Download PDF - Adventist Review

More documents

Recommendations

Info

World News & Perspectives ■■World Church Statistics Reveal Massive Adventist Missions Challenge There’s substantial church impact in many lands, but 10/40 window remains unreached. By MARK A. KELLNER, news editor Although the Seventh-day Adventist Church has reduced its ratio to world population from 1 in 360,000 at the movement’s founding to 1 in 400 today, massive outreach challenges remain in many countries of the Middle East, East Asia, and Southeast Asia, church officials were told September 29, 2013, during the movement’s Urban Mission Conference at the Silver Spring, Maryland, headquarters. Citing the lack of Adventist penetration in many of the major cities of the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) area, China, India, and other parts of the 10/40 window, Rick McEdward, director of the church’s Global Mission Religious Study Centers, said, “There is a tremendous geographical problem we have” in the region. Among Christians, the 10/40 window is defined as a geographical rectangle in the Eastern Hemisphere between the 10 and 40 northern lines of latitude, where more than 60 percent of the world’s population live, most of whom have not yet been reached with the gospel message. Of the 500 world cities with more than 1 million population, nearly 250 are in this area. Delegates to the meeting, which included leaders from each of the General Conference’s 13 world divisions, were told by David Trim, director of the church’s Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, that there is one Seventhday Adventist Christian for every 65,000 people in the MENA area, currently one of the highest ratios in the world. McEdward said there are 126 urban areas with a population of 1 million or more in which there are 125 or fewer Adventists in each area; in 33 of these urban areas there are no Seventh-day Adventists. And among the world’s least-reached cities with a population of 5 million or more, they all share the same religion, Islam. The statistics came during the Sunday morning session of the Urban Mission Conference, an event organizers said was designed not as a “show-and-tell” of self-congratulation, but rather as a strategy session on how Seventh-day Adventists can complete the task of world evangelization. With more than half of the world’s population residing in cities since 2007, a share expected to rise to 66 percent by 2050, the need is apparent, said Michael L. Ryan, a general vice president of the world church who oversees the Office of Adventist Mission and was a principal organizer of the conference. “We will not come up with methodologies” during the three-day session, Ryan said, “but we can agree on a common vision.” The presentation of statistics came photos: Mark A. Kellner/Adventist Review GOD DIDN’T TWEET: Gerson Santos, coordinator for Urban Mission Centers, said outreach “can no longer be called an option, but a commission to the [Adventist] Church,” adding that “God did not send a Twitter [message]; He came Himself” in the person of His Son, Jesus. RESEARCH RESULTS: Stephanie Sahlin Jackson, daughter of Seventh-day Adventist researcher Monte Sahlin, presents research results to the Urban Mission Conference, September 29, 2013, in Silver Spring, Maryland. INVOLVE YOUTH: Samuel Telemaque, Adventist Mission coordinator for the Inter-American Division, urged Adventists from “high areas of receptivity” to the church’s message—particularly young Adventists—to go as missionaries “into the areas of low receptivity.” 8 (968) | www.AdventistReview.org | October 24, 2013
first with a demographic overview prepared by veteran Adventist researcher Monte Sahlin but presented by daughter Stephanie Sahlin Jackson, who substituted for her father. “The mission given to us by Jesus requires us to go where the people are,” Sahlin Jackson said, noting the massive shifts to the cities that are continuing worldwide, as well as the present-day concentration of more than 825 million people globally in slum areas of the big cities. Gerson Santos, coordinator for Urban Mission Centers, said outreach “can no longer be called an option, but a commission to the [Adventist] Church,” adding, “God did not send a Twitter [message]; He came Himself” in the person of His Son, Jesus. Reaction to the statistical presentations was deliberate: Delbert Baker, a general vice president of the General Conference, urged participants to develop “a theology of how we wrap our minds around the challenge” of ■■North America Pacific Press Cancels ABC Contracts Conferences will resume ownership; online options available. By MARK A. KELLNER, news editor reaching so many people and people groups. Southern Africa-Indian Ocean division president Paul Ratsara said he viewed the reports with “mixed emotions,” saying his overwhelming feeling was “how are we going to do this?” Ratsara also quoted a French proverb that “A problem well stated is half-solved. We should not be discouraged.” Jonathan Duffy, president of ADRA International, the church’s relief and development arm, suggested his group’s humanitarian work “can open areas where it is not open [to evangelism] at the moment.” Samuel Telemaque, Adventist Mission coordinator for the Inter-American Division, urged Adventists from “high areas of receptivity” to the church’s message to go as missionaries “into the areas of low receptivity.” In response Ryan pointed out this is being done by students at River Plate Seventh-day Adventist University in Entre Rios, Argentina, many of whom are volunteering for missions in Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked central Asian republic, as well as in the Middle East/North Africa Union. Williams Costa, Jr., communication director for the world church, noted the movement’s efforts to increase Internet availability of the Adventist message in many places, while Jim Ayer, Adventist World Radio (AWR) vice president for advancement, pointed to the massive numbers of Arabic-language AWR podcast downloads in Saudi Arabia, as well as Mandarin-language programming in China. General Conference president Ted N. C. Wilson said that while he was “sobered and overwhelmed” by some of the statistics presented, he was encouraged by the attention being paid by world church leaders in these discussions. n A total of 17 Adventist Book Center retail stores servicing 24 conference territories operated by the Pacific Press Publishing Association (PPPA) of Nampa, Idaho, under management agreements with conferences, will transition to local Seventh-day Adventist Church conference administration, officials of the publishing house announced following a September 26, 2013, board meeting. The board “voted to request termination of the management agreements” for the stores, which it has managed “over the course of nearly 15 years,” a pppa MANAGEMENT SHIFT: Pacific Press Publishing Association has announced it will seek termination of contracts to manage 25 Adventist Book Center retail stores serving half of the church’s North American membership. Shown here is the ABC in Loma Linda, California. statement from the organization said. The outlets, PPPA said, served “nearly half of the North American Division membership.” A plan to terminate management agreements for the stores should be in place by December 31, 2013, the statement indicated. “The board recognized that the current business model for these management agreements has experienced challenges because of changing trends in technology and the way people access informa- www.AdventistReview.org | October 24, 2013 | (969) 9
Page 1: www.adventistreview.org October 24,
Page 4 and 5: inbox Letters From Our Readers www.
Page 6 and 7: Editorials Gerald A. Klingbeil What
Page 10 and 11: World News & Perspectives tion,”
Page 12 and 13: World News & Perspectives fare work
Page 14 and 15: Theology The “former things” an
Page 16 and 17: thy of worship as judged by the cro
Page 18 and 19: Cover Feature FOLLOW ME: Lawrence M
Page 20 and 21: Is It Better to Be a Junior Now, or
Page 23 and 24: How a Runaway Horse Led Me Home Dur
Page 25 and 26: He alone who recognizes in nature h
Page 27 and 28: it’s baptism affects us in anothe
Page 29: other placed in foster care. I was

Download PDF - Adventist Review

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?