Aboriginal people in Australia will soon enjoy a new church building, and funds to continue outreach in big cities have been allocated.

These projects—and many others—will benefit from the more than U.S. $1.5 million, a 50 percent increase from the US $1 million disbursed in April, that the Adventist Church’s Global Mission Operations Committee will disburse this year to reach areas of the world that haven’t heard the gospel. The unanimous vote came Dec. 16 at the church’s world headquarters.

Funding from Global Mission helps to build churches, rent meeting facilities, pay pioneers and ministers a small stipend, or pay for an evangelism crusade. Many of the nations where Global Mission is working cannot be publicly identified for fear of antagonizing either authorities or dominant faith communities that would see Christians as a threat.

Before deciding to fund a project, the first question the committee must answer is: “How is this going to reach out to people?” says Daisy Orion, director of planning for Global Mission. 

“We’ve been asked for all sorts of things from dormitories to badminton courts,” adds Michael L. Ryan, a general vice president of the Adventist Church and director for Global Mission. “But [projects] have to be focused on church planting in unentered areas.”

In keeping with that purpose, the committee is considering funding a portable saw mill for the Solomon Islands. Ryan says Christian work there is “growing fast” and that locals are having difficulty keeping up with building churches. The saw mill would enable the sawing of planks needed for these churches. 

Another program is aiming to reach out to an increasingly secular society in Northern Norway. Ryan says the church had seven members, with no young people. After they decided to start a church on a farm to reach out to young people in the area, the church has grown and 42 young people now attend, along with their parents. Global Mission helps pay the rent and the local government is partially funding it as well.

Since the Global Mission effort began in 1990, thousands of Global Mission pioneers have established more than 11,000 new Adventist congregations.

More information about Global Mission can be found at www.global-mission.org.