The Seventh-day Adventist Church may divide the world into thirteen regions, but in terms of population, the church’s Northern Asia Pacific area claims a full quarter of the world’s people. Covering the countries of China (with dependent territories Hong Kong and Macau), Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia and Taiwan the region totals a membership of 546,000 spread over 1,731 churches.

North Asia Pacific President Jairyong Lee reported baptisms of 97,439 people in the last five years.  Yet he also expressed the challenge of countries like North Korea where there is no Adventist church, even though there is evidence of many people keeping the Sabbath.  He also recognized that only three percent of the region’s population is Christian.  With secularism, materialism and political ideologies that detract from God he stated the church has had to look for special ways of reaching out to touch people’s lives.

These are figures that struck the audience in the auditorium.  Denisson Dorl from Brazil made the contrast with his own country. “I see so many difficulties with evangelism in those countries that make it so hard for the church to grow in this part of the world. In Brazil we don’t have these problems in comparison it is almost too easy for us.” 

Clyde Thomas, president of the church in Trinidad and Tobago was delighted that, “the gospel is reaching far more people than we thought.”

Adventists have been in the region for 100 years and the church there is committed to using all the resources of their mission history to share the gospel.

In a video presentation Lee reported that the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is working effectively in North Korea, Mongolia and China.  For instance, after 10 years in Mongolia ADRA is running 16 projects involving farming, health and education, while in Japan ADRA repairs bicycles by the thousands and sends them to Laos which helps children to attend school.  ADRA’s North Korean bakery project has been particularly successful providing needy children with 50,000 bread rolls daily.

Twelve hospitals and many sanatoriums and clinics across the region use Adventism’s NEWSTART health strategy to share the gospel.  The hospitals combine modern medical science with holistic Adventist health principles.

Some 44 Adventist schools share the gospel with 25,000 students.  The Adventist-owned Sahmyook University in Seoul rejoices in 800 baptisms annually. Added to that English Language Schools across the region have proved an effective way of introducing students to the Gospel.  Mainly based around English conversation classes they have resulted in 12,000 baptisms in South Korea.

The region has also been expanding frontiers in publishing. In Japan the “Signs of the Times” published for 100 years, is the longest running Christian magazine. In South Korea the publishing house has produced the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary while for China and Mongolia the focus has been on producing the works of Ellen White, who is one of the church’s founders, as a means of outreach.

It would be easy for members in that region to be discouraged when only three percent of the territory is Christian and the growth rate is quite slow.  However it can also be seen as a challenge.  The Pioneer mission movement in South Korea trains and sends pastors to plant new churches.  Currently 28 pastors serve in Japan, Taiwan and Mongolia.  The five-year goal is to have 100 pastors.

The “1000 Missionary Movement” with headquarters in the Philippines is also having a significant effect with 3,100 missionaries having served in 34 different countries.  The aim is for the members to be life-long missionaries.

The “Go One Million” and “Sow 1 Billion” programs have also benefited the region with churches starting Bible Schools and Bible course requests increasing by 100 percent in Japan.  This has is helped by a pioneer initiative to advertise in 14 major newspapers - the first church to ever do so.

The church’s centennial celebrations over the last few years have emphasized the strong heritage of Adventism in the region, yet also focused the mission imperative of working for the many millions who have not yet heard of Jesus Christ.

That particularly struck one man in the audience.  Pyung Il Cho is a pastor in the Republic of Korea.  “The challenges are great because of the large population. We have to do many things to proclaim the gospel. Communism in North Korea makes it so difficult to penetrate. As someone who lives in that region I found the reports very accurate. But [the] most important thing is to keep proclaiming the gospel.”