Pioneers UK Blog

If 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 cultural gospel bearers from the Global South is on the rise… and the rise is significant. South Korea, Brazil and Nigeria are now major missionary-sending countries, and Christians in China, India and Indonesia, among others, are poised to send large numbers of Christ-followers to countries near and far, including to the post-Christian West.

An example of how God is stirring His people in the Global South to engage in mission is seen in the story of Pioneers’ influence in Pacific countries such as the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.
 

A Catalytic Ministry and the Solomon Islands

In 1886, a small group of indentured Solomon Islanders working in the sugarcane fields of Queensland, Australia, were being discipled by a young Australian Christian woman named Florence Young. This ministry developed into a significant mission when Solomon Islanders returned to their home country with a new message for their people – salvation through Jesus Christ. In the early 1900s, this group became known as the South Sea Evangelical Mission (SSEM), spreading the gospel throughout the islands of Melanesia and giving birth to the South Sea Evangelical Church in the 1960s. This church today has more than 90,000 members.
 

From Headhunting to Worship in Papua New Guinea

In the mid-1900s, another small Christian mission was formed with a strong vision to engage peoples on the islands of New Guinea. This was a time when tribal fighting was bloody, and headhunting was the norm. Aussies and New Zealanders built airstrips, established medical outposts, taught literacy, started Bible studies and, by God’s grace, established churches. The work of Asia Pacific Christian Mission (APCM) contributed directly to the formation of the Evangelical Church of PNG and the Evangelical Church of Indonesia. It is virtually impossible to count the number of believers in some 700 ECPNG congregations throughout PNG today. In the late 1990s, SSEM and APCM linked arms to become Pioneers of Australia.
 

From Receiving to Sending

Recently, 30 leaders from Pioneers and Pacific churches convened at the request of the Pacific leaders to pursue a partnership for the mobilisation of Pacific Islanders into the Pioneers global movement. We now have the beginnings of two mobilisation teams forming to support this partnership; several discussions with new workers; and our first Fijian family has recently been appointed to serve among Indigenous Australians. We celebrate new members and partners joining our growing global family.

This is a new era. The Lord is at work in the Pacific Islands – stirring the hearts of His people in the Global South to reach others in nearby countries and in lands elsewhere! It is a privilege to watch this story unfold, and to affirm such an important historic relationship for God’s glory and God’s story in the Pacific and beyond.