OUR VALUES & BELIEFS
Walking together as we boldly share His Word with
unreached peoples around the world.
Our Beliefs
Guiding Grace Principle
Pioneers is an international fellowship comprised of evangelicals drawn from many different churches and backgrounds. Our desire is to work in harmony with our national church partners and Christian colleagues on the basis of essential doctrines as found in our Statement of Faith. These are doctrines on which, historically, there has been general agreement among all true followers of Christ. In matters not addressed by our Statement of Faith, PIONEERS acknowledges differing points of view provided they are based on the Bible as the supreme authority, and that no interpretation or practice will undermine the work of the Gospel or the unity among those with whom we serve. We seek to live, work and relate to one another in a spirit of love and humility, as outlined in Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 13 and other passages.
Pioneers Statement on Contextualization
Messengers who bring the Good News have the privilege and responsibility to faithfully communicate the biblical Gospel message. They should model and teach obedience to all the Scriptures under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thus Pioneers workers desire to minister in ways most likely to yield faithful disciples and the reproduction of biblical churches among those with least access to the Gospel. We believe God normally desires new believers to remain connected with their social context (1 Corinthians 7:17-24), while not compromising biblical teaching in their beliefs or practice (e.g. permanently retaining their former non-Christian religious identity). The implications of living out this creative tension and Gospel witness are best worked out by groups of believers, through prayer and diligent study of the Scriptures, informed by the story of God’s people throughout history and the global body of Christ.
We encourage believers to live in such a way that those around them become increasingly aware of their wholehearted submission to Jesus as Lord. He calls all believers to a process of transformation into the image of Christ (Romans 12:1,2; Colossians 3:10), giving courageous and respectful testimony of Christ’s work in us (1 Peter 3:14-16).
We want believers to understand their biblical identity in Christ and His church, and to embrace the implications of that identity as active members of a local community of believers (Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:9).
Our passion is to see believers obey all that Jesus commanded (Matthew 28:20). This involves an ongoing process whereby believers are empowered by the Spirit and nurtured through the Scripture (Galatians 5:16-25; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; 1 Peter 2:2,3).
Believers are intentionally discipled in such a way that their worldview and beliefs are increasingly transformed into conformity with Scripture (Romans 12:2; Hebrews 5:14).
God grants us suffering in this world to refine our faith, strengthen His church and bring glory to Christ (Phil 1:29; 3:10; 1 Peter 1:7). Together, we recognize that persecution is not to be feared, and “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12; Matthew 10:28; Hebrews 10:32-34).
All cultures reflect elements of God’s creative goodness and human sinfulness (Romans 2:14,15; 1 John 2:15-17). We encourage believers to live out biblically sound and culturally appropriate worship, witness, relationships and lifestyles (Ephesians 5:15; 1 Timothy 5:8; 1 Peter 2:11,12,16,17).