The Seventh-day Adventist Church should be intentional about “connecting people with eternal values in times of crisis,” said administrators meeting September 27 at the church’s international headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.

The events of September 11 clearly show the church must be ready to step forward in times of crisis with a message of comfort and hope, said Michael Ryan, who presented the proposal to members of the church’s executive committee.

“It is in times of uncertainty and fear that people most need to hear about the security they can only find in Jesus Christ,” said Ryan, who is director of Global Mission for the Adventist Church. “We belong to a church that has a commitment to people in crisis.”

The plan calls for every administrative region, or division, of the world church to prepare a detailed, rapid-response plan for reacting to national or international crises. Church leaders in each region will prepare literature, assemble teams of people able to offer pastoral support, and develop training programs for team members.

“We are facing a future where this kind of organization will be increasingly needed, especially in large urban areas around the world,” said Ryan.

The initiative does not replace the church’s humanitarian organizations—such as the Adventist Development and Relief Agency or Adventist Community Services, said Ryan. Instead, the focus is on providing spiritual care, he explained.

The Hope in Crisis concept emerged as a direct response to the terrorist attacks in the United States earlier this month.  The church’s executive committee, made up of administrators from around the world, has unanimously approved the proposal.

Adventists in North America will be the first to put the plan in action, with a concerted, division-wide effort to bring spiritual comfort to those people in New York suffering in the aftermath of the terrorist tragedy. (See Adventist News Network report, “New York City: Adventists Pioneer ‘Hope in Crisis’ Concept.”)