A new Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide outreach initiative will attempt to involve every Adventist Church member--some 13 million people--in evangelism.
A new Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide outreach initiative will attempt to involve every Adventist Church member—some 13 million people—in evangelism. Called the “Year of World Evangelism 2004,” this program will especially focus on the involvement of lay people.
Every level of the church, from the church’s 13 divisions, or administrative regions, to the local church, will be a part of the plan. The Year of World Evangelism is closely linked with two other major church movements already in progress—Go One Million, a plan to train and equip 1 million laypeople for evangelism, and Sow 1 Billion, a plan to distribute 1 billion Bible study invitations throughout the world.
“The church has only one mission. Everything we do merges in the concept of mission,” says church president Jan Paulsen. “The focus on evangelism 2004 is a celebration of decisions, which have been made in response to Go One Million and Sow 1 Billion. They are all interconnected, they all belong to the same thing. It’s all one mission.”
“Every Seventh-day Adventist will be challenged to be involved in some way in evangelism,” says Bettina Krause, Sow 1 Billion coordinator. “The Year of Evangelism is a natural follow-on from Go One Million and Sow 1 Billion. Each initiative focuses on the idea that witness is the core purpose of the church, and each emphasizes the absolutely vital role of lay people in this.”
A live uplink April 15 from the Council on Evangelism and Witness at the Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, will outline plans for the Year of Evangelism 2004 to pastors, administrators and leading lay leaders around the world—those who will be involved in energizing their local churches for this special initiative. The three-hour seminar will be presented on the Adventist Television Network April 15 to North America, Inter-America and South America, and a delay broadcast will be featured April 16 to the Pacific Rim, Europe and Africa.
Voted during the 2002 Annual Council, a meeting of worldwide church leaders, each church division was given the opportunity to review the plan and vote on it. “No one evangelistic method is being stressed,” says Ted Wilson, a vice president of the Adventist world church. “This is going to fit in to the plans that divisions already have. It’s about getting people involved in outreach—whether it’s public evangelism, small groups, or other methods.
“In the last days before Christ’s coming, we are looking for the power of the Holy Spirit to move in an incredible way,” Wilson adds. “The theme [for the Year of Evangelism] is ‘Reaping God’s Harvest.’ This is God’s harvest. We are simply placing ourselves at His disposal to do this reaping.”
“We should look at the world as a 6-billion people world,” says Peter Prime, Year of Evangelism coordinator. “If we delay in our responsibilities…it becomes more challenging, more difficult. So it’s imperative that what we do, we do quickly.
“What I see is galvanizing all the resources and sectors of the church—institutions, church congregations, and every level of the entire membership,” Prime continues. “When you have a unified force…victory is assured.”
A major event such as this calls for significant planning. Every church organization and entity are being encouraged to carefully plan this year, 2003, in preparation. Comprehensive resources, developed by the Ministerial Association of the church, will be distributed, and several means of communication will be used to let people know how they can be involved.
Three items of preparation are highlighted: spiritual, promotional and educational. The spiritual preparation calls for the implementation of a systematic prayer plan for all; the setting aside of the first or second week of January 2004 to pray for revival and the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit; and the realizing of a worldwide evangelistic awakening for total participation. The promotional aspect includes the appointment of a coordinator and coordinating committee on all organization levels; and the creative promotion and advertising of the program through all possible means, such as television, radio, articles in church journals, posters, flyers, Web sites and satellite. Education means the holding of division/union/conference-wide evangelism symposiums in 2003 and 2004; and conducting training programs in church growth with particular emphasis on leading souls to Jesus Christ.
It is hoped that at least 150,000 public evangelism series, small group outreach programs, and church-planting projects will take place in 2004, held in the some 51,000 Adventist churches worldwide. Year of Evangelism 2004 program information can be found at www.adventist.tv.