Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters
April 8, 2008
In This Issue:
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Mission giving, extraordinary tithe grow church's budget
April 7 Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States
US$1.78 billion in tithe received last fiscal year; church taking 'cautious, conservative' approach amid economic jitters
Regional outreach plans to tackle church's unfinished mission
April 8 Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States
Adventist leaders call for 'sharp, strategic' thinking
Adventist university students win national quiz bowl
April 3 Orlando, Florida, United States
Oakwood win at Honda Challenge earns school $50,000 in grants
'Esther' author offers training for Adventist writers
April 3 Warburton, Victoria, Australia
Writing an important ministry, seminar leader says
Adventist leaders close Spring Meeting with focus on mission
April 8 Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States
New chaplaincy director appointed; 2009 named 'Year of Evangelism'
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Mission giving, extraordinary tithe grow church's budget
April 7, 2008
Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States ... [ Elizabeth Lechleitner/ANN ]
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Adventist world church treasurer Robert E. Lemon delivers the church's financial report to church leaders April 6 at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States. Lemon said tithing and other giving amounts are up this year despite fluctuating global economies. [photo: Rajmund Dabrowski/ANN]
Despite the turbulent world economy, the Seventh-day Adventist Church continues to grow financially, world church treasurer Robert E. Lemon reported to church leaders Sunday.
"Not only have tithes and offerings increased," Lemon said, "but the church was blessed to receive a multimillion dollar 'extraordinary tithe.' Lemon's April 6 financial report at the church's spring business meeting reflected about half of that extraordinary tithe, which was first announced at the church's fall 2007 business meeting.
World church president Jan Paulsen described the extraordinary tithe as a "privilege" to handle and said it would allow the church to work in ways not otherwise possible.
Some of the extraordinary tithe is currently allocated to specific areas of ministry, world church undertreasurer Juan Prestol reported. To help them divvy up the remainder, delegates agreed on a list of guidelines for evaluating potential initiatives. Paulsen said the church would await revised proposals from each church region, and then move "briskly" to distribute funds.
"The church is making careful and expeditious plans to use these funds for mission, particularly in unentered areas," Paulsen said.
On the normal tithe front, global totals climbed 9 percent during 2007 to top out at US$1.78 billion compared to US$1.6 billion in 2006, Lemon reported. For the first time, tithe returned in the church's world regions nearly matched sums received in its North American region.
While currency exchange rates coupled with the floundering US dollar account for part of the upswing, Lemon said the church did post unequivocal increases in local currency tithe returns.
Even though the weakened US dollar seemingly bolsters the church's financial statements, it stymies what can actually be accomplished with funds in mission territories, Lemon said.
Lemon also mentioned the "very encouraging" 12 percent growth of mission offerings in the church's North American region for the past four years. For the fiscal year, amounts totaled US$24 million in North America and US$38 million in the church's other regions. Total mission offerings have increased 199 percent in regions outside North America in the past twenty years.
Paulsen called the increases a "testament" to the church's emphasis on outreach. "If our members see that we stay focused on mission, they will want to support us," he said.
Lemon said the growth of mission offerings and tithe along with frugalness at church headquarters near Washington, D.C. mean the church ends the fiscal year with a US$23 million increase in total net assets -- not counting the extraordinary tithe. Some of these funds are restricted or allocated funds designated for special purposes, but the balance will not be kept at world church headquarters.
Finance officers also addressed the church's investments in light of the fluctuating market. Commenting specifically on the church's retirement funds, world church associate treasurer Roy Ryan said because the church's holdings are long-term, diversified and conservative, risks are "manageable."
Given the volatile markets, "no one is expecting a robust financial year in 2008," Ryan added, "but the strength of international and emerging markets are encouraging to United States-based investors."
Wrapping up the financial reports, church external auditor Jim Nyquist, a partner from the firm Maner Costerisan & Ellis, gave a "clean and unqualified" opinion on the church's financial records. He did recommend some minor adjustments needed to keep the church's statements in line with recently tightened auditing standards in the U.S.
The church's Spring Meeting this year was held for the first time at church-owned Andrews University. Business meetings are periodically held at sites other than the church's world headquarters. This October, world church leaders will meet for Annual Council in Manila, Philippines.
Regional outreach plans to tackle church's unfinished mission
April 8, 2008
Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States ... [ Elizabeth Lechleitner/ANN ]
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Michael L. Ryan, right, a world church vice president, and Gary Krause, director for the church's Office of Adventist Mission, discuss the church's need to accelerate its work among unreached people groups. Ryan, Krause and other church officials were challenged yesterday to develop creative plans to finish the church's mission. [photo: Rajmund Dabrowski/ANN]
To address the Seventh-day Adventist Church's unfinished mission, church officials voted at Spring Meeting yesterday to develop creative and financially accountable plans to reach the unreached people groups in their respective territories.
Spring Meeting delegates learned in an April 6 report the "staggering" scope of the work awaiting the church. Since the church established its mission office in 1990, Adventists are working in 19 more countries. Yet the church has no organized work in 26 countries, including Afghanistan and Somalia. In 2006, while the world's population -- now at 6.5 billion -- grew by 95 million, just 1 million people joined the Adventist Church. And there are 2.1 billion more unreached people in the world today than in 1990 when Global Mission was organized.
"Our God specializes in accomplishing the impossible," said Homer Trecartin, director of planning for the world church's Office of Adventist Mission. Trecartin cited dozens of "encouraging" statistics -- in the past two decades, for instance, the Adventist population in Cambodia has sprung from zero to 8,000, and roughly one out of 12 Jamaicans is an Adventist.
Yet the ratio in Saudi Arabia is far less encouraging, Trecartin said, suggesting that while people with Christian worldviews have historically found Adventism relevant, the church must do a far better job of connecting with Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and other faith groups with different points of reference, he said.
Perhaps befriending neighbors and coworkers of different faiths would be more effective than sending droves of missionaries to largely unreached countries, he said in reference to statistics that say almost 80 percent of Hindus in North America "don't know one Christian they can call a friend." Such a local initiative might be more effective Trecartin said, and "more Muslims live in the United Kingdom than in Kuwait."
Trends, he said, are comparable in other "free" societies among other faith groups.
"If we can't get to know them where we live, how will we ever take [the church's message] to the countries they came from?" he asked. "We desperately need to do more in the difficult regions, the thickets, but how can we hope to be effective there if we're still stumbling around in the safe places?"
Communication media, such as Adventist World Radio, which the church often relies on the "thickets," cannot afford to slacken efforts any more than church members can cloister themselves in largely Christian circles, Trecartin said.
AWR programming is only available in 70 of the world's 13,540 languages. "For 95 percent of the world's languages, we have to hope that those who speak them also speak other languages. If they don't, we aren't reaching them," he said.
Similarly, only one tenth of one percent of the world's population owns a Bible. "If we are people of the Book, what are we doing?" Trecartin asked. "We aren't talking about illiterate people here; we're talking about people who read and write but have not so much as a piece of the Bible in their language. If they don't read another language, we can't share God's word with them."
Mark Finley, a world church vice president, said despite some disheartening statistics, Adventists shouldn't conclude that finishing the work of the church is impossible or think that redoubling efforts alone will overcome the challenge -- "the first [reaction] leads us to despair; the second leads to physical, emotional and spiritual exhaustion."
Rather, the morning's report should spur "more careful, sharp and strategic thinking" among church leaders. Finley also suggested a refocusing on God and mission would lead church leaders to "readjust finances and renew the church's priority on mission."
Delbert W. Baker, president of the church's Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, later said he was thankful church officials were addressing the challenges of mission. "It's easy to go about the business of the church," he said, "but I think [mission] is the heart of it. We were confronted with the impossibility of the task and at the same time, the necessity of finding some way -- in a creative fashion -- to address this huge objective."
The bottom line, said Michael L. Ryan, a world church vice president, "is that tomorrow when we walk out of this meeting, we will have the world to tell."
Adventist university students win national quiz bowl
April 3, 2008
Orlando, Florida, United States ... [ ANN Staff ]
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Quiz bowl competitors from Adventist-owned Oakwood University with the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge trophy they won March 29. Outplaying teams from 64 other universities, Oakwood students also took home $50,000 in institutional grants. [photo: HCASC]
The questions ranged from science to pop culture, and "multiple sclerosis" was the $50,000 answer for students from Seventh-day Adventist-owned Oakwood University competing in a national college bowl.
The Huntsville, Alabama-based Oakwood team joined more than 320 college students from 64 other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) for the 19th annual Honda Campus All-Star Challenge on March 28 to 29.
Oakwood, which has participated in the challenge for 12 years, bested Alcom State University in the challenge's final National Champion round to take the trophy. Challenge organizers accommodate Sabbath-keeping Oakwood students by allowing them to compete before or after the Sabbath hours.
"We'd all been working hard for this," team captain and Oakwood senior Alesis Turner told the Adventist Review. "We prayed our way through the whole tournament. It shows what can be accomplished with prayer and hard work."
Founded and hosted by the American Honda Motor Co., Inc., the tournament honors the heritage of HBCUs and tests their top students' knowledge of world history, science, literature, religion, the arts, social sciences, popular culture and African American history and culture.
Honda doles out more than $300,000 in institutional grants each year to the participating HBCUs.
The tournament is the largest and most prestigious annual academic competition between the nation's leading HBCUs. More than 50,000 students have won over $5 million in institutional grants since the first challenge in 1989. The grants improve campus life by funding academic resources and faculty.
Joining Turner to round out the Oakwood team were sophomore Marcus Cooper, junior Monique-Renie Pinnock and seniors Sherwin Faria and Michael Vance under the coaching of Dr. Rennae Elliott.
'Esther' author offers training for Adventist writers
April 3, 2008
Warburton, Victoria, Australia ... [ Nathan Brown/ANN ]
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Author Trudy Morgan-Cole leads a writing seminar at Adventist-owned Avondale College, one of three training sessions for Adventist writers in Australia last week. [photo: courtesy SPD]
Sharpen your pencils.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia is promoting training for its wordsmiths.
Last week, writing seminars in three locations across the country attracted more than 80 writers for training and encouragement from an Adventist author who challenged participants to use their talents by contributing to church publications.
"As the culture within and around the church changes, we need to continue finding new ways to communicate," said Trudy Morgan-Cole, who presented the three seminars. "We need writers who can speak both to those inside the church and in the world around us."
Morgan-Cole, a Canadian, has authored 13 books, including "Esther: A Story of Courage."
While some pursue writing as a career or serious hobby, Morgan-Cole said it can be most important as a ministry.
"My impression is that the Adventist church in Australia has a great many gifted writers, some who are currently writing and many more whose talent is ripe for development," she said.
The seminars, co-sponsored by Adventist-owned Signs Publishing Company and Avondale College, were held at the Western Australian Conference camp meeting in Perth, Avondale College in New South Wales and in Brisbane, Queensland.
"It was very interesting and inspiring," said Desre Nikolich, who attended the seminar at Avondale College. "It also gave practical tips on the craft of writing and insight into being a published author."
Morgan-Cole said she looked forward to church organizations considering similar seminars for Adventist writers in other regions of the world.
In her workshops, Morgan-Cole demonstrates her passion for story-telling as vehicles for truth and transformation. "When we read the great stories of the Bible, we are able to place ourselves in the story and see how the grace that transformed the lives of the Bible characters can be effective in transforming our own lives," she said.
Adventist leaders close Spring Meeting with focus on mission
April 8, 2008
Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States ... [ ANN Staff ]
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Despite the challenges awaiting the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Adventists should not take a "defeatist attitude," world church president Jan Paulsen told nearly 150 church officials at the close of Spring Meeting yesterday. Instead, he challenged Adventists to be "positive" and "move forward, focused on our mission."
Paulsen also called for "inclusive discussions" and cooperation among church leaders heading into 2009, which delegates designated on April 6 as the church's 'Year of Evangelism.'
While meeting at church-run Andrews University in Berrien Spring, Michigan, United States, delegates also voted on other business items, including nominations for church offices.
Delegates appointed Gary R. Councell, former United States Army chaplain and current associate director of Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries, to head up the department following Martin W. Feldbush's retirement. Mario Ceballos, currently a vice president for Kettering Medical Center, will fill the vacancy left as Councell assumes Feldbush's role.
Delegates also elected Paul Brantley, director of the church's newly formed Office of Assessment and Program Effectiveness, as a general field secretary. Paulsen thanked Brantley for his "skillful and effective" service at world church headquarters
In his closing prayer, Paulsen suggested church leaders should be attuned to God's direction for the church. "If, in spite of what we have decided here, You have a better way, help us to be ever sensitive to Your guidance," he said.
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ANN World News Bulletin is a review of news and information issued by the Communication department from the Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters and released as part of the service of Adventist News Network. It is made available primarily to religious news editors. Our news includes dispatches from the church's international offices and the world headquarters.
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Rajmund Dabrowski, director; Ansel Oliver, assistant director; Taashi Rowe, editorial coordinator; Elizabeth Lechleitner, editorial assistant; Natacha Moorooven, proofreader. Portuguese translation by Azenilto Brito, Spanish translation by Marcos Paseggi, Italian translation by Vincenzo Annunziata and Lina Ferrara and French translations by Stephanie Elofer.
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