Pastor's Pastor: Why Inter-America grows

Pastor's Pastor: Why Inter-America grows

Floyd Bresee is the Secretary of the General Conference Ministerial Association.

Adventist eyes are focused on the Inter-American Division, especially since it is now our largest, having recently become the first to pass the 1 million membership mark.

We must not pretend IAD does everything perfectly. It does have its share of problems. One is the apostasy problem, which the division is attacking with its motto "Win, Train, and Retain."

It must cope with the problem that most converts are from the poorer classes. For instance, I stood with Pastor Rodriguez on a high hill overlooking Bogota, Colombia. Pointing to his left, he said, "The city is divided into two parts. To the south is the poor district, with 4 million inhabitants. On our right is the more prosperous north, with 2 million. We have 24 churches, with 8,000 members in Bogota, but the sad fact is that every church is in the south." A company of 1 8 members has been formed in the north and a pastor assigned to try to start a church.

Despite their problems, lAD's successes must not be discounted. In just four years membership has grown from 750,000 to more than 1 million. Worldwide, the average number of baptisms per active ordained minister is 45 per year. In Inter-America the average is 106.

I can lay no claim to being an authority on the Inter-American church. I have, however, recently returned from an itinerary that took me to Venezuela, Colombia, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaica, Guatemala, and Mexico. I met with ministers from every IAD union. Tucked away in my private agenda was the desire to take an objective look at reasons for the division's outstanding successes.

We must not assume that everything that produces souls there will be equally successful everywhere. On the other hand, I hope all Adventist ministers are both humble and wise enough to learn from each other. IAD must be doing something right. Are they doing something there that would work with your people, for your congregation, in your town? Here are four secrets to Inter- American members' soul-winning success. Might one help you succeed?

1. They have learned better ways to win Catholics. This is a secret that needs sharing with the entire world field. In the early years of our work in Latin America, as well as the rest of the world, we tended to run down the Catholics and roast the pope. Inter-American evangelists have learned better. They sometimes call on the local Catholic clergy to explain their work. The mark of the beast is not even mentioned in public meetings, but its meaning is taught in baptismal classes.

2. Soul winning has first priority. Some conferences and unions consistently set aside 10 percent of their tithe income for evangelism.

 

3. Soul winning is a cooperative effort. Whole cities and even entire countries cooperate in planning meetings that are held simultaneously as metropolitan campaigns or national campaigns. In 1989 a special evangelistic emphasis in Mexico City called "Megamexico 89" is planned. Pastors hope to baptize 6,000 souls and organize 30 new churches. Sound unrealistic? Not when you understand their strategy. Some 750 teams led by lay preachers will hold 750 evangelistic campaigns. Ministers will come in to hold decision meetings. This will no doubt be the largest one-city evangelistic endeavor in the history of Adventism.

One can sense cooperative effort among the different categories of denominational employees. The South Mexican Union reports that during Harvest 90, 346 crusades have been held by teachers, 315 by office personnel, and 1,700 by colporteurs. In Central America 600 souls were won last year by professors and their students. Some of the best theologians in our schools prove to be the best evangelists in our churches.

4. Soul winning is lay-centered. I've saved the most fundamental secret for last. This emphasis may have come about partially by design and partially from necessity.

Most IAD pastors have districts so large they cannot be in each church often enough to take the work away from their laity. In Inter-America there is one evangelistic and pastoral worker for every 714 church members. The average for the rest of the world divisions is one for every 367. With only 11 percent of the world church's ordained and licensed ministers, IAD serves 19 percent of the church membership and produces 20 percent of its baptisms.

But laymen can win souls! One layman in the West Indies has led 1,000 persons to baptism. I like the way Carlos Aeschlimann says it: "Pastors in Inter- America have complete confidence in their members as soul winners." Maybe too many of us as ministers are so fearful that our members will do something wrong that we instill in them a fear of doing anything at all. Let's learn a lesson from Inter-America. We can have confidence in our laity as soul winners.


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Floyd Bresee is the Secretary of the General Conference Ministerial Association.

February 1989

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