On November 9, 2019, four families dedicated themselves to God as Pioneer Mission Movement (PMM) missionaries. They will be serving as cross-cultural missionaries in different countries. Their major task is to plant new churches in unentered or unchurched territories in order to make disciples as Jesus commissioned in Matthew 28:18-20.
This mission movement was launched in 2002 as a cross-cultural church planting project. According to Dr. Joo MinHo, PMM coordinator as well as Adventist Mission director of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD), 128 PMM families have been sent to 21 countries from 2003 to 2019. As of now, 41 PMM families are serving in 16 different countries.
The dedication service was held at Byeollae Church, which is located in the West Central Korean Conference. The four PMM pastors who were dedicated that day are as follows: Kim TaeYoung going to Nepal, Choi WoonSung to Taiwan, Jeong JiHoon to Myanmar, and Choi Bonkil to the Philippines.
This time, the PMM dedication was combined with the dedication of Public Campus Ministries (PCM) missionaries. Seven precious young missionaries, like the morning dew, were dedicated for campus ministries. They will serve in campus ministries in the NSD territories for a year by mingling with collegians.
The combined dedication of two mission projects drew the attention of many people to its service. In addition to the regular church members, the NSD Executive Committee members and guests from the General Conference were invited to attend the service.
During Sabbath School, Pastor Jeong JiHoon gave the congregation his personal testimony about his previous experience as a PMM pastor. After learning to bake pizza, he wanted to open a pizza restaurant in his mission field, but on the day before the opening, the pizza restaurant burned down along with the pizza oven. However, he showed remarkable resilience by getting back on his feet and starting again in faith. He has opened 11 pizza restaurants so far. Those in the congregation were touched by his passion, faith, vision and ministries.
During the dedication service, GC president Ted Wilson gave the missionaries a message of irresistible mission spirit. He stated, “There are lot of challenges as Pastor Jeong experienced, but we must go forward by trusting in the Lord. Soon Jesus is coming. He will reward us according to what we have done. We have to deliver this message to all the people.”
NSD president Kim SiYoung also encouraged and empowered the missionaries to go to the mission fields with the conviction that Jesus would always be with them. The program participants and church organization leaders were invited to lay their hands on the shoulders of these new missionaries as a token of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the faithful prayers of the members for their ministries.
News article by Joo MinHo, Adventist Mission Director