With a plan you can

A coordinated plan for reaching friends and family members has helped one union nearly double its membership in less than five years.

Jose Carlos Rando is ministerial secretary of the Inca Union of Seventh-day Adventists

Before me I have two certificates. One says that in 1987 we in the Inca Union were world champions in baptisms. We baptized 32,138 persons. The other says that we reached our Harvest 90 goal of 90,800 baptisms in September of 1988. At the close of the second quarter of 1989 we had already baptized 122,965. We hope to finish the final year of the program with 180,000 accessions. I would like to share with you some of the details of the plan of action that has made this possible.

First we had to have a well-defined goal. At the beginning of Harvest 90 we had 167,615 members. The plan for this period was to double the 54,439 baptisms achieved during the 1000 Days of Reaping. But even 108,878 baptisms didn't seem like enough. (We reached that number in March of 1989.) Instead we decided to double our union member ship during these five years. Of course, there is always some loss of members through death, transfers, and apostasy, so we decided to work toward 180,000 new church members nearly twice the goal the South American Division had suggested to us. Are you dizzy with all these figures? Don't forget that we Latin Americans are specialists at inflation!

So, what do all these numbers mean? Do they indicate that the work is easier here than in other parts of the world? Not necessarily. The Inca Union consists of Peru and Bolivia, countries that in re cent years have lived with the scourge of inflation. Even more severe, particularly in Peru, has been the anxiety caused by terrorism. This has cost many thousands of lives. We have had to suspend some programs because of the grave risks to the workers involved. Other workers have had real adventures remaining at their posts and baptizing in the midst of the problems, defying the threats. In addition, we must live with the persistent prejudice directed against those that are not part of the official church. There is also growing secularism. So, no, the work is not necessarily easier here.

Four elements have contributed to our success. They are:

A. A positive and challenging vision.

B. A wide and well-designed program to promote evangelism.

C. Mobilization of a large part of the church membership through sowing and harvest festivals.

D. A good plan for training leaders in conservation of new members.

A positive vision

Thousands of tourists come every year to contemplate the accomplishments of our forefathers. They are surprised by Sacsahuaman, the fortress built in the imperial city of Cuzco, with enormous walls made of incredibly huge stones. Machu Picchu attracts even more inter est. This ancient city of the Incas was discovered in the midst of the jungle by North American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911. These ruins demonstrate that the Incas were capable of great accomplishments; and since 80 percent of our population has some native blood, our people respond positively to challenge. They believe that with positive vision one can accomplish what one purposes to do.

I write these lines on the twentieth anniversary of man's arrival on the moon. Some years ago I listened to a recording of a speech given at the beginning of the sixties by the late president John F. Kennedy. In that speech he said, "We have proposed to put a man on the moon before the end of this decade and we have proposed even more difficult things, not because they are easy, but because they are difficult."

Human success and happiness seem dependent upon continual challenge. And success is like a stimulating drug that engenders new successes, whether they be in the area of sports, economics, or society. I believe it does the same in the spiritual realm. Dobbins assures us that there is a magical formula that permits the realization of difficult assignments and achievement of previously unimagined exploits. This formula is "I can!"1

I can!

This is the very formula used by the evangelist who carried the Christian message from Palestine to remote Spain. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Phil. 4:13).

Is this just some unrealistic, triumphcentered attitude? I can think nothing less than that it is the attitude of the Bible, envisioning the final triumph already guaranteed by God Himself in prophecy.

A little boy enjoyed reading stories of his favorite hero, a sheriff who always vanquished thieves and evil men. But one day the child was even more interested than usual in his magazine, and his father had to insist that he go to bed.

Nevertheless, during the wee hours of the morning the father noticed a light on in his son's room. He got up without a sound and arrived at the bedroom just in time to hear the little fellow say, "If you knew what I know. . . ! If you knew what I know . . . !"

"What is it that I don't know?" asked the father as he abruptly entered the bed room.

"No, Daddy," the child answered. "I didn't mean you. It's just that this magazine is different than the others. When the sheriff found the thieves they started beating him up, and I thought that any minute they would kill him. I couldn't stand it, so I went to the end of the story to see what would happen. I found out that the sheriff finally wins over the bad guys. Afterward I went back to where I had been reading, and every time it seems like the thieves will win, I say to myself, 'If you knew what I know . . . '!"

If this triumph-oriented attitude seems unreasonable, think of its opposite, the descending spiral created by the thought pattern "I can't. I can't. I can't." "It can't be done" is the grave of any accomplishment. It isn't necessary to give many examples: life is full of both attitudes. We in the Inca Union simply have opted for the first.

Promoting evangelism

Publicity works wonders. No merchant who takes his business seriously would jump into the market without consulting a good publicity agent. To put across successfully a challenging idea or an enthusiastic program, one must communicate well. One must "sell the idea." So that is what we did.

As soon as we returned from the General Conference session in New Orleans we translated the Harvest 90 logo and began preparing a bulletin. In a few weeks every worker had the new proposal in his hands. In January we held the quinquennial union congress. When the delegates arrived at the site there were posters everywhere in their quarters, in the classrooms, in the dining hall, and in the corridors. These posters announced the goal: 180,000 souls in the Inca Union. We printed thousands of calendars with the logo and baptismal goal on one side. On the other, with the calendar, was the caption "Today is the day to work toward my goal."

Soon everyone was singing a song composed by the South American Division for the occasion. Every worker re turned to his district with posters on which to write his goals, and began his adventure. Every pastor became a promoter of evangelism. We invited every pastor to conduct a series of seminars annually.

In the large cities such as Lima, La Paz, Trujillo, Chiclayo, and Arequipa, we have held multiple cycles of evangelistic meetings in tents and halls. Hundreds and thousands of baptisms have resulted.

In the Inca Empire there was a practice, established by use and law, called ami. According to this custom, every individual helped his neighbor work his fields or build his house with the understanding that the recipient would reciprocate.

One of our fields, the East Peru Mission, most of which is situated in the Amazon jungle, applied this ancestral practice to the evangelistic work. The mission administration organized a plan whereby every district pastor helped his neighboring pastors. Four, five, or even more pastors would join together with one or more office personnel to work a district during a week-long sowing festival. The second week they would all go to the second district, and then to the third, and so on until all districts were worked in this manner. Later they fol lowed the same cooperative plan in conducting harvest festivals weeks that ended with baptismal ceremonies for 200, 400, or more souls.

I'll explain-more about this plan a bit later.

Conservation of new members

It isn't enough that a person simply joins the church. Rather, "He that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Matt. 10:22). So we also recognize the importance of a good conservation program. To achieve this, we have a continuing education program for lay leaders. Elders and departmental directors attend seminars in which different professors teach church growth and administration principles.

Take Pastor Felix Aduviri, for example, who has baptized more than 1,000 persons annually for two years now in his district near La Paz, Bolivia. He isn't a miracle worker, but he does know how to organize. He pastors 40 congregations, and it's obvious he cannot be everywhere at once, so he assembles his elders and states clearly their roles for the care of the flock. He also fixes their soul-winning goals. Every elder thus becomes a subpastor, with a list of specific members in a specific territory. Most district pastors do this.

Now I'll briefly explain the function of the sowing, harvest, and conservation plan.

Sowing and harvest festivals

We use the term festival because of the connotation that the Israelite celebrations had. Think of them. They were well-publicized events!

To learn how the sowing festival is organized, imagine four districts that have four churches or congregations each. Ours have many more; you can adapt. Pastor A pastors district A, Pastor B has district B, and so on. Among them selves, or better, by plan of the local conference or field, they choose a month that they call the month of the sowing festival. The first week all four pastors go to district A, the second week to district B, etc.

In district A, Pastor A takes the first church, Pastor B takes the second, and Pastor C the third, and so on, until each church has a particular pastor for the week. During that week the churches have activities throughout the day and evening.

During the day on Monday the pastor, together with the teacher of Sabbath school class number 1, visits the class members with a double objective: first, to concern himself with their spiritual condition and give them any appropriate counsel; second, to ask about interests or possible interests among the members' friends and relatives. The Sabbath school teacher writes those names suggested by each of his class members on forms created especially for this purpose. Before these visits begin, members have been instructed to prepare a list of possible interests among their acquaintances.

On Tuesday the pastor makes similar visits with the teacher of Sabbath school class number 2. On Wednesday he goes with the teacher of the next class, and so on.

In the evenings the visiting pastor holds revival meetings for the church members, with a special call on Sabbath morning. During the personal ministries period a total of all interests from the different Sabbath school classes is an nounced. Each class's baptismal goal is fixed according to this information. Later each Sabbath school teacher prepares a poster such as this:

CLASS NUMBER 1

20 Interests

GOAL: 8 Baptisms. . .

A larger poster should also be prepared stating, for example:

FIRST CHURCH (Name)

160 Interests (total from all classes)

GOAL: 70 Baptisms (total of class goals)

Every church in the district does this.

The climax is Sabbath afternoon. Everyone assembles at a central church or in a rented auditorium for the celebration.

After singing and then listening to inspiring messages, the program of the festival itself begins. This program is a march of joyous confidence, led by the participating pastors and representatives from the local conference or field. At a given signal the teacher of class number 1 of the first church begins the march, carrying his poster. He is followed by the second teacher, and so on, until Pastor A brings up the end with the total on the final poster. Then come those from each of the other churches. A grand final poster announces the total number of interests and the total baptismal goal that District A hopes to reach at the harvest festival. There should be music and appropriate narration throughout the march.

Next comes the moment of supreme importance. Each teacher is presented with a set of Bible studies for every inter est on his list, with the understanding that it will be used during the cultivation phase. This begins the cultivation period, and the church membership of the district commits itself to meet again for the harvest festival. The date, three or four months in the future, is announced. The meeting is dismissed after a special consecration.

Cultivation phase

While the pastors go to District B and on to C and D, the Sabbath school teachers, who have been appropriately taught beforehand, along with their respective class members, begin to give Bible studies to those persons on the classes' lists of interests. They invite these interested people to church functions and worship services and then accompany them to these events. They teach them to know God better and to keep His commandments. And, finally, they help them make decisions for God's truth.

There should be an appropriate system of record-keeping to be sure that each interested person is making the needed progress. Remember that this "cultivation" continues for three or four months. Every pastor makes sure that his own people work conscientiously.

Harvest festival

"But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, be cause the harvest is come" (Mark 4:29). Immediately he puts in the sickle! Some wait too long and the fruit rots; but this plan has definite dates for commencement and termination. Therefore, at the scheduled time the harvest should be conducted without delay.

We use the same basic program for the harvest festival as for the sowing festival. Each of the pastors returns to the church he worked with during the week of sowing three or four months earlier.

Day by day, with each teacher, he visits the church members, who take him to meet those with whom they are studying the Bible. Many of them now make their final decision for baptism.

In the evening the church members bring their Bible students to evangelistic meetings designed to carry the hearers to a final decision for baptism. The last Sabbath the festival idea is repeated. All the pastors converge at one church, or perhaps at a river, for a baptism. Without losing any of its solemnity, this ceremony is transformed into a great celebration of lives given to the Lord. For this reason our baptisms are sources of more baptisms, since the baptismal candidates invite friends and relatives to this festival. Many of them respond to the call to prepare themselves for a future baptism.

As you can see, the whole process takes less than six months, and for this reason many districts reach their baptismal goal at midyear. They then work to ward conservation, by both leadership training and helping the new brothers and sisters learn to enjoy their new life in the Lord.

What I've shared with you here has brought us results in the Inca Union and could be applied in many other places. "Let every worker in the Master's vine yard study, plan, devise methods, to reach the people where they are. We must do something out of the common course of things. We must arrest the attention. We must be deadly in earnest. We are on the very verge of times of trouble and perplexities that are scarcely dreamed of.

"From Christ's methods of labor we may learn many valuable lessons. He did not follow merely one method; in various ways He sought to gain the attention of the multitude; and then He proclaimed to them the truths of the gospel."2

1. G. S. Dobbins, Aprenda a Ser Lider (Learn to Be a Leader) (Buenos Aires, Argentina: Casa Bautista Publicaciones, 1969).

2. Ellen G. White, Evangelism (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1946), pp. 122, 123.


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Jose Carlos Rando is ministerial secretary of the Inca Union of Seventh-day Adventists

April 1990

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