Working in Teams: Fishing With a Net

Line fishing is a solitary art, and while it is always appropriate to cast a line with the Good News, we choose to work in teams: fishing with a net.

God gives great gifts to His kids. Like marriage. Children. Houses. Cash. When you realize one of these has become an idol keeping you from pursuing your mission vision, what then?

Each year our mission mentors talk, text or exchange email with more than 2,000 people interested in missions. Recently we picked their brains about those conversations.

Is there a missionary or a missionary kid in your life? Here are a few questions you can ask that may help them put their feelings into words.

While most of us don’t like to share our most-embarrassing moments, those who are willing to give others a laugh at their own expense may reap surprising benefits.

You’re thinking about a life overseas. Maybe you feel ready to sign up and get started. But God Himself seems to slow you down. Then what?

Millions of questions swirled in my head as I prepared for my move to North Africa. But the two that loomed largest were about singleness.

Pioneers Greg and Alex have put more than 50,000 audio gospels into the hands of Quechua people. These are photos of the people they met on a recent trip into the mountains.

I had spent years building community with the people in my church. Starting over seemed impossible. Would a church send someone overseas whom they only met a year or two ago?

Ever felt God tugging at your heart to GO and reach the nations? Perhaps one of the things you thought about was, “What about my career?”

The Rohingya, a Muslim people group, have fled their Buddhist-majority Myanmar because of persecution. Pioneers are responding to this refugee crisis with practical help and hope.

Sensing God calling you to something crazy, but, in the immortal words of Will Smith, parents just don’t understand?

Your support is raised. Your bags are packed. You’re heading out for your first term as a newly minted missionary. What are you forgetting?

Julie has noticed that in the context where she serves, just being present in the daily lives of her African friends, and especially at key events, speaks volumes.

In this West African culture where keeping the peace is everything, those who abandon their family religion may be shunned for years on end.

In the midst of the lack, the African has found joy and exuberance, says Eugene Yakohene, director of Pioneers-Africa. This joy springs from the inside.

A Muslim came through her short-term team's clinic, the first Muslim Rachel had ever met. Rachel prayed for him but realized she had no idea how her words might sound to him.

Refugees who come to America have lost their families, networks, and way of life. A Pioneer shares ways to come alongside them with friendship and practical help.

A Pioneer who works with internationals in the US has a passion for backpacking, climbing, and rafting. The guys he works with love to join his adventures.

Sick and desperate, she called out to Jesus for healing. And He showed up. Later she found that God had already been speaking to her husband.

Sometimes we get to witness the power of God firsthand. Sometimes we only hear whisperings of it. And sometimes a teashop owner shouts it on the gospel-hungry streets of Asia.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis and other refugees arrived en masse at Hungarian borders, bus depots and train stations.

Pioneers on the ground in Europe are doing their best to help meet physical, emotional and spiritual needs while refugees are in transit.

We asked Pioneers working among unreached people groups about the struggles and joys that come with the territory.

Dave, a 35-year-old Pioneer, found himself fighting for his life on a stiff hospital bed, his wife and children at his side, wondering how and why God would allow him to arrive at such a difficult place.

There’s a widely accepted myth in the world of missions that needs to be busted. It is this: that all missionaries are preachers. But as it turns out missionaries do many very different jobs.

Why should an organization like Pioneers send missionaries to a continent where 70.8% of the population are reportedly professing Christians?

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.

Experience in corporate America helped a Pioneer open a small business in the Middle East that provided jobs, bolstered his credibility in the community and yielded spiritual fruit.

A Pioneers team composed of Mexican nationals, Germans and Americans serves the Tarahumara with healthcare and literacy with the goal of seeing an indigenous church emerge.