Consider a life-changing summer trip working among unreached peoples alongside Pioneers missionaries. The Edge is a 6 to 10 week summer mission trip that immerses young adults in a new culture and language and invites growth and understanding of God and what he is doing in the nations.

Few activities hold more meaning across cultures than gathering for a meal together. We asked Pioneers around the world, apart from the many delicious and exotic food experiences, what were the strangest textures, fragrances and tastes they have encountered.

There’s a widely accepted myth in the world of mission that needs to be busted. It is this…all missionaries are preachers.

 

The truth is that Pioneers use anything and everything that allows them to share the Good News. After all, Paul was a tentmaker. And if you think that was outside the box, you should see what today’s missionaries do to introduce people to Jesus:

 

1 Farming

 

Yes, you read that right! Combine a business background with a passion for good produce, and you get a perfect platform for mission. Coffee, fruit, chickens…you name it. 

 

2 Performing arts 

 

Tucked away in one corner of the world is a creative community of God's people who make Jesus known through life and worship, music and art. “I see unlimited potential,” writes one worker. “Music, film-making, poetry, dance, storytelling, drama, painting, crafts, etc. can be used to live in relationship, communicate truth, and express worship.”

 

3 Tourism adventures

 

Snorkeling, rock climbing, diving, trekking, surfing and visits to waterfalls. Running a tourism adventure company lets these workers build and develop relationships with their local employees.

 

4 Trades 

 

People who use their hands to build and fix things are in high demand! These workers use their skills to teach sustainable and affordable building techniques and help implement culturally appropriate technologies on a community level. In doing so, they are able to share the love of God in practical ways.

 

5 Being a family

 

This might sound strange, but in many places around the world—particularly countries where families are torn apart, kids are orphaned, fathers are killed by war—a Christian family that honors God can demonstrate in word and deed what it means to follow Jesus.

 

6 Business

 

Can you imagine the opportunities to bring glory to God through running an internet café, a bakery, a restaurant or a consulting company? On a business level, meaningful engagement with local customers could bring new life. Ingenious!

 

7 Media

 

You only need to spend a few minutes on CommNetMedia.com before you see the way film, photos, graphic design and stories bring glory to God. What is CommNet, you ask? CommNet is a team of creatives who use their skills to capture and share stories of God at work across the globe—advocating for the unreached. 

 

One Pioneer living overseas writes, “I get to do what I enjoy doing everyday. Sometimes I feel like a fraud, because I don’t fit the old missionary mold.”

 

But God created us to have talents and desires in order to reflect the different parts of His image. And His message never changes: Jesus loves the whole world. The means by which that message is delivered is up for grabs. How will you use your unique gifts and interests to share?

 

Find out how you can be a part of God’s global mission by checking out Pioneers short- and long-term opportunities.


See this original article on Pioneers-Australia's blog.

 

One refugee explained to a reporter* that the sea is the only country without visa requirements. Many have risked dangerous travel by boat across the sea to find refuge in Europe, and some of those risks have ended in tragedy. Many others actually arrive and find that border restrictions are increasing.

 

And tensions continue to rise in Europe as refugees search for asylum and a fresh start. One particular hotspot of activity is the Hungarian-Serbian border, where the influx of refugees has already doubled from last year’s totals. The eyes of the world have been focused on Budapest in the last two weeks as Syrians, Afghanis and other victims of war have been detained from trains and kept from crossing the border by a new razor wire wall. Some asylum seekers protest their detention by refusing to eat and drink until they are able to cross.

 

Though the situation is dire, God is mobilizing Pioneers on the ground in nearby areas to join forces with local Christians and humanitarian aid organizations to bring relief and a message of hope.

 

One of Pioneers’ core values is innovation and flexibility—something in high demand during this crisis—allowing many of our field workers to shift gears to provide medical attention, set up warm water washing stations, distribute kits with essentials for hygiene, share coats or blankets for the increasingly cool weather, give food and water and pray for them in the name of Jesus when the refugees are willing. Many refugees just need someone to hear their story. Pioneers listen and look for opportunities to share the story of how a life in Jesus can bring hope.

 

Would you consider making a gift to our Pioneers on the ground in Hungary to help them provide for the needs of the refugees they meet every day? If so click here. You may also want to contribute to a wider effort to help victims of war around the world. If so, take a moment to check out our Victims of War project. 

*NPR Morning Edition report on September 15, 2015.

We see it on the news and read it on the internet. Victims of war. Victims of disease. It’s hard to fight compassion fatigue when you don’t know how to help. It’s information that’s hard to translate into action.

 

But God can make a way for us to help and build his kingdom.

 

Rani is an Indian woman who reminds me of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well. The fact that Jesus knew them before they even met Him had a powerful impact on them both.

 

Rani’s family and community rejected her after her husband died of complications from HIV. She learned that she had HIV, too, and tried to commit suicide in a field outside her village, but God intervened.

 

Later she remembered hearing about a ministry for women like her. She sought them out only to find love and respect from Pioneers missionaries and other Christian women who have similar stories.

 

“I didn’t know who God was,” Rani says smiling. “But God knew who I was.”

Now Rani has employment as a seamstress in a Pioneers business working with people who treat her like family. She says that sometimes she forgets that she has HIV. (Watch Rani's Story)

 

We hear similar stories coming from Pioneers who are working with refugees in difficult places around the world. For example, 17 Syrian and Iraqi refugee families have come to faith in the last year. Like Rani, these people are marginalized and have great need. However, showing love and care by meeting their practical needs, listening to their stories and sharing the gospel message with them starts movements of faith.

 

“We see a complete difference in your way—the way of the believers in Jesus,” one Syrian woman proclaimed. “We want to be like that. We want to live in love.”

 

The Love Moves campaign supports movements of faith in places where God is already working among those who are broken by war and disease. We want to send more missionaries to catalyze new movements while training them to minister more effectively. 

 

See some of the ways that God moved in 2016 through the Love Moves campaign by reading a full report here. Read the full proposal as it originally appeared. If you are interested in similar projects of Pioneers, take a moment to look at our India HIV Ministries or see more about the current World Next Door campaign that is a means to reach refugees, immigrants and international students.