Faigao on papering a community; the denomination's literary roots
Literature evangelists already sell books door-to-door on behalf of thousands of Seventh-day Adventist churches. But Howard Faigao wants one for every congregation worldwide. All 63,000 of them.
The Adventist world church’s Publishing director knows it won’t be easy. Support from administration is weak in some countries. In others, book supply and reliable delivery are sketchy.
Church co-founder Ellen White said every local church should have at least one person with the talent for serving as a literature evangelist, a goal Faigao feels he should continue. But the Publishing coordinator, once a title for local church ministries, has morphed over the years into a job for administrators.
Originally from the Philippines, Faigao, 59, has previously served as a local church pastor and Publishing director for several regional administrative offices. He sat down recently to discuss the importance of putting the ministry back where he thinks it belongs. Here are some excerpts:
Adventist News Network: What type of person makes a successful literature evangelist (LE)?
Howard Faigao: Usually the sanguine personality has several advantages in becoming successful as a literature evangelist. Of course we believe in spiritual gifts. The ones who have the gift of courage, of meeting people, make good LEs. Really, it requires total commitment.
ANN: What can the church do to recruit more LEs?
Faigao: One thing is to reaffirm the policy of the Ministerial Association to require 350 hours of canvassing for all ministerial candidates.
ANN: Is that happening in all regions?
Faigao: Well, not all.
ANN: Why not?
Faigao: Well, some church leaders are probably not aware and some are facing challenges in some countries.
ANN: Is selling books door-to-door an effective use of a ministry student’s time?
Faigao: Yes, 350 hours can be done in one summer. Ellen White said literature evangelism is an excellent school for those who are qualifying themselves to enter the ministry. The [church’s] Education department also gives a strong endorsement of that along with the Ministerial Association.
ANN: What kinds of successes are you having?
Faigao: Every division has a good literature ministry program. In terms of number of LEs, [the program] is strong in many places—in South America, Inter-America, Africa, Southern-Asia Pacific…. For example in [South America] we have almost 13,000 LEs and about three quarters of them are students. Last year, the church sold more than 14 million copies of books and magazines. Half of those were sold in South America.
ANN: Why is there not as much of a commitment to literature evangelism in some areas?
Faigo: In some countries, the publishing work is not as strong as many years back. Knocking door-to-door is becoming a challenge. You know, in high economic countries there is more of a feeling of insecurity for some people. But here in America our student LE program is very successful. We invited about 100 students from all over the world to dedicate six months to a year working here.
ANN: What are some of your challenges?
Faigao: They’re different in different areas. In some of our [administrative regions] we don’t always have Publishing directors. We understand the challenges that leaders have, like budgetary constraints. In some places in Asia and Africa, we have the challenge of supplying books. There’s a big potential there for literature evangelism and outreach. Our church leaders are doing their best to address this situation of book supply.
ANN: Historically, how has Publishing fit in with the church’s mission?
Faigao: The Publishing program really began in local churches. There was the Vigilant Missionary Tract Society locally, that grew and in 1901 the Adventist Church headquarters organized the Publishing department. Now, through the course of history, it looks like the publishing work was lifted away from the local church in some places. In 2005 at the [World Church Session] the church voted to put it back where it belongs. Now we have it in the Church Manual that one of the officers in the local church is the Publishing coordinator.
ANN: What does a congregation’s Publishing coordinator do?
Faigao: They coordinate the distribution of the missionary book of the year, the missionary magazines, help the director of the region’s conference recruit literature evangelists…. You know, it gives dynamism in the congregation. [The LE] can give updates in the church about what is going on in the community—updates like other departments also give.
ANN: Do you think it’s still cost effective for the church to have its own publishing houses instead of contracting that work out?
Faigao: I still believe that we need in our church at least in every [one of the church’s 13 world] division[s] a publishing house or editorial house. In some places it’s more economical to have no printing facilities at the publishing house. I think, maybe, in the future we need to look very closely as to ... whether we need all our printing facilities. I’m hearing many leaders say this. But in many parts of the world they’re still very viable.
ANN: What’s it going to take to have a literature evangelist in every congregation?
Faigao: A real intense promotion and support from administrators and local church pastors. If we all take the counsel of Ellen White we can accomplish more in outreach. I really believe God has given gifts to each member and at least one has received the gift of literature evangelism in each local church. I believe in Ellen White’s statement.
ANN: Will it happen?
Faigao: We’re progressing toward that. It takes time. It probably won’t happen soon that every local church will have an LE, but hopefully, by the grace of God, we’ll at least have a total number of LEs equivalent to the total number of churches by the end of 2010.