries.
The CLMP is primarily for people whose faith calls them to share in the lives of the poor and those on the margins of society. Lay missionaries use their skills in helping to bring about justice and equality but the primary emphasis is on a deep faith, openness to unfamiliar ways of working and a willingness to cross boundaries of language and culture. The CLMP sends and receives lay missionaries from the countries where it is working. So far, lay missionaries have been sent from Ireland to Chile, Peru, Korea and the Philippines. Ireland has received lay missionaries from Fiji and the Philippines.