Adventist Mission director gives a glimpse into the financing of missions, responds to efforts from independent ministries and tells how the church now plans to reach other cultures.
Seventh-day Adventists used to contribute more to world mission offerings, but following decades of declining contributions, the church revamped its missions promotion strategy and giving has once again increased, though modestly.
Office of Adventist Mission director, Gary Krause, in an interview reveals current and historical financial support for church missions, gives an overview of how to reach other cultures, and tells how the church, in some ways, has been perceived as being outdone by independent ministries.
The witty Australian, who holds a graduate degree in journalism from the University of Technology, Sydney, likes to follow the career of pro golfer Tiger Woods, and even hit the links himself when he’s not traveling to mission sites every other week or spending time with his family. Excerpts from the interview:
Adventist News Network: How is the church trying to build bridges with other groups of people?
Gary Krause: “Historically we’ve been focused on talking with people who come from a Christian background, and we have not done as well talking with people from other traditions. We now operate five Global Mission study centers whose focus is to learn about other traditions. One in Thailand is for studying the Buddhist religion and people of that mindset. We’ve had a church presence in Bangkok for 100 years and we’ve had about three churches mainly based around the institutions. But we have few Adventists in the Buddhist world. We also have a center to study the Muslim faith—it’s moving from California to Cyprus—and one in India for Hindus. There’s another one in England for reaching people with a non-religious or post-modern mindset. Another study center is in Israel. Ironically we, of all people, should have been building bridges with Jewish people but we haven’t.”
ANN: Yet aren’t there some Jewish Adventist congregations that worship in a traditional Jewish style?
Krause: “Yeah, and we’re trying to do that with all the world religions. Why should Buddhists have to come into an Adventist Church and sit on pews? Why can’t they sit on the floor and take their shoes off at the door? Why do they have to buy into the cultural baggage of the Christian message when it’s told by westerners? Why should they have to sing from the Seventh-day Adventist hymnbook when the rhythms and the phrasing and the cadences are so foreign to their way of doing things? I remember I was traveling to Burkina Faso in Africa where they started a group of new Adventists and they lined up some people to sing a western hymn, they were struggling but did quite well. Finally Mike [Ryan, then Global Mission director,] went up and whispered in [the leader’s] ear and said, ‘Why don’t you sing one of your local songs.’ Immediately the smiles came out, they pulled out the drums and started swaying a bit, singing beautiful harmonies. That’s why we have these study centers—to help us better understand where these people are coming from.”
ANN: How many missionaries does the denomination have?
Krause: “About 1,000 around the world now.”
ANN: Do you think some members have the impression that the mission field has been adequately reached?
Krause: “We have to remind people that we’re having an impact in some areas of the world, but there are so many areas that still haven’t even heard the name ‘Jesus.’ The encouraging thing is that the mission offerings have been increasing, because for decades they were on a downward spiral.”
ANN: What was the level of giving in the past?
Krause: “I guess it’s kind of scary—if you look back in the 1930s, for every $10 that an Adventist gave in tithe they gave $6 in mission offerings. But now for every $10 in tithe it’s 38 cents. And if you look at the graphs, as giving to mission offerings has gone down, giving to local churches has gone up. Significantly.”
ANN: Why did giving to missions decrease over time?
Krause: “I think there’s been this disillusionment among people who faithfully give their offerings all these years and never hear what happens with it. Whereas the supporting ministries have been very faithful in reporting back to people who give them money. You know, ‘you gave a thousand dollars, here’s a picture of the church, come and see it, preach a sermon if you want.’ Whereas we’ve said, ‘give your mission offerings on faith.’”
ANN: How are you going to overcome the impression that the church isn’t effectively communicating its missions work?
Krause: “We have a quarterly Adventist Mission DVD that goes to every world [administrative region]. It’s not heavily promotional, just what’s happening and a ‘thank you’ for support. There may be churches somewhere that can find one or two minutes in their worship service to show one of those pieces. We also have a Web site, www.adventistmission.org, and we’re looking at ways to do a magazine. We’re putting articles in the Adventist Review, we’re talking to Adventist News Network, if we can find a carrier pigeon that will take the story we’ll use it. But we’re not into direct fundraising. Whereas some church and supporting ministries send a magazine to their contributors, we’re wanting people to give mission offerings at their local church. Although we do have the giving option online, we don’t have a mailing list.
ANN: Even with your office’s restructuring, the level of giving hasn’t reached its historic levels?
Krause: “Nowhere near it. But there’s a renewed emphasis on mission in different parts of the world. I think Adventists generally are very generous people and when they see that there’s a need they respond to it. But if we keep them in the dark I don’t blame them if they don’t give much. But if they see something that touches their heart and they see that people’s lives have been changed not only now, but also for eternity, then that gives them a reason to keep seeing how they can be part of the team for mission, to keep praying and be involved and support it.”