Pioneers is a relatively young (25 years old) international family with about 1,150 men and women in service in 137 teams in over 58 countries.

Pioneers of Australia is a relative newcomer to the missions scene in Australia, but you may be familiar with some of the missions which have now come under the Pioneers umbrella - like Asia Pacific Christian Mission, South Seas Evangelical Mission, and Action Partners (formerly Sudan United Mission).

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In their words, Dereck and Fran are the oldies in a dynamic 'youthy' National Office, located in Ringwood, about 30km east of Melbourne.The average age of the leadership team (headed by our Director, Tim Meyers) is about 40.

The vision and enthusiasm of the team is certainly reflected in the operational side of the mission and in the output - young people heading off overseas as career missionaries (as opposed to short termers only).

Twenty have left this year, and there are no fewer than 33 who are preparing to leave in 2004. This represents an almost unprecedented response among mission agencies in Australia to the challenge of bringing the gospel to unreached peoples around the world.

While Dereck and Fran are mainly doing administrative and financial support tasks, they feel it is an absolute thrill to feel an integral part of the whole mission operation, and they believe that God would have them work there, on a voluntary basis, for another 3 years at least.