WORLD-WIDE DREAM AND VISION

Last weekend leaders of our world-wide church came together for an annual planning meeting at the General Conference. Pastor Jan Paulsen, General Conference president, underscored “our untiring, relentless commitment to engage in mission.”
I would like to highlight some statistics: by 2010, it’s anticipated that 17 million people will be baptized members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. That’s more than 14 times the 1.2 million Adventists on church rolls in 1960. More than 64,000 Adventist congregations will meet weekly by 2010, a roughly three-fold increase from 1980’s 21,555 congregations. And by 2010, it’s projected that one person out of every 405 on Earth will be a Seventh-day Adventist, up from 1 in 1,268 just 30 years earlier.
However these numbers do not correspond to two categories of world population: first in the 10/40 window, a geographical rectangle extending from West Africa, through the Middle East and into Asia, where more than 60 percent of the world's population live, and where most have not yet been reached with the Gospel message, the ratio more than quadruples to 1 in 1,736.
Secondly, in the world’s 22 largest cities, it’s more than double: there’s only one Seventh-day Adventist for every 953 people. Our city, London, is not in the top 20 world largest, just 10th in Canada, but somehow, our local statistics show similar challenges.
Challenging Adventists worldwide our leaders summed up the vision in this phrase:
“Reach Up, Out & Across”
Reaching up in worship to God, increasing Bible study, prayer and reading of the Spirit of Prophecy writings, as well as returning a faithful tithe, and support local and mission offerings, being involved in the witness of the church.
Reaching Out by getting involved in the mission of community projects, inviting and increasing the number of non-Seventh-day Adventists attending church each week.
Reaching Across by improving retention of members, nurturing members, increase the involvement of young people, and bridging all cultural gaps.
Summarizing the goals, Mark Finley, a noted Adventist evangelist and general vice president of the world church, noted asked the audience: “What pictures will be written in 2015? Managers manage what is; leaders dream of what could be. Managers are concerned with the problems of the present; leaders are concerned with the opportunities and possibilities of the future. The future never just happens; it’s created in the minds of men and women who believe that God has given them a vision for the last generation.”