The Seventh-day Adventist Church has official presence in 207 countries, and is working in all but seven of 228 countries, declared Mike Ryan, a general vice president of the world church and director of Global Mission, to the thousands attending the first Sabbath, or Saturday, services of the movement’s quinquennial meetings. 

But while the church is successful in rural areas and on islands, it does not have a significant presence in the fastest growing areas of the world: big cities.

“Is there hope for the big cities of the world?” Ryan asked. An offering collected this morning will go to spreading the message of hope in these cities that are considered a “growing challenge” for Adventists.

With the offering, Global Mission—a department of the Adventist Church that shares the Gospel in places that have not heard it—will help fund outreach programs and new church buildings in 60 cities.

Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the world church, was featured on a video presented during the world church gathering. Standing on a Bangkok, Thailand street, he said, “This is one of the great cities. ... What are we doing in the cities? Our work has been to a large extent based on rural work. We have not really addressed the huge masses of big cities such as this.”

He added, “We are told that in 15 years, two-thirds of the world’s total population will live in cities like this one.” There are new, creative efforts being taken in the cities, he concluded.

Hope 4 the Big Cities is funded in part by three other major offering collections in Seventh-day Adventist congregations worldwide: The first was gathered April 9 in Adventist congregations outside of North America; churches in the United States, Canada and Bermuda had a special collection for the project April 30; and on July 9, all the church’s congregations—and the world business in St. Louis, Missouri—will participate in another offering for the project.