Passing the Baton in this age of Lockdown, Zoom and Webex Screens.
It has been a weird year for mission organizations and their partner churches all over the world: Instead of going to conferences in different parts of the globe, meeting field-workers, sending short term teams, training and mobilising future workers, gathering for prayer, and making face to face meaningful conversations about the gospel and the missions-work, we spent the whole year bound to our private spaces. Home became our work environment and we remain fixed on our screens and laptops.
"The older generation has been forced to love emojis and gifs to communicate through Zoom, Whatsapp and Facebook messaging while the younger ones have had to patiently explain what ‘BRB’ means when somebody popped this in the group chat."
But this didn’t stop Missions and the Great Commission for the Christians all over the world. Despite the seemingly never-ending COVID headlines, the challenges of virtual church life, many Believers remained steadfast, clinging to the Lord’s new mercies each morning. It was an opportunity to savor His goodness, to trust in His word, and to continue to urgently share the Gospel with the unreached.
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23(ESV)
The urgency to share the Gospel has been felt more and more this year. With technology becoming the prime means of communication, many Christians grabbed this for a sweet season of mentorship, discipleship, and personal spiritual growth. We see it in the Bible. Mentorship has been woven into the narrative of the Old and New Testament. From Moses to Joshua, Elijah to Elisha, Paul to Timothy, and our Jesus Christ being the prime example to his disciples. We see it all over the Scriptures, stories of people equipping people.
These are stories and testimonies we prayerfully look forward to hearing this 2021. Millennials and Gen Z Christians coming up to arms and taking up the call to Missions. A generation who patiently waits for the Lord’s coming, living passionately proclaiming the gospel of the glorious Christ to the unreached!
During this strange and difficult season, the Lord has given Pioneers inAsia the blessing and privilege of witnessing the many narratives of miracles from our Field workers and staff worldwide. We saw it through every whatsapp message notification of answered prayers, team updates, prayer points, and praises. We saw it through Zoom and Webex screens and the many inquiries of Christians coming from different countries from the South. Singaporeans, Japanese, Filipinos, Indians, Malaysians, Chinese, coming together from different generations – the Boomers, GenX, Millennials, and GenZs, came to inquire about going to the field to become a Missionary.
In one of PiA’s team meetings, one mentioned how Pioneers in Asia embodies the term Bespoke, which in English means ‘custom-made' A concept, a vibe, that speaks so much of the culture of Pioneers inAsia.
A missions organization custom-made for people hungry to be equipped for missions. From generation to generation, we pray for Pioneers inAsia to continue to equip people for the Great Commission. We look forward to the fruits of the harvest as more and more people, young and old, become a people passionate for the gospel -- embracing the ethos of grace and raising disciples who can raise disciples. We also look forward to church leaders and more and more churches opening their doors to missions.
If you want to pursue this more: Pioneers inAsia is open to train mentors and the younger generation about Missions. Let us know if you are interested.