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COVER STORYthe others have to help themselves asbest they can; and the whole equipmentis far from desirable.” 13Through the special ThirteenthSabbath Offering, River Plate Academywas able to repair and expand itsbuildings. Today River Plate AdventistUniversity in Argentina enrolls moreMore thanmission projectscompleted inlast 100 years.than 2,500 students per year andoffers more than 30 university degreesthrough its Schools of BusinessAdministration, Education, HealthSciences, and Theology. 14Medical Mission in DepressedTimesIn the 1930s much of the worldexperienced difficult financial hardshipsduring what became known asthe Great Depression. Unemploymentwas high and income low, and yet Sabbathschool mission offering boxeswere overflowing as members faithfullyfollowed the “60 cents per week” missionoffering plan, providing the meansto help millions of people in need.In 1931 Dr. A. Arzoo, who wasserving in Sultanabad, Pakistan, told ofone such need, which was published inthe Missions Quarterly: “Some timeago a young girl was brought to me fortreatment. Her throat was in a verybad condition. A dreadful disease waseating its way into the flesh. A prescriptionwas given to her people, andthey were told to buy the ampule andcome back to the dispensary. They allwent to get the medicine, but theynever returned. I suppose they couldnot pay for the medicine, and were tooembarrassed to come back. It wouldhave cleared up her condition, andthus she would have been cured andwould not have been a source of infectionto others. . . . Many are sick whocome to us for treatment, but we donot have the necessary equipment andsupplies, and we are obliged to turnmany away because we cannot gobeyond our budget.” 15Sabbath school membersresponded with a mission offeringthat year of $2.5 million to help withthis and many other needs in the MiddleEast region, as well as in Africa,India, Burma, and Inter-America.Telling the StoriesIn 2012 the Sabbath school MissionsQuarterly, now known as AdventistMission, turned 100. For the past centurythis small publication has faithfullychronicled the needs of missionsaround the world and has inspiredyoung and old to give to the specialThirteenth Sabbath Offering projects.Schools and universities, hospitals,clinics, and orphanages, printing pressesand Better Living centers, churches andchapels, dormitories and evangelistic$4.47training centers, libraries and mediacenters, youth campgrounds, and Biblelesson materials in local languages cameinto existence through the generosity ofthose who gave to the ThirteenthSabbath Offering.These offerings have helped tosend thousands of missionaries andinterdivision workers, Global Missionpioneers and lay evangelists, doctors,dentists, nurses, teachers, and pastorsto serve in every part of the globe.Special mission offerings havehelped to provide materials for evangelisticoutreach, radio and televisionprogramming, broadcast equipment,satellite broadcast time, literature,books, and video and online Biblestudies. More than 1,200 missionprojects around the world have beencompleted because of generous gifts tomission, and many more are stillbeing completed.Charlotte Ishkanian, who hasserved as editor of Adventist Missionsince 1993, spends much of her time inthe field gathering stories and conductinginterviews that will be featuredin upcoming issues of the magazine,available in editions for children and$5.83$5.01Average amount given to missions per member each year.1912 1932 2011*The amounts above reflect the average yearly gift to missions per member and are not adjusted for inflation.18 Adventist World | November 2012
for youth and adults. In addition, theAdventist Mission Department offers acompanion DVD each quarter, featuringshort video segments suitable forviewing during Sabbath school. Theseand many more resources are availableonline at www.AdventistMission.org.Trends in Mission GivingWhile the amount given to worldmissions during the past century isimpressive, one aspect that might beoverlooked is the ratio of mission givingcompared with tithe dollars. In 1912,the average per member tithe incomewas $14.48. Mission offerings that yearwere an average of $4.47 per member. In1932 during the Great Depression, theaverage per member tithe had decreasedto $13.08 but mission offeringsincreased with an average of $5.83 permember. By 2010, the average per membertithe had risen to $127.20, but missionofferings were very close to the1912 figure, with an average of $4.56 permember. The 2010 level of mission givingwas $1.02 lower than in 1932. 16The good news is that in 2011 missiongiving was up from the previousyear, with an average of $5.01 per member.During the fourth quarter of 2011the second-highest Thirteenth SabbathOffering on record was given—a totalof $763,660 to help support workamong refugees and Native Americansin the North American Division.Mission Needs TodayMission needs today are even greaterthan they were back in 1912, accordingto Gary Krause, Adventist Missiondirector at the world church headquartersin Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.“There are more people on earthtoday who are not Adventists thanthere were a hundred years ago,” saysKrause. “Thousands will die in thenext 24 hours who have never evenheard the name of Jesus. Some 300million kids will go to bed hungrytonight. So if our mission work isestablished, it certainly isn’t finished.”POCKET-SIZED:The first missionquarterly from 1912fits easily into ashirt pocket. Today’squarterlies arepacked with thrillingstories in a colorfulmagazine format.Acknowledging that per-capitamission giving has dropped duringthe past few decades while the percentageof funds being given to thelocal church has increased during thattime, Krause doesn’t think it has to bea case of “either/or.”“I know it takes a huge amount ofmoney to run a successful local churchprogram in places such as NorthAmerica,” he admits. “We must faithfullysupport our local church, but wecan’t forget our needy brothers andsisters around the world.“If it weren’t for mission offerings,we would have to close down much ofthe church’s mission program—itsmedical, educational, humanitarian,and spiritual outreach to the world.Our wholistic mission perspectiveencompasses the globe, not just ourcorner. We care about people—irrespectiveof where they live, their skincolor, or the language that they speak.“Mission is the lifeblood of theSeventh-day Adventist Church. Takeaway the Great Commission, and webecome an inward-looking club focusedon our own needs and interests. We loseour fire. We forget about the needs of aworld that Jesus died to save.” ■1The Center for Responsive Politics, “2012 Will Be CostlessElection Yet, With Outside Spending a Wild Card,” availableonline at www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/08/2012-electionwill-be-costliest-yet.html.2Casey Dreier, “Curiosity Comes Cheap,” available online atwww.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dreier/20120809-curiositycomes-cheap.html.3Sam Gustin, “Social Windfall,” available online at http://business.time.com/2012/02/02/social-windfall-facebook-iposbillion-dollar-winners/slide/peter-thiel/#peter-thiel.4James Woodfin, “Microsoft’s Black Hole Sucks $2.5 Billion forthe Year,” available at www.neowin.net/news/microsofts-blackhole-sucks-25-billion-dollars-for-the-year.5Statistics gathered by the author from the Annual StatisticalReports (1912-2011) of the General Conference of Seventh-dayAdventists.6Conversion into current U.S. dollars was calculated onAugust 28, 2012, by using a GDP-per-capita index generated by“Measuring Worth” (www.measuringworth.com). The editorswish to thank David Trim, director, Archives, Statistics, andResearch, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, forhis assistance.7See “The Bounty and the Bible,” Adventist World, January 2009,pp. 16-19.8“The First Mission Project,” Adventist Mission—Children,Second Quarter 2012, pp. 4, 5.9“Pray as You Give,” Missions Quarterly, January 1912, pp. 2, 3.10Ibid., p. 5.11Ibid., p. 6.12“World Church Statistics,” available online at www.adventiststatistics.org/view_Summary.asp?FieldID=D_SUD.13Missions Quarterly, Fourth Quarter 1912, p. 4.14See “Education Without Borders,” Adventist World, December2011, pp. 18-22.15Missions Quarterly, Fourth Quarter 1931, pp. 28, 29.16Annual Statistical Reports (1912, 1932, 2010) of the GeneralConference of Seventh-day Adventists.Gina Wahlen is theassistant to the editor/publisherof AdventistWorld. She and herhusband, Clinton, served as missionariesat the Zaoksky Theological Seminary inRussia (1992-1998), and at the AdventistInternational Institute for Advanced Studiesin the Philippines (2003-2008). They andtheir children, Daniel and Heather, have alifelong love for mission.November 2012 | Adventist World 19
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