The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Global Mission office has set a goal of establishing 25,000 new groups of believers worldwide by 2005. These new groups will range from established churches through to small groups meeting in homes, says Dr. Michael Ryan, director of Global Mission. According to Ryan, the majority of the 25,000 new groups will be established through the work of “Global Mission pioneers,” frontline mission workers who are revolutionizing the Adventist Church’s approach to sharing Christianity.

“We have also set an aim of training 150,000 pioneers by 2005,” adds Ryan. “We currently have more than 50,000 pioneers but expect a dramatic increase in the next few years. The bottom line is that pioneers are successful, and church leaders around the world are anxious to recruit and train more of them. Pioneers will continue to lead the way in church planting around the world.”

The Global Mission pioneer program began in 1993, and since then it’s estimated that pioneers have established more than 20,000 new congregations. Pioneers are laypeople who volunteer at least a year—often far longer—to establish a congregation in an area within their own culture where there is no Adventist presence.

“These pioneers work within their own countries with a wholistic outreach—helping people in their daily lives as well as connecting them with eternal values,” says Ryan. “They speak the language, know the culture, and identify closely with the people they’re working with. While we still need cross-cultural workers, pioneers have demonstrated a unique ability to reach into unentered areas.”

Global Mission pioneers around the world are trained by regional church leaders, and are supported financially by Global Mission and regional church organizations. They do not receive the wage of a regular church worker. Instead they are given an allowance to help cover lodging, food, and basic materials such as health guides and Bible study pamphlets.

“We are greatly encouraged by the success of Global Mission pioneers, and I’m confident that more than 25,000 congregations will be established by 2005,” says Ryan. “Not only are pioneers starting new groups of believers, but they’re helping to ground them firmly in their new-found faith, and lead them to be mature Christians. The aim is always to help each group become fully self-supporting financially. When this program first began, the average length of each project was one year. Today the average is at least five years, because we have learned it takes more time to fully establish a new group of believers in the church.”

For more information on the Global Mission pioneer program visit www.global-mission.org