The Adventist University of Africa (AUA) campus in Nairobi, Kenya, filled with university faculty, staff, and students AUA and the neighboring Maxwell Adventist Academy (MAA) on September 5 for the global launch of OneVoice27. Uniformed service personnel also attended.

The service marked the institution's commitment to OneVoice27, a global initiative encouraging Adventist church members to use their personal digital media to post how Jesus can make all things new using the hashtag #allthingsnew based on Revelation 21:5.

Four projects, one ecosystem

AUA introduced four flagship projects as part of the OneVoice27 movement during the global launch.

The first project will transform AUA's existing audio-visual unit into an active production and distribution center, creating short-form evangelistic videos on theology, health, leadership, and finance featuring AUA faculty and staff. The content will be shared through Hope Channel Africa, Adventist World Radio, and East-Central Africa Division (ECD) Media. Video projects will also be posted online to reach audiences outside of Nairobi. Content will be produced in English, French, Arabic, Amharic, and Portuguese to reach as many people as possible. Partners for this project include Voice of Prophecy (VOP), faith-aligned content creators, and ECD's communication team.

The second project will utilize AUA's online discipleship platform to deliver the Discipleship Handbook produced by the General Conference Sabbath School and Personal Ministries (GC SSPM) department via video, audio, and interactive lessons on a mobile-accessible learning platform. People who complete all 26 lessons will receive a co-branded digital certificate and will be commissioned as DNA Mentors, each committed to discipling at least one new person. Representatives said this will create a self-replicating movement that continues beyond the OneVoice27 initiative. The platform is being developed in partnership with GC SSPM, GC Youth Ministries, and three African divisions.

The third project is a three-day intensive bootcamp that will train AUA campus members, local church youth, and representatives from public universities and colleges in content creation, social media evangelism, WhatsApp cell group facilitation, and online Bible study tools. Representatives said every participant will leave with a ready-to-use Digital Evangelism Starter Kit and is expected to train others in their local church or institution, creating a multiplication chain.

The fourth project involves hosting health expos in partnership with local hospitals, the uniformed services ministry, and youth sports tournaments that will feed into a single celebration event on the AUA campus in September 2027. The event will feature a baptism service, VOP graduation, and Certified Pastoral Chaplain certification ceremony.

Uniformed services at the heart of mission

The uniformed service personnel present at the launch event were from Kenya Defense Forces, the National Police Service, the Administrative Police Service, the General Service Unit, the Kenya Prison Service, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Kenya Forest Service, and the National Youth Service.

AUA's fourth OneVoice27 project is designed to engage the uniformed service community and plans to deliver a VOP discipleship program; Daniel and Revelation prophecy series; and leadership, family life, and mental health seminars to members.

"It's lovely to see them as part of us today," said one of the speakers during the presentation of AUA's four flagship projects.

Maxwell Adventist Academy encourages students to lead the way

Teachers and students from MAA joined the AUA global launch event. Lari Rusenescu, principal of MAA, shared that students had already discovered the joy of mission.

"We have found that especially our students, when they go out to impact the community, they come back rejoicing," said Tom Ongaro, vice principal of MAA, told the congregation gathered at the OneVoice27 launch event. "Happiness is found by people doing service that impacts the community."

The academy announced that in the coming months its students, in partnership with Maranatha International, will travel to the Nandi region of Kenya to help construct a church for a community currently worshipping under a tree. A team of MAA students has already begun worshipping with children from an orphanage in Nairobi.

Ongaro announced that testimonies from these mission trips would form part of AUA's OneVoice27 digital content portfolio by providing real stories from real students that will be shared with the world.

ECD's digital missionary call

A representative from the ECD Communication department introduced the division's digital mobilization initiative, Generation Light Mode, to the AUA congregation. The initiative challenges church members to "refuse to scroll in silence."

Generation Light Mode is a social media platform that invites digital missionaries and members across the ECD to join a resource hub where they can download evangelistic content such as testimonies, videos, posters, and Bible study materials to share on their existing social media accounts.

Generation Light Mode's aims for one million digital missionaries from across ECD to intentionally engage their followers and lead interested contacts back to online Bible studies in Daniel, Revelation, and The Desire of Ages.

"Half of the world's population is online," the ECD representative reminded the congregation. "We as a church need to be present on social media to switch on the light and bring light into the dark world."

Using technology to spread the gospel

The launch-day sermon was delivered by Ademola Tayo, AUA's vice chancellor. Drawing from Ezra chapter 3, he distilled six principles for the OneVoice27 journey ahead: a new priority, a new obedience, a new resolve, a new focus, a new attitude, and a new understanding, celebrating the differences between generations, where the wisdom of the old and the creativity of the young are equally necessary.

"The world in which we live is technologically advanced but emotionally exhausted. The Christian message is not that humanity will somehow repair itself. Our hope is in a person, and His name is Jesus Christ," Tayo said.

He called on the congregation to pull out their phones and send a message of hope to one person on their contact list. Commitment cards distributed during the closing commitment service asked each person to write down the name of one person they would commit to reaching out to, as well as the first step they would take. The cards are meant to be kept in their Bibles until the culmination of the OneVoice27 initiative in September 2027.

As Tayo closed his appeal, citing Ellen White's counsel in Evangelism to "devise methods to reach the people where they are," he issued a final charge: "Let our devices carry the gospel to those we may never meet. Let us not only scroll, let us share. Let us not only consume, let us witness. Let us not remain silent. Let us proclaim Jesus."

A faculty member sharing hope through their phone during the altar call.

Photo: Adventist University of Africa

Staff members encouraging one another to engage on their digital platforms in a meaningful way.

Photo: Adventist University of Africa

This article was provided by the Adventist University of Africa.