Capturing God’s heart for the nations

6 minute 30 second read

In this coffee table conversation with the directors of AWM-Pioneers (Phil) and Pioneers UK (Stephen), we explore their experience of how God has worked over the years to advance His mission among the nations. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into their lives and in the lives of the ministries they serve and lead.

What did God use to first inspire you to be involved in global mission?

P. In my late teens I developed a growing interest for travel, different cultures, people groups, and countries. By my early twenties, as I started to take my faith more seriously, there were a combination of factors over a couple of months that opened my eyes to the importance of global mission.

Reading Brother Yun’s Heavenly Man was inspiring and challenging to learn of the persecution and spiritual growth in hard circumstances across the house church movement in China. Our church was involved in short-term trips to the Middle East and India, and there was a particular moment I recall when we had a visiting speaker share about radical living for Christ in the context of the Great Lakes region of Africa.

S. I would say that God used my parents in a special way as I was raised as a missionary kid (MK). I was born and raised in Nigeria. My parents were pioneer medical missionaries in Nigeria and also served among unreached Muslim people groups around Lake Chad too. My parents are two of my Christian heroes; their personal example and sacrificial commitment to mission all their lives has been a major inspiration to me.

Which nations or people groups have you visited that have left a lasting impression on you?

P. Some short-term opportunities to Ghana, Burundi, and India were particularly special experiences of how the local church and global church was at work as I met indigenous believers and foreign missionaries. I saw a very small glimpse into God’s tapestry of His Church existing and being active in the world. It ranged from up-country village trips with Jesus film showings, church celebration events, late night prayer evenings, and street Bible studies as I saw the church meeting some of the world’s spiritual and practical needs. I also learned from other cultures where followers of Jesus were counting the cost and feeding the poor for the sake of the extension of God’s Kingdom.

I recall fondly, before the Arab Spring, walking into a Coptic Egyptian Church in one of the cities and staying a while on a Sunday. This experience impressed on me further when I was saddened to hear of the attacks on Coptic Christians and Church buildings during the Arab Spring. I have also grown to appreciate the long-standing legacy of Christian presence in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East and North Africa.

S. Nigeria will always be significant in my life. Not only because I was brought up there, but because my wife Lesley and I served in mission there and then in Ghana for eight years. Serving alongside Nigerian pastors and Nigerian missionaries taught me much about myself, life, the Christian faith, service for God, and the central importance of mission. It also highlighted the role of the church to nurture and to Christian discipleship.

When we were based in Ghana, we lived in a mountain village and became members of our village’s Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Our minister was a retired Warrant Officer of the Ghanaian Army who was in the habit of walking up and down the aisles of our open-air church building to make sure everyone was paying rapt attention to his long sermons. He was not averse to lightly rapping people on their heads with his Army swagger stick if he saw them nodding off. Talk about ‘lasting impressions’!

How would you respond to criticism that mission agencies are now redundant?

P. I think the local church and the global church are alive and well. I think that missionary societies grew up in a context where the local church in some of the Western world needed a catalyst to go out and embrace the nations more. This role of catalyst continues today in modern mission agencies. I also consider mission agencies as part of the global church.

I love that some local church movements are sending their people overseas with their own orientation and preparation programmes, having developed their own expertise. I think we are seeing more of that which is great. I think mission agencies bring an expertise and experience which local churches can draw upon in their sending of people. Mission agencies need to be careful not to undermine the role of the local church as it sends people out but as long as we have millions and millions of unreached people I think agencies are far from redundant. If anything they are as relevant as ever to help the spread of the gospel and a resource of the Church to be drawn upon wisely.

S. With every fibre of my being I believe that mission begins with the local church. I spent four happy years at Aberdeen University studying theology. I wanted to be a missionary overseas in Africa (not in the local church in the UK). I was convinced that ‘overseas mission’ was where the Christian action was. But in my final year of university, God spoke clearly to me that, ‘If you want to be in mission, Stephen, you must first commit to the local church’. So I totally and absolutely believe in the local church and served as a pastor in a UK church for 21 years prior to joining Pioneers UK as Director.

I am also convinced however that the local church needs mission agencies to partner with and serve them. Mission agencies provide specialist experience of preparing members for global mission and appropriately sending them to ‘the field’. Moreover, missions have gained a depth and width of wisdom over decades in all that it means to keep mission workers healthy and supported in global mission.

What excites you about further collaboration between AWM-Pioneers and Pioneers UK?

P. Both agencies have significant histories dating back to 1881 and 1904. It fascinates me that Karl Kumm, the German founder of what is now Pioneers UK (then Sudan United Mission), received the call ‘to go’ from a North Africa Mission (now AWM-Pioneers) General Secretary. Our paths were once intertwined many years ago, and the trajectory and horizon looking forwards is promising. I am excited about more unreached people among the nations hearing about the gospel as we seek to combine our shared expertise. I think together we can achieve more to serve the local church of the UK and Ireland. Together, we can mobilise more believers with the call of God to cross-cultural ministry both locally and globally. I am excited that collaboration will serve to strengthen our Arab and African distinctives as we learn from each other and work together more closely in the Pioneers family.

S. The first thing to say is that I am utterly excited about this journey of greater collaboration between the two Pioneers gateways in the UK. Secondly, I am captivated by the opportunity to experience a modern-day equivalent of what the disciples witnessed in Luke 5:1-11, as Jesus asked Simon to let down the nets once again. As they obeyed the voice of Jesus, they saw so many fish gathered that they needed both boats to partner together to bring in the catch. This is my hope and prayer, that God would do amazing things and rescue many unreached people in the nations as we follow His leading and partner together more.

How can we pray for you personally and the work of the mission?

P. I would love prayer for continued wisdom and boldness in the role, and for me to keep operating out of God’s love and calling and not my own strength. Also I’d value protection and blessing over myself and my family, our marriage, our children and their walk with the Lord too through the school years and peer pressures.

I would value prayers for the AWM-Pioneers team during this time. As we went into Covid there was much change and now emerging from the pandemic, the world is somewhat a different place and requires more adjustment to this new reality. Prayers for wisdom, grace, and courage would be appreciated. Also prayers of protection over us and our families in this endeavour. There is spiritual opposition to the work He has called us to and we need and value your prayers.

S. That I would have a godly understanding of the times we live in so as to lead with heavenly inspiration and earthly relevance. That I would reach out every day to the grace of God, and live and lead with integrity. My desire is to be a workman who does not need to be ashamed but approved by God on Christ’s return.

For Pioneers UK, to see koinonia¹ deepened and strengthened in our staff team, with UK churches, and key national churches in the global South. I’m excited to see how God will continue to use this multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-national, multi-denominational, and multi-generational Pioneers international mission family for His glory among the nations.

1. New Testament Greek for deep bonds of fellowship, mutual support and active participation to a common endeavour.