The number of Seventh-day Adventist congregations around the world has increased nearly 70 percent from 56,095 to 93,648 in the past ten years, according to statistics from the church’s office of statistics comparing 1989 with 1999.

Michael Ryan, director of the Adventist Church’s Global Mission initiative, says that “Global Mission pioneers” have been the major force in establishing new congregations. He says that the pioneer program emphasizes local people working in local areas, within their own cultural group. Pioneers, usually young people, volunteer at least a year of their time to establish new congregations in new areas. Currently more than 25,000 pioneers are working around the world.

“In many ways the pioneer program has revolutionized the face of Adventist mission,” says Ryan. “While people working cross-culturally are still needed, Global Mission pioneers have many strengths. They understand the language and culture, and can live and identify with the people with whom they’re working.”

Some of the most spectacular growth between 1989 and 1999 has occurred in the territories of the former Soviet Union, where the Adventist Church has grown 527 percent, from 483 congregations to 2,548. Other significant growth has occurred in: West Africa, 207 percent (from 5,486 to 11,346 congregations); East Africa, 250 percent (from 7,683 to 19,215 congregations); and India, 203 percent (from 1,748 to 3,554 congregations).

Launched in 1990, the Global Mission initiative aims to establish congregations in areas of the world where there are currently no Adventist Churches. It places special emphasis on the so-called 10/40 Window, an imaginary rectangle on the world map that encompasses much of Asia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa.