There are 13,325,270 baptized members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as of June 30, 2003, according to Bert Haloviak, director of the church's office of Archives and Statistics. This represents a net increase of 573,097 members, or a little more than
There are 13,325,270 baptized members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as of June 30, 2003, according to Bert Haloviak, director of the church’s office of Archives and Statistics. This represents a net increase of 573,097 members, or a little more than 1,569 members per day.
In 2002, “there was one Seventh-day Adventist for every 494 people living; there is now one for every 480,” Haloviak said. “If our past 10-year progress continues, there should be one Seventh-day Adventist for every 341 people on our planet at the end of 2010,” he added.
More than 13 congregations were birthed daily during the calendar year of 2002. In that period, Adventist members contributed more than $4,853,000 each day to help proclaim the gospel message around the world.
At the same time, 2 percent of the church’s membership, or 246,128 people, left the church in 2002. Decreases among recently baptized members are also concerning: for the four quarters ending June 30, 2003, 35 of every 100 new members have left membership, on average.
“We also need to find out why they are leaving so that we can change this picture,” said Pastor Matthew Bediako, world church secretary, who presented an additional report. “Could it be that we are not keeping proper church membership records? Could it be lack of proper preparation before baptism, especially when mass baptisms are conducted? What plan is in place to nurture these new members? Are there pastors, evangelists, and trained lay leaders to work with them? After the stadium or large hall meetings are ended, do we have a place of worship for them?”
This mix of statistics gives a picture of a dynamic church, which, on the whole is growing rapidly—on average just over one person joins the Adventist Church every minute either through baptism or profession of faith.
“Our current numerical growth encompasses numbers undreamed of by those pioneers of almost 160 years ago, yet it is possible because of the solid theological and growth base they established,” Haloviak told the delegates.
Church growth was widely reported by Pastor Bediako, who noted the successful restructuring of the Adventist Church’s African regions and other organizational changes in the past 12 months. Among evangelistic successes, four Sunday-observing pastors and congregations in Thailand voted to join the church, while 600 people requested baptism in the Canadian province of Quebec following an evangelistic series. Adventist membership in Israel has more than doubled in the 2000-2003 period, from 488 to 1,110 at the start of this year, with 1,500 attending Sabbath School weekly.
