About | Pioneers New Zealand

For 40 years, Pioneers missionaries have been using innovative and creative means to bring the gospel to every corner of the globe.

Making disciples
Pioneers partners with local churches to make disciples and initiate church-planting movements among unreached peoples. The unreached are cultural and ethnic groups without a self-sustaining witness to the gospel in their own cultures.

From business and education to healthcare, agriculture, the arts, and more, our 3,000 global members use their diverse gifts and experience to serve in needy communities.

As they do, they see God transform lives across cultures and people groups everywhere.

Reaching the unreached

Whether in sprawling cities or rural villages, our teams make their homes in unreached contexts and learn new languages. They use innovative and creative means to build relationships and make disciples. They introduce people to the Bible and share the gospel in culturally understandable ways.

Working together
We work in partnership with the local church. Each missionary is commissioned by a sending church. The sacrificial gifts of friends, family, and churches provide financial support. This makes it possible for cross-cultural missionaries to work alongside local believers with a heart to see disciples making disciples, worldwide.

Pioneers values integrity and accountability. For this reason, we link arms with other evangelical mission organisations and submit to godly leadership.

Our mission

Pioneers mobilises teams to glorify God among unreached people groups by initiating church planting movements in partnership with local churches

Our values

Passion for God

To glorify God among the nations through obedience to the Scriptures, prayer, reliance on the Holy Spirit, and worship.

Evangelism and discipleship

We foster communities and plant churches that are Christ-centred, worshipping and outreach focused.

Least access people

We focus on peoples with the least access to gospel resources.

Innovation and flexibility

We recognize each person’s unique calling and vision and encourage our teams to work in innovative and flexible ways to fulfill that calling. Our teams use innovative means to gain access and minister effectively to unreached peoples.

Team centred

Our people work in teams with others from around the world, modelling Christian unity and developing work strategies appropriate to the local environment.

Ethos of grace

God’s grace operates uniquely in each person’s life and therefore we value mutual acceptance and respect.

The local church

We partner with sending churches to equip people to work in mission and partner with national church communities.

Participatory servant-leadership

Our decentralised structure involves all members in decision making and promotes servant leadership.

Pioneers NZ board

Paul Blackler

Board Chair

Joel Robinson

Treasurer

I have served on the PiNZ board since 2020 (more recenlt as treasurer). I am married to Tamiris, and we currently have one toddler named Koa who is full of beans. I am the Director & Adviser at Financial Advice Practice, Radical Investment. Formational to my career and life-path was 11-months serving in South Sudan in 2012 via Pioneers. The primary aim was using football as a means for unification and develop of young men, creating inter-tribal relationships with Jesus at the core. The passion to see transformative change in Sub-Saharan African is not finished for me, and I anticipate a future link between my business, Pioneers and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Selu Malua

Trustee

I have been a member of the PiNZ Board since 2024. Married to Sione, a dedicated Church minister for the United Church of Tonga in New Zealand. Truly blessed with five wonderful children! A Sunday school teacher at our local church in Grey Lynn, Auckland. Secretary for the Pacific Islands Evangelical and Missionary Network. I am passionate about facilitating training, retreats, and conferences that empower local churches in the Pacific for impactful evangelism and mission work. I’m truly grateful for the chance to work with Pioneers! This experience has inspired me and shown how Pacific churches in NZ and the Pacific can enthusiastically reignite their mission focus and engage their members in meaningful ways.

Chris Ayers

Director

I felt called to pursue full-time ministry 25 years ago. In 2005, my wife Jude and I moved our young family to Melbourne for theological training. It was during this time, that we felt called to serve cross-culturally in mission and in mid-2008 we departed to help with church planting in Eastern Europe. For the next 8 years, our ministry focused primarily on bible teaching, discipling, counselling and community outreach in the city of Opole, Poland. In late-2017, I accepted the role of Director for Pioneers New Zealand and have been serving in mission mobilisation for the past 8 years.

Maree Houghton

Trustee / Member Care

I have served as a PiNZ board member since 2024 and as the Member Care Coordinator since 2022. I lead a team of six to care for workers sent from Aotearoa New Zealand. From 2011 to 2020, my husband, Stuart, and I served with Pioneers in Kenya, where our two children joined us along the way. It was a privilege to be part of a multi-cultural team united in the desire to see people drawn closer to Jesus. I’m grateful that my journey in missions continues through Pioneers, now by using the experience and insights gained in Kenya to encourage and support those serving overseas.

Andrew Page

Trustee

I am relatively new to the board, joining in 2024. I am married to Andrea and have two adult children. I have been involved in missions previously, serving overseas on the field for many years with my family, and also helping with mission mobilisation in NZ. I am currently the Pastor of Belmont Baptist Church. “I love the local church, and I love that Pioneers is all about the local church!”