Finding the balance between the needs of mission at home and else where has always been difficult. The local church has its own urgent needs to function as an effective witness in the community. And yet again and again, new mission areas around the world have virtually no resources of any kind.
Willow Creek Community Church near Chicago is often criticized for being too "local," too oriented toward its own needs. During a convention in Sydney, Australia a clergyman stood to challenge Bill Hybels, Willow Creek's pastor, on this very point.
"You're right," Hybels replied. "We are too focused on ourselves, and we could do so much more for overseas missions." He paused, and then named a multi-million dollar figure that Willow Creek had sent to overseas missions during the previous financial year. It was a figure so high that it almost rivaled that given by some denominations. Hybels wasn't bragging. "But you're right," he continued, modestly. "We should do so much more." The questioner quickly sat down.
The Christian church has always been a community of faith that cares for its poorer brothers and sisters. From the earliest days when Paul collected money from well-off churches to support poorer churches, to the phenomenal awakening in missions in late eighteenth-century Europe, the Christian community has ministered to others in less fortunate circumstances.
Researching the challenge
In the late 1980s Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders did some missiological stock taking. Getting out the world map, they studied where the Church had a presence— through schools, churches, hospitals, or other institutions—and where the Church was absent. The results were startling. Vast areas of the world remained virtually untouched. After much prayer and discussion, they decided to establish a global strategy to reach the unreached areas. That strategy was captured in a document entitled "Global Strategy of the Seventh-day Adventist Church." In 1990 the office of Global Mission was established.
The Global Strategy document highlights major "unentered" areas such as China, India, and Western Asia. It points to the "great metropolises" of the world that are "barely touched." It sets parameters and guidelines for an office of mission that will be truly global.
Researching the problem
Established in the United States, the Seventh-day Adventist Church at first assumed that its mission was to the various people groups within North America. Early Adventists did not recognize that they had a mission to foreign lands—at least not until 1870. After all, migration had turned the United States into a truly multicultural society, and Adventists were certain they were reaching out to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people right at home.
The idea of actually going overseas to fulfill the commission seemed an impossible task. However, it wasn't long before the young Church realized that Matthew 28 was really a global commission, and soon Adventists were establishing the Church in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Pacific. By the turn of the century, the Adventist Church had established an extensive mission field, considering the small size of the denomination.
In the early 1920s, the Church faced a crisis. Exciting new opportunities for work were opening up around the world. However, after World War I, the world was in an economic slump, and the budget at the Church's world headquarters was a quarter of a million dollars short. Missionaries were at risk of having to be recalled.
The problem headed the agenda of the 1922 General Conference Autumn Council. The delegates met and prayed. Finally, they adopted a plan to ask Church members to sacrifice a week's wage in a special offering. Despite the depressed financial climate, the 208,771 Church members rallied, and gave a third of a million dollars—the average gift per Church member in North America equaled six days wages.
Some today think Global Mission drains the resources of the Church in North America. It is true that North American donors are generous, but Global Mission receives no tithe and only one offering a year from the Church, and many Church leaders testify that concern for foreign missions has boosted giving for local needs. Others ask, "What are you doing for the needs at home?" The answer to that question depends, of course, on where home is. Global Mission allocates resources to every area of the world—including North America—but takes into account the priorities of different areas. Those areas where the Church is less established or is weakest, receive larger appropriations.
Mission is still important
The Adventist Church has kept its focus on a worldwide mission. Areas once considered mission fields are now sending out their own missionaries. Statistics show that the Adventist Church is one of the most rapidly growing Christian denominations in the world.
There has been tremendous growth in particular areas. There's one Adventist among every 65 people in the Philippines. There's one in 21 in Papua New Guinea, one in 33 in Rwanda and one in 54 in Zimbabwe. The Church has also been very successful in South and Central America.
But Global Mission still faces two major challenges: the 10/40 window and large urban areas, including the secular west.
Urban areas and secularism. Glance through the demographics, and you'll soon see that over the past 150 years the Adventist Church has established itself most strongly in rural areas and on islands. Whatever the reasons, Adventists have found it easier to share their message outside the cities. That presents a problem when you realize that cities are by all means the fastest-growing areas in the world, with millions and millions of people in them.
According to some estimates, in five years half of the world's population will be living in urban areas. While there has been outstanding Church growth in the developing world, Church growth in the secular west—particularly in the cities—has been slow.
The 10/40 window. The Adventist Church has largely ignored the area of the world known as the 10/40 window. This geographical rectangle, with 10 degrees north of the equator as its base and 40 degrees north of the equator as its upper limit, extends east from West Africa through the Middle East and into Asia. Sixty per cent of the world's population—3.4 billion people—live in the 10/40 window. About one percent of them believe in Jesus Christ. Few are Seventh-day Adventist.
It is true that over the years the Adventist Church has sent many missionaries into the 10/40 window. But like many other Christian churches, Adventists have tended to put most human and financial resources where the work is more established and less difficult. According to mission researchers, only eight percent of today's Christian missionaries go to the 10/40 window.
Nearly 90 countries touch this mission field, and they represent incredibly diverse populations. Culturally the 10/40 window ranges from sophisticated urbanites in Tokyo to the herdsmen of the central plains of Asia to migrants in northern Africa. In this area, the world's major belief systems hold sway: Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Animism. Although the Berlin Wall and communism fell, 1.3 billion people in the 10/40 window are still atheistic communists. It contains the most economically challenged countries of the world, as well as one of the most prosperous—Japan.
The suffering of humanity in this geographical area is almost incomprehensible to the Western mind. How is the Christian church going to face the incredible challenge of the 10/40 window? To a greater degree than our church has ever realized, we must develop methods and structures that recognize and meet the challenges presented by the diversity of race, religion, wealth, and politics. We have no choice but to take action.
The Global Mission initiative
Global Mission has been the spark plug of Adventist mission over the past decade. Since 1990, more than 16,000 Adventist churches and thou sands more congregations have been established—that's nearly five churches a day, not including congregations. Nearly 3,000 people a day have been baptized. Church member ship has nearly doubled from 6 million to 12 million, in some 205 countries. New countries have been entered. In 1990, for example, there were no Adventists in Cambodia. Today there are 4,000 Church members and 65 congregations.
Yet in the face of the tremendous challenges that still face Global Mission, perhaps it's wrong to talk about success. And it's easy to get caught up in numbers and statistics, which are helpful only in helping us strategically place our resources for best results. But it is nevertheless true that behind every baptism statistic lies a story of how God's love has flooded a person's life, and given new meaning and hope.
Global Mission has been able to achieve what it has because of five major factors.
1. Global Mission pioneers. Global Mission's frontline workers are Global Mission pioneers. They have started the vast majority of new congregations around the world. Pioneers have had unprecedented success in reaching people who seemed to be unreachable. These pioneers are lay people, usually young, who volunteer at least a year of their time to work within their own cultural group to establish a new group of believers.
Pioneers represent a new wave of mission. They understand the culture and language of their own people, blend with the local people, and can communicate the good news in a unique way. They are also far less expensive than overseas missionaries. They have started hundreds of new churches in difficult areas such as northern India and west Africa.
The key is that the pioneers live, eat, and work with the people. They have a wholistic ministry, helping the people, understanding the people, and sharing the love of God with the people. Its an incarnational ministry modeled by Jesus and the apostles.
2. Global Mission study centers. Dr. Charles Taylor, one of the architects of Global Mission, once visited Egypt and was overwhelmed by the relative handful of believers after 100 years of Adventist work. "It's time we stop banging our heads against the door," he said, "and take time to find the combination to the lock." In response to this kind of challenge, Global Mission has set up study centers around the world to help us find better, more effective ways of sharing with people from different belief traditions. These study centers are specializing in the areas of Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, secularism, and Islam.
So far these centers have established dozens of new models for reaching people groups that have traditionally been difficult to reach.
3. A grassroots approach. The Global Mission office at the Adventist Church's world headquarters rarely develops programs for other levels of the Church to implement. Rather, it asks local church organizations to come up with their own action plans for starting new congregations.
After all, who knows better what will prove effective than those closest to the action? Local people know best how to communicate the good news in a cultural language that the people will understand. Global Mission's major role is to support local efforts to reach the unreached with hope.
4. Rigorous accountability. Every cent spent on Global Mission projects is carefully accounted for. On more than one occasion Global Mission has withdrawn funds because of lack of evidence that money has been spent where it should have been spent. This can be tough for areas of the world field, but it's the least we can do as good stewards of God's money, and to honor the faith of donors who have trusted us to spend their money on frontline mission projects.
5. The power of the Holy Spirit. Everything that has been achieved through Global Mission has been because of the blessing and power of the Holy Spirit. Global Mission sup porters and pioneers are men and women of prayer.
Reaching the unreached with hope
On one occasion I was visiting the Adventist seminary in Myanmar (formerly Burma). In the front row of the congregation was a girl three feet tall and one of the youngest students in the school. I have seen few people sing with such enthusiasm. Her eyes were bright and her smile shone from her face with each word. You could just feel the joy that was hers. The beauty of her spirit and innocence was contagious.
A little later I was worshiping with a new little congregation about three hours drive from Cape Town, South Africa. The beautiful harmony and rhythm of the song service was refreshing. A little boy sitting on the front row was singing his heart out. Every fiber of his soul was engaged. I can't tell you how he ministered to me that evening.
As I remember those two children I'm reminded that their families were members of new congregations established by Global Mission. There are children all over the world who, along with their families, are waiting for just such experiences.
Somehow when you're worshiping in a new church group overseas or at home, the elusive balance between the homeland and overseas seems a little less of a problem. We must do whatever we can for God's children, wherever they are.
