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here are times when our church needs to seriously examine where we have a presence in the world and where we don’t. We did this in the 1870s when our idea of fulfilling the Great Commission was limited to reaching immigrants within North America. Ellen White helped refocus our vision, and soon we were sending missionaries around the world.
In the 1980s, we decided it was time for another mission refocus. Leaders came together to pray and strategize. They looked at the world map and saw the areas where the church still had no presence. It was a sobering reality check. Remedially, they voted Global Strategy in 1989, an initiative that gave birth the next year to Global Mission.
Global Mission shifted our focus from reaching mostly other Christians to also starting new groups of believers among adherents of different religions and worldviews. Global Mission also helped us start focusing on unreached people groups, and not just unentered geographical areas. Its impact has been significant, with the number of churches and membership tripling within the past 34 years. But today, we face even greater mission challenges with an additional three billion people on Earth.
A new refocus is needed—one that prayerfully examines our personnel, funds, and goals to see what more we can do to reach the unreached. Some areas of the church with the most significant challenges have the fewest resources to meet them. Mission Refocus is recalibrating these resources so we can reach the entire world for Jesus.
Missionary William Harrison Anderson devoted more than 50 years to pioneering the Adventist work in Africa. He wrote, “I have given my money, my strength, my wife, and I intend to give the rest of my poor self to finish the work God has given me to do. I want you who read these lines to ask yourself that question, ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?’” That’s a great mission refocus prayer: “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”
OUR GREATEST MISSION CHALLENGES TODAY
The 10/40 Window
The 10/40 Window stretches from North Africa through the Middle East and into Asia. It’s home to some 60 percent of the world’s population, most major religions, and the world’s poorest people. Most here have never heard the name of Jesus.
The Urban Window
The Urban Window is rapidly growing. Today there are some cities of more than a million people where there is no record of an Adventist even visiting them.
The Post-Christian Window
The Post-Christian Window includes Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and increasingly North America—countries that can no longer be called Christian and are abandoning Christian values.
HOW WE CAN MEET THEM
Church planting, using Christ’s method of ministry, has proven to be the most effective way to grow and expand the church. Ellen White wrote, “Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me’”—The Ministry of Healing, p. 143.
Global Mission Pioneers
Global Mission pioneers start new groups of believers in new areas and among new people groups. Pioneers are laypeople who work among their people, so they know the language and culture well. Supported by a small stipend, they live in a community for at least a year, making disciples who will plant more churches.
Global Mission Centers
Supporting the pioneers’ work, the Global Mission centers find methods and models to make the Adventist message understandable and meaningful to people with radically different worldviews.
Urban Centers of Influence
Ellen White championed establishing urban centers of influence to connect church members to people living in cities. Adopting this concept, Global Mission helps establish such need-focused entities. They include refugee assimilation centers, juice bars, secondhand shops, cafes, and childcare. Each follows Christ’s method of ministry to start new groups of believers.
The Annual Sacrifice Offering
This offering helps Global Mission start new groups of believers among unreached people, often in the most challenging places in the world. You can give by marking your tithe envelope Annual Sacrifice Offering or online at Global-Mission.org/MySacrifice.
The Mission Offerings
Your weekly mission offerings help support overseas missionaries and the international work of the church, such as our educational and medical work.