Missionaries who preach the Gospel in a land that does not offer freedom of evangelism to foreigners face endless challenges. Thirteen PMM (Pioneer Mission Movement) pastors dispatched in Unorganized Territory(UT) are such missionaries. In spite of endless challenges, however, they never stop doing their mission work.
The Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD) held a UT PMM Mission Forum at Jeju Leadership Training Center from July 18 to 20, 2014. At the forum, NSD president Jairyong Lee, NSD PMM director Kim SiYoung, Chinese Union Mission (CHUM) secretary Daniel Jiao, Korean Union Conference personal ministries director Kang SoonGi, and other delegates and 13 PMM pastors working in UT joined to discuss missionary strategies for UT.
At the opening worship service, President Lee reminded the attendees that the reason the NSD launched PMM was to restore mission spirit and to train spiritual leaders. Citing a Bible verse from Matthew chapter 25, he said, “The ultimate goal of missionaries is to be acknowledged as ‘a good and faithful servant’ by God. God is the one who gives you the mission, and God is the one who sends you there.”He urged attendees to strive to earn praise not from other people but from God.
John Ash, who is director of Adventist Volunteer Services in CHUM and who has worked as a missionary for forty-four year, talked about important qualifications for a missionary. “It is natural that people living in your mission field have both feelings of curiosity and fear. You have to be patient to build a good relationship with them. Also, missionaries should always be interested in what your souls need and satisfy their needs in a creative way.”
The forum included reports by the thirteen PMM pastors on mission work in their own mission fields. They developed and implemented mission strategies according to each one’s circumstances. Some of the PMM pastors run a pizza restaurant or a farm. Another pastor taught Korean at a university and introduced God to students. Some pastors ran a Pathfinder program, bringing not only children but their parents to church. For some pastors, the Korean Wave was the key to preaching the Gospel. Above all, they trained local church members and let them build twenty new churches. All attendees were touched by God’s grace which made all of these success stories possible.
In the breakout session, led by Pastor Kim SiYoung, the participants were divided into three groups and exchanged their opinions and thoughts about planting new churches. Everyone agreed that the ministries of PMM pastors wouldbe much more powerful with the support of CHUM, and the CHUM delegates promised to help PMM pastors’ ministries.
The success stories of mission work in UT will continue to be made and evangelism will speed up. Until Jesus comes and calls us “good and faithful servants,” PMM missionaries never stop facing the challenges in UT.