The Want of the World

Global Mission has a lot to offer Seventh-day Adventists who want to share their faith and friendship with people from non-Christian backgrounds.

How can my church share the good news with our Buddhist community? What are the best ways to share Christ’s love with my Hindu neighbor? How can I explain the hope of the Second Coming to my atheist co-worker? How do I help my Muslim friend understand what we believe?

Every day Adventists around the world struggle with these difficult questions, and if we’re going to take Christ’s commission seriously to “make disciples of all nations,” we need relevant answers.

As a church we’ve been very successful at sharing the special truths of scripture with other Christians. But we’ve been reluctant to share the good news with people from non-Christian backgrounds, often because we just don’t know where to start.

Global Mission has a lot to offer Seventh-day Adventists who want to share their faith and friendship with people from non-Christian backgrounds.

When Global Mission was established in 1990, it focused on three major shifts in how our Church traditionally thought about mission: 1) from reaching every nation to reaching every nation, tribe, language and people group 2) from where the growth was easiest to where it is most difficult 3) from reaching mainly Christians to also reaching people from other religious traditions.

These shifts in focus resulted in two new approaches to mission. The first was to launch the Global Mission pioneer program. This program starts new groups of Adventist believers through the ministry of local church planters who are familiar with the language and culture in an unreached area. Since 1990 these Global Mission pioneers have started more than 13,000 congregations with a presence in nearly every country of the world.

The second new approach was the establishment of Global Mission Study Centers. Their ministry helps Adventists understand the major world religions and their adherents and provides a wholistic approach to sharing the gospel with them. They also offer training for leaders, pastors, and members; produce outreach materials; and foster church planting in new areas.

There are six Global Mission Study Centers that help the church share Christ intentionally with people from the major world religions and faith backgrounds:

1. The Center for East Asian Religions
2. The Center for Secular and Post-Christian Mission
3. The Center for South Asian Religions
4. The Global Center for Adventist-Muslim Relations
5. The World Jewish-Adventist Friendship Center
6. The Global Mission Urban Center

Each of the Global Mission Study Centers is committed to helping the Adventist Church and its members share the message of salvation in word and deed with a world that does not know much about Seventh-day Adventists.

Rather than presenting a message in terms that only Christians would understand, there is an urgent need to share the Bible message in ways that meet people where they are. The express purpose of the Study Centers is to develop a witness that fosters communication. For more information on how to reach people of other religious backgrounds, please visit www.AdventistMission.org.

To view more pictures for this article and to read more articles visit http://www.adventistmission.org/mission360mag