In 1981 the Inter- American Division baptized more than 60,000 persons! Membership is nearing the 700,000 mark, with more than 800,000 Sabbath school members. These figures are even more astounding in view of the serious political and social problems that exist in many parts of the division. However, it seems that nothing can restrain the enthusiasm of workers and lay members in Inter-America for soul winning:
• By late 1981 the Mexican Union had more than 15,000 baptisms.
• For the past seven years the South Mexican Conference has been the local field with the most baptisms in the world church.
• Through the efforts of a young worker, Robinson Mendez, and his lay men, almost 500 have been baptized this past year in Oaxaca, Mexico, a predominantly Catholic town.
• In the midst of a civil war the El Salvador Mission reached its baptismal goal for 1981 in the month of March! The twelve ministers and hundreds of lay members there, who work in the very face of death and destruction, went on to baptize approximately 3,500 by the end of the year.
• Almost 2,000 were attending Union Evangelist Francisco Ottati's meetings in Managua, Nicaragua, until authorities suspended the crusade. But workers and lay members continued preaching in area churches until 280 were baptized. By late 1981 the Nicaragua Mission had baptized more than 1,500.
Many wonder how the Inter-American Division can continue to attract and win so many. Some may even feel that evangelism is particularly easy in that field or that converts are not well grounded. Actually, there are areas in Inter-America that are very difficult to work evangelistically, just as there are in every other world division. And all baptismal candidates in Inter- America must be approved for baptism by the local church board, which in most cases is very conservative. What, then, are the reasons for evangelistic success in Inter-America?
1. From the division to the local church member, there is a sense of mission and urgency that gives evangelism top priority. Inter-America's main objective is to finish the work.
2. Every department of the church lays bold, well-defined plans, conducive to evangelism. These departments work closely together with the common goal of evangelization.
3. All the pastors carry out an active evangelistic program in their districts.
4. Thousands of laymen, working with their pastors, give Bible studies and prepare candidates for baptism. The motto for the division is "Workers and Laity in Action."
5. All of the unions, as well as the local fields, districts, and pastors, accept soulwinning goals that help them to have a well-defined objective toward which to work.
Bold plans
The unions in Inter-America are laying great and bold plans for 1982. They no longer want to think small, but to plan and attempt something big with the help of the Lord.
In the Central American Union laymen began in 1981 working with 130,000 Bible courses to prepare for a harvest at the beginning of 1982. All the workers and hundreds of laymen have been leading out in meetings in the churches, rented halls, and even in homes. Their goal? A large union-wide baptism on Sabbath, February 27, designed to garner 12,000 souls for God's kingdom! This is more than the union goal for all of 1982! (This large baptism will be history by the time you receive this issue of MINISTRY. )
A bold experiment will be tried in Colombia, as well, during this year. A national evangelistic campaign will be held simultaneously in every church and in dozens of new places all over the country. The sermons and the publicity will be coordinated all across Colombia. Plans are to preach in more than 600 places at the same time.
Mexico City, with 15 million inhabit ants, has 56 Seventh-day Adventist churches and congregations. The leaders of the Central Mexican Conference have declared that 1982 will be a year of continuous evangelism for Mexico City. This means that during the entire year meetings will be held in the 56 churches, and pastors and laymen will be preaching and winning souls in order to organize at least 18 new churches.
In Jamaica, which has a ratio of one Adventist for every 25 inhabitants, 7,000 souls were won in 1981, and great plans are being laid for this year in order to take the message to every corner of the island. The same thing is occurring in Haiti and the other islands of the Caribbean.
Successful soul-winning methods
A recent survey shows that the following methods win the most souls in Inter- America:
1. Evangelistic campaigns held by the pastors. In Inter-America about 96 percent of the pastors conduct at least one evangelistic campaign per year.
2. Lawmen winning souls. Thousands of laymen preach, give Bible studies, and prepare baptismal candidates. The ministers spend much of their time training the laymen.
3. Bible studies. Ministers, as well as laymen, extensively use the method of giving Bible studies in the homes.
4. Baptismal classes. All of our churches and congregations have at least one baptismal class. The larger churches have three different classes—one for adults, one for youth, and one for the juniors. The baptismal class instructors are mostly laymen.
5. Large evangelistic campaigns. Each local field tries to hold at least one large evangelistic crusade each year.
6. Evangelistic units. These are the Sabbath school classes that work as evangelistic groups.
7. Missionary mailmen. The laymen give Bible studies using the Voice of Prophecy correspondence school lessons.
8. Cottage meetings. Hundreds of lay men lead out in meetings where the Bible is studied in the homes of interested persons or members.
9. Voice of Youth. Our youth are very active in preaching and soul winning.
10. Branch Sabbath schools.
The division has also voted that beginning in 1983 a plan called Evangelism Conquest will be put into action. This plan has three dimensions. The first is entering. New areas where there are no Adventists will be entered with the message. The second is multiplication. During the next three years the goal is for every church member to win at least one soul for Christ. And the third is division. The churches will be encouraged to divide and form new churches or groups.
One Thousand Days of Reaping
The division has accepted the challenge of the One Thousand Days of Reaping plan and has decided that by God's grace during this time it will baptize 200 persons per day for a total of 200,000 souls, or 20 percent of the world goal. Every union is studying how best to participate and is planning the number of souls they want to baptize per day. The local fields and districts will also do the same.
In order to implement the One Thou sand Days of Reaping plan a large evangelistic campaign is being organized for 1984. This campaign will cover the entire division territory simultaneously and will count on the participation of workers and laymen, who will preach in more than 10,000 places. An enormous evangelistic explosion is being planned for 1985, which will challenge every church to launch an unprecedented campaign to reach every area of the Inter-American Division with the gospel message.
Inter-America is on fire with the fervor of evangelism. The administrators, departmental directors, pastors, teachers, colporteurs, and laymen all feel that their principal mission is to preach, win souls, and finish the work. There is a movement afoot to transform the 16,000 church elders in the division into evangelistic leaders by getting every one involved in an evangelistic, soul-winning project. Another plan is to recruit thousands of laymen who are willing to dedicate Sabbath afternoons to witnessing, giving Bible studies, and visiting their neighbors and friends to give them the gospel message.
All of the union and local field administrators set the example. The departmental directors hold meetings and plan the activities of their departments around evangelism. The most successful ministers are those who are able to train and motivate the greatest number of laymen to do soul winning. Teachers and professors try to win souls for Christ among their students and their families. Colporteurs are not only salesmen but soul winners. But the most important source of power and energy is the laymen who with courage and enthusiasm preach and win souls alongside the ministers.
We want to finish the work in Inter- America. That is why our emphasis here is on everyone's doing evangelism
