Stories from the Field
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The Back Side of the Wave
I met a man named Lazarus a few months ago who changed my perspective with one finger and a map of the world. Lazarus is the Missiologist-at-Large for the global Pioneers movement. He is Zambian and in addition to his labours for Pioneers, he is Vice Chancellor of Evangelical University in Ndola, central Zambia. With a CV like that, one would assume that Lazarus knows a thing or two about missions. So it was no surprise when, during a chat over our midday sandwiches, Lazarus casually... -
The Power of the Gospel in the Global South
BY SIMON, PIONEERS AUSTRALIA DIRECTORIf you hear someone say Western missions is over, don’t you believe it! Western missions (and mission from anywhere) is over when Christ returns, and the end has come (Revelation 22:20-21; Matthew 24:14). That said, there has been a radical shift in recent years in terms of the centre of mission activity.
Until fairly recently, Christian mission was predominantly “from the West to the rest”. Today, the number of cross...
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This. Now. Here.
BY NAM, A PIONEERS UK MISSION MENTORSome called me a missionary, others a church planter, still others a volunteer worker, the children in the villages called me “teacher”.
Whichever hat they saw me wearing, I was there because I wanted to make God known in the places where he is least known. Spending the last 4 years in Isaan, Northeast Thailand had been the coming together of dreams and preparation for the prior 6 years.
I spent my...
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Giving and the Great Commission
BY MARK, PIONEERS' PARTNERSHIP MANAGERLast year I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Jones, a lifelong SUM, Action Partners and Pioneers UK supporter from Southport. Recently I invited him to look back over his life supporting missionaries and share his views on giving. Here's what Peter had to say:
“I first came into contact with Sudan United Mission (SUM) when a man called Peter Heaps came to speak at our school Christian Union. He even joined in our...
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Passion for Mission
BY STEVE, PIONEERS UK DIRECTOR“I really think we've got enough firewood now, Steve!”
Lesley is my longsuffering wife. She had already helped me buy an interview shirt in Alexandria and now we were in Athens preparing for a Skype call with Pioneers UK; including a presentation entitled My Passion for Mission. We had gone foraging in the woods as I’d set my heart on a visual aid! After smuggling a small forest into our room, I built my...
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God According to the Aloe
Confession time: I love my aloe plant. It was given to me by a friend when it was only about three inches high. I’ve watered it and repotted it, and every morning I make sure my bedroom curtains are open so it gets lots of sunlight. I have watched it grow from a wee spikey thing to a, well, slightly bigger spikey thing and have been amazed that something that started so small has grown so much, just sitting there day after day on my chest of drawers. A few months ago, I started noticing... -
On Hope and Volcanoes
Ever slept on top of a volcano? I have. A supervolcano, actually. In fact, not only did I sleep on the volcano, but I drove around on the volcano, spotted an osprey on the volcano, and even enjoyed a delicious tuna sandwich on the volcano. And no, Clever Cathy, it wasn’t a dormant volcano. This volcano is, in fact, one of the most active geothermal spots in the world. It is home to top-of-a-volcano features such as: fumaroles (vents that spout hot steam in huge clouds that smell like rotten... -
The Gospel According to WhatsApp
BY ISAAC, A PIONEERS MISSIONARY IN EUROPEIncreasingly technology affects and changes every part of our world in ways which are both positive and negative. It also presents great opportunities for the gospel.
I recently attended a Christian technology conference, where the keynote speaker told how he was one of the first missionaries to arrive by aeroplane, and his wife one of the last to arrive by boat. Cheap air travel has transformed our ability to send and...
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My Adventures as a Data Input Artist
I’ve always fancied myself an amateur adventurer – up for anything, willing to rough it, and ready at the drop of a hat. To my delight, God’s plan for me has actually involved quite a bit of adventure. They’ve been your basic missionary adventures like going on safari in multiple African countries, rafting the Nile, taking long layovers in Paris and London, scalding my feet on the white-hot marble of the Taj Mahal; that sort of thing. I’ve lived in New York, San Francisco, Istanbul,...
