30 June 2008 

12 Seventh-day Adventist Global Mission pioneers and church planters, as well as Global Mission coordinators, from around Australia attended a two day training workshop at the administrative head office of the Adventist Church in Australia in Ringwood on April 28–30

The attendees represented at least ten new church groups that are developing as a result of Global Mission projects in Perth (Western Australia), Melbourne (Victoria), Sydney (New South Wales) and several in Queensland.

Homer Trecartin from the  Adventist world church head office's Adventist Mission department and manager of Global Mission global projects gave inspiring stories and reports on the challenges and successes of Global Mission in the 10/40 window, an area of the world that contains the largest population of non-Christians in the world.

“This is the first time in many years that we have specifically given training to our Global Mission pioneers,” says Pastor Graeme Christian, Global Mission coordinator for the Adventist Church in Australia, organiser of the program.

Pioneers are engaged by the church on a small stipend as volunteer missionaries to help plant new churches in new areas and among new people groups.

Those attending represented new Adventist groups among Asian students, Pacific islanders, immigrant and inner city communities.

The Global Mission regional coordinators from the New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, Pastor Kendell Cobbin and Pastor Simeon Nara, also attended the workshop and a Global Mission Advisory meeting that preceded it.

“This has been a worthwhile program for the church planters in our conference,” says Pastor Michael Worker from the Adventist Church in the Greater Sydney region.

Other presenters at the workshop included Pastor Roger Govender, Pastor Loren Pratt, David Pearce, Lyell Southwell (a church planter himself), Johnny Wong and Pastor Ray Coombe from the Adventist Church in the South Pacific.

This year, 15 new church plants in Australia are supported by Global Mission funds from the world church and from the Centre for Church Planting.

Global Mission aims to plant new churches in un-entered areas or people groups.