The Seventh-day Adventist Church in eastern Africa plans to send out 100,000 Global Mission pioneers this year, according to George Mwansa, Global Mission coordinator for the Adventist Church in the region.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in eastern Africa plans to send out 100,000 Global Mission pioneers this year, according to George Mwansa, Global Mission coordinator for the Adventist Church in the region. The pioneers will be drawn from the more than two million Adventist members who live in this territory, which includes the countries of Botswana, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Global Mission pioneers are laypeople who volunteer to establish an Adventist congregation in a so-called “unentered area” within their own culture. “They have the advantage of knowing the culture, speaking the language, blending with the local people—and being far less expensive than overseas missionaries,” says Dr. Mike Ryan, Global Mission coordinator for the Adventist Church worldwide. “More than 30,000 Global Mission pioneers are now working around the world, and we estimate that in the past eight years they’ve established more than 11,000 new Seventh-day Adventist congregations.”
The Adventist Church in eastern African set its goal of 100,000 pioneers during the Global Mission advisory meetings held in Harare, March 19 to 21. During the meetings, Dr. Pardon Mwansa, president of the Adventist Church in eastern Africa, noted the need to keep exploring new ways of reaching unentered areas and people groups. Ryan cited the example of a world territory where 20,000 pioneers are currently establishing new congregations. Unlike traditional pioneers, Ryan said, they have not left their homes—they have simply started to help plant new churches right where they live.
If we define pioneers in this way, observed George Mwansa, “we have to challenge ourselves to recruit at least 100,000 this year.” Mwansa went on to tell local leaders attending the advisory that with the number of church members at the two million level, it was “neither unreasonable nor unrealistic” to put the figure at 100,000.
Pardon Mwansa reacted enthusiastically to the resolution. “I am happy that this resolution has passed as it is at the very heart of the mission of the church,” he said. “I will personally do my best as chief administrator of this territory to see that this goal is translated into reality by the grace of God.”
For more information about Global Mission or the pioneer program, visit the Global Mission Web site at www.global-mission.org.