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International Missions – New Name Press Release

International Missions – New Name Press Release

International Missions
becomes
MISSION GLOBAL

On April 21, 2022, the PAOC General Conference voted to change the name of International Missions to Mission Global.

You are part of an extraordinary story of Canadian Pentecostals choosing to participate in God’s mission of redemption for all humanity. For over 100 years, partners like you, in churches, colleges, and ministries across the nation, have been mobilized in this collective movement to make disciples!

In that century of working together in God’s mission, we have seen miraculous growth in the global church. As a Fellowship, we have responded together with innovation and a spirit of generosity. Mission Global is the next iteration in that journey and reflects where we have come from and the incredible future that the Holy Spirit is calling us to!

Reimagining Our Shared Future – We are Mission Global

Beyond a name change, Mission Global represents how we bring reconciliation through Jesus to a world that is often broken and fragmented.

Our Mission Statement

Our name is changing, but our mission has not. Our mission is to glorify God by making disciples across cultural boundaries by proclaiming and practicing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Flowing from this statement, as Mission Global, these are our commitments to you.

Promise Statements

We promise to passionately pursue every opportunity and use every means possible to give those with little or no access to the gospel an opportunity to hear the message of Hope that is Jesus, a message that offers them reconciliation with their Creator.

We promise to sensitively seek Christ-centred holistic and sustainable solutions to injustice and poverty and to help build communities of Jesus followers that reconcile the vulnerable and marginalized with their God, their communities, and their fellow humankind.

Impact Statement:

When we fulfill these promises, our collective impact will result in the establishment of self-sustaining, multiplying church movements and ministries that reflect the compassionate heart of Jesus for their communities, nations, and the world.

Reimagining Mission Together

Changing a brand is difficult work and will have real impact across the Fellowship. So, what is the rationale for changing?

At the end of 2018, led by a sense from the Holy Spirit, we began a ‘reimagining’ process to guide our future together. As part of that process, we conducted focus groups with pastors, other groups across Canada, and international partners, and you overwhelmingly told us three things: to “make it simple,” to “go big,” and to “do it together.”

“Go Big” – Our Strategic Focus

Your feedback both encouraged us to increase our scope, while also sharpening our strategic focus on two categories of people:

  1. The Least Reached - people with little or no access to the gospel.

  2. The Socioeconomically Vulnerable - people with little or no access to the necessities of life: food, clean water, education, a sustainable livelihood, and safety.

In our world today, the 3.1 billion people who live without a gospel witness and the 3 billion people who live on less than $3 per day often overlap, forming our strategic centre. This is where we believe that we can be the most effective together. 

You also identified three urgent reasons for us to rebrand ourselves. 

“Make it Simple”

Complexity 

As we have grown together, PAOC International Missions has served our Fellowship by sending global workers to reach, plant, equip, and care. This  led us to establish three charities, ERDO (Emergency Relief & Development Overseas), RAN (Restricted Access Nations), and VOH (Villages of Hope) Africa Society. It led us to adopt Mission Link from our German Branch, and to establish RPEC (Reaching, Planting, Equipping, Caring) International as our US Charity. We have also established programs with their own unique brands to engage churches, partners, and prospective global workers.

All these endeavours served to increase our collective capacity for mission but it has also created structural complexity that is sometimes unclear to our audiences. Our desire is to increase our partnership with you by making every experience easier. As a result, the Mission Global brand allows us to realign ourselves and clarify our structures.

Calling the NextGen

We want to adjust to the changing needs of the next generation and empower their call to mission, without compromising on our collective vision. This means that we need to represent our work in an aligned and attractional way, where our entire multi-generational Fellowship can offer themselves to give, go, and serve.  Mission Global aligns with Mission Canada and reinvents our brand with a future-forward name that is more appealing to a younger demographic.

“Do it Together”

Collaboration

The charitable sector in Canada has become increasingly competitive. Every pastor in the Fellowship receives multiple appeals from an increasing number of charities. The same goes for our individual and organizational partners. The PAOC offers our church family a collaborative, integrated, and collective expression as one church in mission. Mission Global allows you to mobilize your church in an integrated way that reflects the deep collaboration between your churches, our charities, PAOC global workers, and our partners overseas. The Mission of God is diverse and expansive in scope and requires collaborative partnerships.

Next Steps

As we embrace our reimagined vision as Mission Global, there is a practical impact  for your church. 

  1. Logo: In May we will release a new Mission Global logo and tagline at General Conference.

  2. Resources: At the same time, we will equip your team with a resource kit that includes a brand book and digital assets for your church to use on your website and any new printed materials.

  3. Alignment: RAN will shift from acting as a region to become a mechanism for sending global workers. This means that we will make it easier for GWs in any country to use the RAN mechanism in their context. RAN will continue to act as a charity to support the secure identities of workers in restricted nations, however as Mission Global communicates, it will be inclusive of all workers in both open and restricted countries.

  4. Focus: Together, as we send, advocate, and mobilize Canadians for mission, their work and ministry will be ever more aligned to our strategic focus on the least reached and the socioeconomically vulnerable.

We are excited for the days ahead; thank you for walking this journey with us.

On mission,

Murray Cornelius
Executive Director for Mission Global