All unattributed photos are either owned by Pioneers or free for public use. The following photos were taken from unsplash.com: 3 - Mads Schmidt Rasmussen; 4 - Gonzalo Petroviejo Gomez; 6 - Micah McKerlich; 7 - Warren; 10 - Vishnu Kalanad; 11 - Annie Spratt; 12 -Joshua Tsu; 13 - Ian Macharia; 17 - Oleksandr; 18Jamie Davies. The cover image was designed by Dan Wilton.
am I.
The mission world is changing ever more rapidly, and exciting things are happening as the Lord is calling and equipping men and women from all over the world to serve cross-culturally. With 17 sending gateways scattered across 6 continents, we’re well-placed to join God in this work. (No gateways in Antarctica just yet!)
Each of those 17 gateways is manned by people who are called to send - mobilisers, accountants, communicators, visionaries, counsellors, administrators and more. In this edition of Reach, we’re celebrating this international family of Senders - those faithful behind-the-scenes brothers and sisters who help the Goers get from Point A to Point B.
We’ll go on a tour around the world, from Brazil to Singapore to Australia, celebrating what God is doing, learning about the challenges of sending from various places and getting to know our Pioneers Senders. We’ll also celebrate a landmark event in the history of Pioneers’ mission in the UK - the legal and formal merge of sister offices Pioneers UK and AWMPioneers. Check out Pioneering Together for God’s Glory on pages 8-11 to find out more. You can also read our formal announcement and access our Merge FAQs at www.pioneersuk.org/announcement.
Our world is changing, the mission world is changing, and Pioneers UK is changing too - but we can face the changes with confidence and joy because Jesus never changes and his call to reach the nations remains unchanged. What a joy to follow that call and walk that road alongside our Pioneers family, and alongide you!
Happy travels!
BY STEPHEN, DIRECTOR
As part of our last edition of Reach, which told the story of our Mission’s 120-year history, I shared some thoughts on the theme Undimmed and Undiminished, wrapped around the life of Moses, who was 120-years-old when the Lord took him up Mount Nebo to behold the Promised Land and then to die.
If Moses was undiminished at 120 years when the Lord laid him to rest, then I reckon Joshua - in the new season of God’s purposes - needed Godly encouragement to be undeterred (“persevering with something despite setbacks”) and undaunted (“not intimidated or discouraged by difficulty, danger, or disappointment”)!
Joshua’s book opens with the statement of Moses’ absence from the scene. Verse 2 records the Lord re-stating that fact to Joshua: “Moses my servant is dead ….” I reckon Joshua was all too aware of this deterring reality – especially when the Lord immediately followed up with, “Now then, you …” and promptly lays out the incredibly daunting undertaking ahead!
In my teenage years in London, I was part of the national Christian youth movement, Covenanters. More than 40 years on, I clearly recall the ‘Covenanter song’:
Be thou strong and very courageous, for I have commanded thee.
Be not afraid, be not dismayed; thou shalt have victory.
I will be with thee whate’er betide; Captain and Leader, Friend and Guide.
[I’m singing it as I write!]
Three times over, Joshua is commanded to be ‘strong and courageous’. Once, he is called to be ‘strong and very courageous’! God calls Joshua to the divine purpose and affirms that he, God, is the one sovereignly behind it all, and covenants himself to be with him. All Joshua needs to do as he leads God’s people in this divinely ordained purpose is to take strong care to live and lead as one inspired by God’s Word.
I can’t help but reflect that leading and living from God’s Word still requires courage from leaders and people. And, surely, courage includes choosing to righteously risk … even when there is known difficulty or danger in doing so.
As we move into a decidedly new season as a merged Mission, we continue to covenant ourselves, undeterred and undaunted, with the Lord who, we deeply believe, is sovereignly behind the many changes we have undergone and the changes we will yet undergo. More about the changes is spelled out in the article Pioneering Together for God’s Glory on pages 8-11, but suffice it to say here that walking through them, and helping lead the Mission through them, has required steadfast dependence on God and his Word - particularly his command to be strong and courageous ... undaunted and undeterred.
The reward for being undaunted and undeterred under his sovereign guidance? He will be with us whate’er betide; Captain, Leader, Friend and Guide. We could ask no more. ~
BY CHRIS, CHURCH DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR
Jack* was appointed as the first director of a new Pioneers office in Egypt in November 2020. The vision of this mobilising office is to empower gospel-driven, Arabic-speaking followers of Jesus to disciple others; initiating church-planting movements among the unreached.
Egypt has great potential to take the gospel to other Arabic-speaking countries and the Arab diaspora, due to having the largest
population of Christian Arabic speakers. However, since Islam arrived, there ‘have been difficult times, churches have looked inwards, and built walls as both defensive mechanisms and as something to hide behind. As a result, a bunker mentality has developed, and with it a lot of fear. And so the idea of the Great Commission has essentially disappeared,’ as Mark*, one of the team, put it.
I’ll let Jack take up the story…
‘When I started, I started to seek God for the call; What do you want me to do?’
‘God had to show me first the need – the responsibility that I have. I began to understand that there are more than 400 million unreached Arabic speakers and they need the gospel. Egypt alone has a population of more than 100 million, and 25-30% of the Arabic-speaking Muslims in the Middle East live in Egypt! Sixty per cent of the Christian Arabic speakers in the Middle East also live in Egypt, so it became very clear to me that this is the hub; this is the place for investment in and development of Christians so that they can go outside their churches to reach the unreached. But currently, as I see it, the Church in Egypt is neither equipped nor mobilised to work among Muslims. Persecution has not only silenced the Church, it means we don’t talk to each other. The responsibility is so big. I came to understand that it’s not a matter of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, it’s millions of people that are in need of the gospel. God had to show me the need as well as the size of the need.’
Over the last few years, the team has grown, and Jack says, ‘There has been a lot of prayer for sure. We always have a clear criteria about the people we want to hire, and sometimes we have had to wait a long time for some people in key positions. … We are expecting more and more people to come in different roles because our ministry is growing and our training team is growing…’
But there is another part – and this is where we come in! Jack says, ‘This is unity. If we have the right team and understand the need, we also need to be united to the global Church because they have a lot of experience and resources; we are one body of Christ. We all have this ownership of making this change in the Middle East.’
‘This new mobilisation office is seeking to mobilise the Egyptian Church to serve in the harvest. Join with us as we strive to awaken the Church to the need for the Great Commission and instil a passion to reach those who do not yet know Christ with the gospel.’
As we finished our conversation, I asked Jack how we could pray for him and for the team. His immediate response was this, ‘The biggest need for prayer is always unity. I believe whatever we can do, if we’re not protected in our unity and in our spirit and we’re not aligned as a team this will be the beginning of failure. I really pray every day for this unity, for protection in our relationships, in our holiness, in our integrity, in our support and commitment to each other and how we can be serving and watching each other, like Christ modelled for us. Please pray for unity for the team and for wisdom for me in leading this team.’
‘The second thing was capacity – how can we reach 400 million people? It’s impossible! How could we grow our capacity – and fast? There are three areas of capacity; there is the organisation’s capacity; then the team’s capacity, and then thirdly the enabling environment for the team to work and grow. So we started to think how Pioneers could have the right tools, the right set up, to impact many, many people. God was very clear that we had to find the right talent with the skills, the passion and the heart to make a real effective impact in different ways.’ *Names changed to protect identities.
Amanda: Hi, Adam! Thanks for sitting down with me today. Can you tell me a little about Pioneers Canada?
Adam: Sure! In 1981 there was a couple here in Canada, Charlie and Judy White, who started an organisation called World Outreach Fellowship. World Outreach Fellowship was largely focused on helping churches send younger people on short term trips, mostly to South America. In 1994, World Outreach Fellowship partnered with Pioneers USA and became Pioneers Canada. We now have about 20 staff members, some parttime, some full-time. We’re currently supporting about 90 people, either on the mission field or preparing to go.
Amanda: What is mobilisation in Canada like? Do you have lots of people interested in serving the Lord cross-culturally?
things really slowed down. But lately we’ve seen an upswing in the number of people reaching out to us, which has been awesome. We’ve had more people enquiring about mission in the last two years than we had in the previous three or four before that. God has us in a season of looking to the future –what can we do to grow, both now and in the future?
Amanda: What do you think might be some challenges to that desire to grow?
Adam: In Canada, there’s recently been a push – culturally, socially – against trying to influence someone toward a belief or conviction they don’t already hold. So when it comes to missions and the Church, people have questions: Should we even be doing missions? Is this something we should still be about? And, biblically, we would say, absolutely, that’s the mandate of the Church. But our social conversations are having an impact on the way we live out our Christianity, and that is a definite challenge.
Another challenge is that recently it’s felt like the Church is losing its focus on discipleship, and that affects the people who come to us. We’re seeing younger people with a desire to help others, wanting to follow Jesus, but not having been discipled in what it looks like to take what Scripture says and live that out constantly in their daily life. That discipleship and nurturingto-maturity needs to happen within the body of Christ, and it seems like the Church is losing its view of discipleship.
Adam: Just before Covid, we started seeing a drop in numbers of people getting in touch with us. When Covid happened,
So we’ve wrestled with our place in that. If we want missionaries to be sent, and if some people still have a desire for mission but they haven’t been discipled, what’s the role of a missions organisation? We’re developing ways to encourage people back to their churches, not to slow them down on their journey, but to see them sure and prepared. We really want to encourage the churches to step into that role, because there’s a formative role the church has to play in people’s lives long before they would ever get to the point of talking to a mission organisation.
Amanda: Those challenges sound all too familiar! But it sounds like the Lord is guiding you toward some solutions too. What’s happening at Pioneers Canada that excites you?
Adam: Right now, we’re thinking through the idea of reaching out more to the diaspora community and diaspora churches in Canada. The cross-section of our current candidates is pretty culturally diverse, and maybe that’s just a reflection of Canadian culture as the demographic makeup of Canada shifts. But because of that shift, we’ve got more and more people from different cultural backgrounds reaching out to us.
There are some areas we’d love to grow in, like developing relationships with the Indigenous churches in Canada. What would it look like to have engagement there? If we could help send Indigenous believers to Tibetans, Mongolians – people from nomadic cultural backgrounds—they’d have an amazing connection there.
Another exciting thing is that God has started moving in some unexpected places. Back when I was serving on the field, I heard stories about the church in the early 90s in Mongolia, at the end of Communism. People who had been there said it didn’t matter what they did – they could pull any crazy idea to get
the gospel to people, and it worked! God was doing something and opening the doors. It was a time where he was growing his church in Mongolia and they could do any crazy evangelistic thing they wanted to, and people would just flock to the gospel.
Fast forward to now: we have a Canadian couple on the field in the Middle East. They’ve been there for years and years and haven’t seen any fruit. Now, they say, something is changing. God is doing something different. There are suddenly people coming to faith and it’s awesome. It's not quite to the Mongolian level, but God is moving. They’re thanking God that they are getting to watch this, that they’re getting to see the fruit of so many years of labour.
Amanda: Wow, that’s really exciting! Finally, what are some ways that we can pray for Pioneers Canada?
Adam: As a senior leadership team, we’ve just walked through a process of clarifying our vision and purpose. We’ve asked ourselves, specifically, why does Pioneers Canada exist? The answer is simple: we want to see the Canadian Church more deeply engaged in the Great Commission, to the end that there are fewer unreached people groups.
We’ve plotted out what activities we need to be involved in in order to realise that vision. So pray that we would know our place, to know how God wants us to continue to serve His Church in Canada, to be continually engaged in the commission that He gave us. Pray that God will give us wisdom for how to do what we’re doing and that we would be faithful in our daily tasks and do them to best of our ability. Ultimately, please pray that God would raise up more workers from the Canadian Church. Thank Him for bringing us the workers we have and pray we would have a steadfast dependence on Him to build His Church. ~
Learn more about Pioneers Canada at www.pioneers.ca
“The history of His wonders in the past is a constant succession of new things and He is not at the end of His resources yet.” Lilias Trotter, pioneer to North Africa
From Philippe N, Communications Director of AWM-Pioneers
This is a landmark year in the history of the Mission, as Pioneers UK and AWMPioneers formally and legally joined together for the sake of the gospel.
Our two Missions have partnered together as sister organisations since 2011, when AWM in the UK also joined the Pioneers International missions movement. However, a fresh momentum arose in the summer of 2020 when both organisations’ directors felt a stirring from the Lord as they prayed and discussed the future of their respective organisations.The vision to pursue full integration – a merger of two equals – followed a season of 40 days of prayer across the Pioneers movement.
Fast-forward four years and the two historic Missions have now been brought together to make Christ known among the nations. At our summer conference in Shropshire, there was a special sense of fellowship as our two staff teams worked together to serve mission workers sent out and cared for by both offices. Four days of worship, Bible teaching, seminars, fun and laughter provided an ideal environment to strengthen friendships and make new connections. It was a time set apart to celebrate God and recognise the ongoing call to pioneer together among the unreached, while honouring the unique stories and experiences of decades of faithful service in the Arab world, Africa and among unreached people groups across the world.
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:18-19
In the summer of 2020, Stephen and I sensed a great leading of the Lord as the respective UK directors at the time to pursue a closer union and joining together for the UK.
As we walked and talked very openly together, we sensed something of a re-imagining, a re-purposing of our strategic direction as organisations. We sensed a collective desire to pursue a joining together so that we could more fully mobilise ministry among Arab peoples, African peoples and unreached peoples globally by becoming one Pioneers base in the UK.
As we discussed with the Chairs of Trustees for each board at the time, Rev Ian Farley (Chair of AWMPioneers’ board) and Dr Julie Hickson (Chair
From Phil E,
Director of AWM-Pioneers
of Pioneers UK’s board), we wondered what might be possible in our serving of God’s global plans for His Kingdom mission. We were keen to continue to serve the UK Church and His global body well in this pursuit.
In the run up to this time, the Lord had very much laid Isaiah 43:18-19 on my heart. As well as opening the door for the start of my service as director, I sensed that this Bible reference was something of this Horizon Vision that was upon us and the spiritual fruit that God would bring about as we pursued His vision. Our God is eternal and as He calls us into new things, He still reminds us that He cares deeply about our pasts and our histories. Indeed, we are reminded of God’s faithfulness to the people of God earlier in Isaiah 43. This is the God we can trust.
Even if His plans are hard to understand or discern, He asks us to trust Him. He speaks into our context today, in this season of life and ministry and says: ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing.’
Jesus said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Luke 5:4-5
From Stephen C, Director of Pioneers UK
Everywhere I turned in the summer of 2020, it seemed that the Lord was saying the same thing over and over.
A fellow mission director shared a paper on “Collaboration between mission agencies”; a webinar speaker talked of “pivoting”, asserting that “if you want the new, you have to start fresh”; I had an unbidden memory of a friend’s reference to the “two boats” of Luke 5:1-11 as a picture of partnership in the gospel and was prayerfully stirred to dig into the passage!
Jesus had asked Simon to put out into deep water (again) and throw out the nets (again) for a catch. Throwing the nets out at this time of the day was nonsensical, humanly ill-advised, a waste of further effort and resources ... but they did it anyway. Why? Simply because Jesus said so.
By heeding Jesus’ invitation, Simon and crew ended up catching such a huge number of fish that the nets began to break! Without having to think about it, they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help. Thank God, the partners came and they ended up filling both boats so full that they were both overwhelmed!
Luke chooses koinonoi when he refers to Simon’s partners in the other boat (v.10) – sharers, companions, partners. It’s a term which speaks of someone who stands side by side with you. Shoulder to shoulder, mind to mind, heart to heart. I sensed God speaking very clearly to me: it is time to merge.
I wrote in my journal at that special season of prayer: I believe the expression of this togetherness between Pioneers UK and AWM-Pioneers is of a different kind to the togetherness that should exist generally between evangelical mission agencies in the UK. Something more is required here. We need to go deeper and further than mere ‘collaboration’. We are, together, Pioneers-in-the-UK. Can we somehow come together in a fellowship which is maybe better defined as a ‘marriage’ of two equals who are joined together and become in effect ‘one flesh’, “so that they are no longer two but one”.…?
Four years have passed since I asked myself that question and I dare believe that God’s resounding answer has been, “Yes! Call your partners in the other boat. Bring in the catch together, with my strength and to my glory.”
From Amanda
A,
Communications Manager of Pioneers
UK Gardeners often express different opinions about what elements make for a good garden, but most will agree that a good garden takes both patience and time! We have certainly learned patience over the last decade, but we are very pleased that after more than 10 years of persevering, talking and, most of all, praying, the Lord’s timing has finally arrived. On 1 July 2024, AWM-Pioneers and Pioneers UK were legally merged.
Our two staff teams have been working together this year as a unified team in preparation for being legally merged. Now that this milestone is behind us, we are hard at work trying to refine our operational processes, systems, internal communication practices, and our working relationships with one another to reflect this new merged reality. It’s a complex process, but it is a privilege to witness God’s goodness in bringing us together – and we anticipate that the process will carry on for some time yet.
So, what’s different and what will stay the same?
Members on the field won’t notice much of a difference! Finances will still be administered, ministry projects will still be funded and supported, and field structure will stay the same. Members will benefit from a combined member care team, meaning even more support available from the sending office.
The personnel from both offices has stayed the same, albeit with some shifting and fine-tuning of roles and responsibilities.
We are committed to continuing our historic Missions’ emphases on both Africa and the Arab World. We will continue to mobilise and train people for Arab World ministry and will continue to pursue special partnerships with African and Afro-Diaspora churches and organisations to help mobilise Global South Christians for ministry in the UK and around the world. Alongside this, our passion and ability to mobilise to the whole world will continue to grow to match our increased capacity.
One of the main differences we appreciate every day is that our staff team has increased in number. We are now 42 (part-time as well as full-time), making us one of the largest staff teams in the Pioneers movement, and one of the largest sending agencies in the UK. That comes with incredible possibility and responsibility, and we’re working hard to streamline our work to make the most of this doubled capacity.
Any gardener knows that a good garden needs time. We also need time – but with the Lord’s help, in the midst of all the changes, navigations and newness, we will continue to boldly mobilise from the UK and Ireland to Africa, the Arab world, and the whole globe. We will continue to trust Him, as we’ve always done, for much fruitfulness as we pioneer together for God’s glory. ~
BY MARK S, PIONEERS’ INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR
In the late 1980s, two Singaporeans attended a theological college in the United States. As they explored God’s call to missions, one missions agency attracted them because of two of its core values: church planting movements and team focus. Not long after, they joined a Pioneers team in northern Thailand and began fruitful ministries amongst the unreached.
Increasing numbers of Asians were expressing a desire to join the Great Commission, and it became clear to the Pioneers leadership that there was a strategic need for a mobilisation base to be established in Asia. It was logistically challenging to mobilise them from the US base, and it was also anticipated that there were numerous Pioneers workers based in Southeast Asia who would benefit from an office in Singapore.
Dave Tang and John Lee had been developing a relationship with a number of Pioneers workers and leaders who often travelled through Singapore. Dave recalls staying up late one night, together with the then Director, Gary Franz, and talking about possibilities of starting a base in Singapore. “It just makes
sense!” seemed to be the consensus on establishing a Pioneers mobilisation base in Asia.
In 1992, Dave and John were invited to participate in the US base’s Candidate Orientation Program in Orlando. After completing the programme, they embarked on the task of establishing a Pioneers base in Singapore. There were some delays in trying to register a new organisation in Singapore but they prayed for an open door.
God did open the door. Dave received a word of encouragement at a LoveSingapore event that sparked hope that the Pioneers base in Singapore would be a reality soon. A stranger at the same event shared with him: “Whatever you have been waiting for will come through this year.” In 1997, an NGO which was moving to Malaysia offered to transfer their registration to Dave and the base was formally registered as “Pioneers inAsia (Singapore) Ltd”, with a vision for mobilising missionaries from the whole region.
Two directors of the former organisation, Alfred Yeo and Goh Yew Kheng, decided to stay on with Pioneers inAsia as they were passionate about missions. Other people, including Michael Lum, Gabriel Ng, and Thomas John, were eventually added to form the first Board of Directors. In 1998, Pioneers inAsia sent their first missionary to the field in Thailand. Within several years, the number of Asian missionaries sent from Pioneers inAsia grew to more than 30. These missionaries were not only from Singapore, but from countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Philippines, South Korea and Brunei. It was an exciting time for Pioneers inAsia!
Over the years, other people filled the National Director’s role, each building on the work which the others had done. Consecutive Chairpeople also contributed their gifts to grow the organisation’s ability to send missionaries to the unreached. Pioneers inAsia continues to mobilise Asians from a dozen different countries to any of our Pioneers teams around the world who work amongst the least reached people groups. To better facilitate this, Pioneers inAsia is working with church partnerships in neighbouring countries to send missionaries. In 2017 and 2018, we conducted our first three Candidate Orientation Programmes outside of Singapore – in India, Japan and Indonesia, respectively.
We are expectant of great things in the coming years, fervently praying that God will raise up more workers from Asia to be sent out to share the Gospel among the least reached communities of the world. Candidates are currently in the mobilisation pipeline to serve in places such as China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Japan, Iran, North Korea, Europe, and other parts of Asia. God is indeed sending from every nation to the whole world, and Pioneers inAsia is privileged to be part of this great era of missions! ~
Pioneers supports a number of ‘emerging gateways’ around the world. In the UK, we have a special relationship with Pioneers East Africa, the sending gateway in Nairobi. Balancing their work of sending East Africans to places like East Asia, South Asia and Europe with opening new works among the unreached peoples of East Africa, the faithful team at Pioneers East Africa are working harder than ever to recruit, train and send East Africans, as God continues to call record numbers of Africans to the nations.
Learn more about Pioneers inAsia at www.pioneersinasia.org
The team are always looking for volunteer support (Find out more at www.pioneersea.org/get-involved/ watume-team), so if you have the skills they’re looking for and the time to spare, they’d love to hear from you at info@pioneersea.org! To partner with them in prayer or financially, check out www.pioneersea.org/ get-involved. Together we can help send more and more Global South Christians to the nations!
The Pioneiros office in Brasil was established in 2005, in the city of Guarujá, in the state of São Paulo. Brother Marcio Garcia was the representative of Pioneiros International in Latin America, and it was he who appointed Amauri Vação as the first director of Pioneiros Brasil.
In 2010, Pioneiros Brasil started an extension in the Northeast, in Recife, Pernambuco. Sister Verônica Farias led this extension, acting as Care Leader. Then, in 2012, with the growing development of the Northeast extension of Brasil, the leadership decided to keep the office in Recife and close its activities in São Paulo. Pioneiros currently maintains its office in Recife PE, at the eastern tip of Brasil, sending to the world from this part of Brasil.
In 2016, after 14 years in the field, Flávio Ulisses Silva and Verônica Sales Silva returned to run the Pioneiros office in Brasil. They had been sent to Bangladesh by the US office in 2002 when there was still no Pioneers office in Brasil.
Flávio's job was to build a team for the office in Brasil. Today we have a team of 36 volunteers, some of whom have raised support to work full time.
In January 2024, Flávio took up the position of Assistant International Director of Pioneers. In his place, Heloina Melo, who was already acting as assistant director, became the Brasil office director.
Today the office in Brasil serves 22 candidates and 56 missionaries on the field. In recent years we have seen an increase in the sending of missionaries by Pioneiros Brasil: in 2022 - 6 units; in 2023 - 5 units; in 2024 - 6 units so far.
In Brasil, Pioneiros is affiliated with the Association of Brasilian Cross-Cultural Missions (AMTB). One of AMTB's objectives is, together with the mission agencies, to involve the Brasilian church in cross-cultural missionary work. In one of the surveys they carried out, they outlined the main challenges to increasing the involvement of Brasilian churches in missions:
1. Among the challenges they highlighted was the lack of knowledge and missional vision - many churches still don't have a clear understanding of the importance of cross-cultural missions.
2. In Brasil, one of the toughest challenges is raising the necessary funds for the mission field. Brasil's currency is the Real, which today in relation to the Pound is around R$ 7.40 to £1. Many Brasilian sending churches, the poorest ones, are
BY CLEBER, MOBILISATION LEADER FOR PIONIEROS BRASIL
unable to support a worker on the mission field. And those who can are much more focused on their internal expenses. There is a lack of awareness of the need of people who have not yet had the opportunity to hear about the Lord Jesus. This behaviour on the part of the Brasilian Church has become a time barrier for workers to raise up partners for their projects. Today's reality is very sad because we have missionaries who are prepared and ready to go into the fields, but without financial resources or partners who are ready to walk with them.
3. And one last challenge, as pointed out by the AMTB, is in relation to Missionary Care. There are still agencies who send their missionaries without proper missionary support and care, from the moment they are sent until they arrive in a new context, as well as during their stay in the field. The result has been early returns as a response to a variety of problems such as anguish over culture shock, loneliness and family and relationship problems in the field.
“We have missionaries who are prepared and ready to go into the field, but without financial resources or partners who are ready to walk with them.”
Pioneiros Brasil, even in the midst of the difficulties it has seen in our country, has seen the Lord awaken young couples and singles for missionary work among the unreached. We have been working to involve the Church in sending the best, which implies care and support, in mobilising to awaken the Church to see its vocations and move in fulfilling the task among the unreached, and also mobilising to join forces at the Brasil base.
One of the tools the Lord has been using in Brasil to awaken new missionaries in the local church is the Perspectives Movement (perspectivasbrasil.com). Our office is well aligned with Perspectives. Some of our leadership have served as instructors in different classes. In the second semester of 2024, the Perspectives Movement had 74 classes throughout Brasil, with a total of approximately 2750 students.
One of the testimonies we can share from Perspectives was from Carol, a young woman from a small church in one of Recife's poor communities. She took part in the class here in our city in 2022. During the same period, she participated as a listener in our candidate orientation programme. When she arrived at the end of that year, she arranged a meeting and shared her experience of being called to unreached peoples, in particular to South East Asia. When she came to us, she already had the theological and missiological preparation, as well as English, so the main requirements were already there. She went through Pioneers' internal training and in the second half of 2023 she was sent to the Global Disciples training in Australia. She had the opportunity to visit a Pioneers team in Southeast Asia and see what they needed. She returned to Brasil in July this year, and is now in the process of finding financial partners for her permanent move to Southeast Asia.
As Pioneers' office in Brasil, we have some prayer requests to bring before the Lord. Among them are: our leadership, that the Lord may give us wisdom in accompanying our candidates; for more grassroots missionaries to help us in the different areas we have in the office, such as mobilisation, missionary care, courses, media and communication and intercession; for more ministerial and financial partners who can support our office; for our candidates who are in the final stretch of the process needing financial partners to follow the unreached peoples; for the Brasilian church so that it can assume its role as a sending church. ~
It's complicated (but totally worth it)!
BY SIMON, HEAD OF MOBILISATION FOR
PIONEERS EUROPE
Pioneers Europe is a unique ministry, sending missionaries from nineteen countries across the continent of Europe so far. We are a ministry of Arab World Ministries Netherlands (Stichting Pioneers) and have a rich history in Eastern Europe with significant influence over the years from Pioneers in the UK.
Today we have seventy missionaries, half of whom serve in people groups across Europe with others serving in Asia, Africa, Central America, and many in the Near East.
Europe is a diverse continent and among our staff we have native speakers of Dutch, German, French, Serbian, Malagasy, Russian and English. Each of our staff serve not only to send missionaries, but also in local ministries in the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
Pioneers Europe does not have an office building. If you ever plan to visit you should join us for our bi-annual Candidate Orientation or annual planning meeting or retreat. Those are the only occasions you will find our staff all together in one place. Otherwise we are working from our home offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Most of us got into mobilisation either on the field where we already served or after coming back home from another field. It turned out that moving all of us into one location wouldn't make sense. Even more so since most of us are still involved in some kind of ministry locally (being missionaries, that's what keeps us alive). Throughout the week we have online team meetings. Some say that's why we get along so well! There might be something to it though, because when we finally see each other in person we are genuinely happy about it.
Like any other office, Pioneers Europe is trying hard to mobilise actively through building connections with partner organisations, churches and mission Bible schools throughout the continent. But more often people find us rather than us finding them. Maybe that is because they have a pioneering spirit already! It seems those with a calling to reach the unreached know how to use Google and Pioneers somehow shows up on their search list!
Last month I was happy a visit to our partner in Finland seemingly paid off when I received an enquiry from their Bible School. "How I got to know Pioneers?" the enquirer replied to my expectant question. "Well, John Piper recommended you in a video about missions." Not the answer I expected, but it also works! We obviously benefit from the mobilisation efforts of other Pioneers offices as well.
What we can clearly observe is that God is calling people from all over Europe! In small numbers, yes, but enquirers from Spain, Italy, France, Bosnia or Finland, Germany, Romania or the Netherlands, Ukraine or Croatia are finding us regularly.
“Often discouragement creeps in... and people stay where they are.”
However enquiries from certain countries often don’t reach the formal application stage, while those from other countries mostly go through. Why?
Historically Europe has a rich Christian heritage. And although the church is on a steep decline in many former ‘Christian’ countries it is easier to answer God’s call from countries like the Netherlands, Switzerland or Germany that have well established sending structures and many well known mission agencies. People with a call can choose between many options and Pioneers Europe has good partnerships with established organisations that are willing to send people to Pioneers teams.
Whereas in many eastern or southern European countries where either Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, atheism or Islam are prevalent the evangelical church is young and small. Often not even one viable sending option exists for those who are called to go. And a church that struggles to pay their pastor will struggle even more to support a missionary. We see that often discouragement creeps in within the process and people stay where they are.
But things are moving quickly these days and new options arise constantly. Most likely because someone somewhere prayed for it. Just this year we appointed a Roma Lady from Bosnia. A huge answer to prayer, given that a local pastor guessed the number of professing Christians is around 600 in the entire country. On the same candidate orientation she attended, we rejoiced that a young lady from Albania also joined Pioneers.
To be fair, these people greatly benefit from their relationships to western churches. They can go because the church in the west steps in and pays for them. It is certainly well-invested money but we pray that even that might soon change and churches in Croatia, Portugal, Hungary or Poland will be able to fully fund their own missionaries even though they are in desperate need of missionaries themselves.
Again, there are other countries like Ukraine or Romania where a growing number of evangelical churches are already sending missionaries out in significant numbers. Right now many displaced Ukrainians are planting Ukrainian/Russian speaking churches all over Europe. A challenge that arises from this: How can we incorporate them into Pioneers structures? Like much about mobilising from Europe, it’s not easy, but we’re working on it! ~
Discover more about Pioneers Europe at www.pioneerseurope.org
BY SIMON, NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF PIONEERS AUSTRALIA
One of Pioneers’ strengths is our drive to expand into new territories. Not that we crave expansion to spread our fame or increase our popularity! On the contrary, we are less concerned about Pioneers… and deeply concerned about people who don’t know Jesus. We care because eternal destinies depend on what people do with the message of the Bible. Like the Apostle Paul, we are ambitious to share good news of Jesus Christ among peoples who are yet to hear it and to understand its implications.
Pioneers Australia was birthed in the late 1990s when two mission organisations with long histories and extensive A Fresh Approach
ministries across Pacific Islands merged to create a fresh and innovative entity to facilitate gospel workers to the whole world. A new way of doing mission, as we called it, included a facilitative rather than directive approach to mobilisation. Our global workforce has grown many times over since those early days, and last year we celebrated Pioneers Australia’s 25th Anniversary.
Today, we have some 225 members serving on Pioneers teams in 35 countries, each engaging in ministry expressions aimed at bringing glory to God and salvation to people in places where it is very hard to hear about the Lord Jesus. Another 60 adults are preparing to join Pioneers global teams. Approaches to church planting differ in different settings as workers bring
their gifts and skills, strengths and weaknesses, know-how and learning posture, leadership qualities and servant-heartedness to Pioneers collaborative efforts across the world, making disciples, teaching and modelling what it means to be followers of Jesus Christ.
It’s increasingly uncommon to hear about global mission in Australian churches. Truth is, there is much gospel work to be done within our own borders. As you read this, if the Lord prompts, come to Australia and join one of our teams serving unreached diaspora peoples or Indigenous Australians!
However, when Aussie churches speak of being ‘missional’, they generally focus on outreach to near neighbours. That’s not all bad… neither is it all good. Many, many people will die today in places without hearing the gospel, and many churches (not all) choose not to hear about the needs of unreached peoples in other places. One thing for sure, it is hard to wake someone pretending to sleep.
Against that backdrop, we are thankful to God for the 28 new candidates who attended our annual orientation event in July this year. Why? Because Jesus is building His church (Matt 16:18) through such people. We have read the back of the Book – it’s a glorious future for all who are saved (Rev 7:9)! Pioneers workers are witnesses to the reality of God in the world, the difference He makes in a life, a family, a community and a people group. And we want many more to join His growing family.
The Power of the Word
Sam and Nicky stumbled upon the New Testament online in the privacy of their home in Central Asia. They had been taught for many years by religious leaders that Christianity was anathema;
to read the Bible was a punishable offence. Nevertheless, they read… as far as Matthew chapter five, at which point they were convicted to the core, fell on their knees in awe and repentance, and gave their lives to Jesus. They claim they had no choice –the power of the Word of God gripped them then and has kept them since. Now, in Australia, having grown in their faith, they contacted the Pioneers office in Melbourne asking to link arms with us to reach others in their ‘home’ country who desperately need to hear the truth about the Lord Jesus and help to walk as His children. God is at work, and we are excited to play a facilitative role as Sam and Nicky explore His leading.
Not for the Faint-hearted
Not for the Faint-hearted
Church planting generally happens slowly, at times with almost imperceptible growth. It comes at emotional, physical, mental and financial cost. Churches rarely form without deliberate effort, so boldness and faith are required to imagine a maturing body of believers where there is none. Commitment and sacrifice are essential. Church planting requires perseverance and tolerance when the going is tough. It takes blood, sweat, tears and prayer. Many places where Pioneers teams serve involve the enduring threat of persecution. Church planting among unreached peoples is not for the faint of heart. It’s hard.
with Us
• For churches in Australia to prioritise global mission in addition to local evangelism.
• For more workers to brave the call of mission to unreached peoples.
• For wisdom beyond our own.
• For fruit that will last.
A high percentage of missionaries are single women. Singleness can present many challenges on the mission field, but it can also present unique ministry opportunities. This is particularly the case in the Arab world, where there are strong expectations around gender roles and where social status is often tied up in marital status and having children.
In Clothed with Strength, Christine Ford McLaren examines the lives of fourteen inspirational women who have served in the Arab world, both historically and in the present. The book is full of exciting stories from their various ministries: teaching the children of Arab royalty, sheltering from bullets in a civil war, serving in refugee camps, leper colonies, hospitals and more.
To find out how to get your copy, email Maria on mariaw@awm-pioneers.org or phone 01509 239 525.
Though focussed on unmarried women, this book is a must for both marrieds and singles - both men and women - interested in learning what it means to live faithful, fruitful lives in Muslim countries.
Dr Gail Schlosser, Assistant Director of The Lilias Trotter Center
Pioneers UK Ministries Registered Charity No 1037154 and a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England & Wales Registration No 2917955.
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Arab World Ministries Registered Charity No 1059106 and a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England & Wales Registration No 3275009.
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