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The following report was presented by Don Schneider to the Year-end Meeting committee members. The language of evangelism and growth resonated throughout the entire session, held this week at the General Conference building.

"While we are gratified with the progress the Church has made over the past five years, we are not yet where we truly want to be - Heaven," said Schneider. "With that thought, consider the areas that offer tremendous possibilities for advancing the word of the Church during the next five years."


FRIDAY FAX
November 1, 2005
A News and Information Service for Leaders in North America

YEAR-END MEETING, 2005 - #3

The North American Division as part of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church accepts our responsibility to tell every person in North America and also the world that Jesus is coming. We present the following initiatives to be implemented during the next five years. In each area we believe the suggested initiatives are ones that can be best directed and provided for on a division -wide scale.

The following proposals seek to provide for greater evangelistic growth through the coordinated use of resources that are available at the Division level.

We would like to suggest striving toward a goal of increasing the percentage of members that attend church on a consistent basis. For too long, we have spoken primarily about membership. Our focus must also be placed on ensuring that a greater percentage of our members have a regular encounter with God.

We must also concentrate on the youth adults of our Church. Following their college years, young people need to become more fully integrated into the Church. This is a responsibility that begins with - but ultimately transcends - our educational system. Is there some way of allowing young people to worship in a way that is meaningful while making it safe for them to do so? Young adults must be heard at leadership levels, and their feelings must be given validity.

In addition to meeting the needs of young people, there is a need to confront our large urban areas with the Gospel. Traditional media evangelism must be strengthened while new, innovative programs are proposed and implemented. This will require a coalition of media ministries. New possibilities in media like the Internet must be fully utilized.

Equally significant, there should also be a renewed emphasis on leadership at all levels of the Church. We need leaders who will not settle for believing that the status quo is the safest way to retain their positions.

While we are grateful to see how the Lord has graced our church, there is much to accomplish. We are reminded of Zechariah, who tells us that it is not by our might or planning, but only by the Spirit of God that we will eventually be where we truly want to be.

These initiatives should not be confused with a strategic plan. Each of these initiatives would require considerable detailing of the suggested outcomes, methodology, timetable, required resources and evaluation methods, if adopted.

EVANGELISM
The initiatives within this area suggest that the Division take a more targeted approach for using its resources.

Suggested Initiatives:
· Set a goal of 1.5 million members in the Division by 2010. This can be accomplished by challenging members to reach at least one person for Jesus. Provide incentives to conferences that demonstrate effectiveness in this area.
· Engage church members in connection events within their communities.
· Utilize the Hope Channel to help the Division grow.
· Target major metropolitan areas by utilizing a cooperative approach with media ministries, NET events and training of laity and church employees.
· Continue the church planting movement begun in the 1990s.
· Encourage every church to participate in at least one evangelistic outreach event each year.
· Focus on six to 12 year-olds for evangelism. Current research suggests that this is vital.
· Strengthen ties with Adventist Hospital Systems for evangelism in our health institutions and churches.

WORLD MISSION
We must give more than "lip service" to the importance of local church congregations. We must experiment with new ways of providing an experience with God for visitors and members on a weekly basis.

The North American Division must continually focus on world mission and our role in providing for it. We must remind ourselves of the benefits of continued, impartial benevolence for us and for the world field.

Suggested Initiatives:
· Increase the number of Seventh-day Adventist churches and homes who have access to the Hope Channel. Utilize the Hope Channel to focus on world mission and evangelism and the NAD's contribution to these areas.
Encourage churches to "adopt" a missionary and communicate on a regular basis.
· By 2010, reverse the decline of mission giving in the NAD for the world church.
· Encourage more young film makers to capture stories of people involved with mission service.

CHURCH REVITALIZATION
Suggested Initiatives:
· Emphasize church attendance. Set a goal to increase the percentage of members attending on a weekly basis. Significant effort needs to be made to reconnect with inactive members.
· Encourage more members to spend time in daily Bible study and prayer.
· Emphasize the development of small group ministries through Sabbath School.

EDUCATION
Initiatives in this area are designed to confront indifference to Adventist education that may be increasing within the Church. They are also intended to address issues of scale and efficiency.

Suggested Initiatives:
· Address the integration patterns of young people graduating from our institutions of higher learning into an active participation with a local church community.
· Cultivate a partnership between Adventist education and home schools.
· Analyze Adventist education with a view to increasing K-12 enrollment.

MEDIA
Creatively use technology and communication channels to reach every person in the Division with the Gospel message. Advancements in the initiatives within this area may be more attainable if coordinated at the Division level rather than the regional.

Suggested Initiatives:
· Help churches take greater advantage of the Internet. Provide web sites to every church and feed content to these sites.
· Foster development of innovative media content for use in evangelism.
· Utilize the Hope Channel for direct communication to members.
· Provide for and encourage the development of more programs for media ministries.

LEADERSHIP
To perpetuate and promote the foundation of trust needed to properly guide the Church, attention must be given to developing excellent leaders-ones who are not satisfied with the status quo.

Suggested Initiatives:
· Cultivate the highest standards of leadership, integrity, ethics and accountability among denominational leaders.
· Recruit future pastors from the best selection of young people at both the high school and college levels.
· Be intentional about the inclusion of women in leadership positions.

NAD OPERATION
To model appropriate responsible leadership, the North American Division will seek to accomplish the following actions within the next five years:

Suggested Initiatives:
· Complete a comprehensive review of all financial policies.
· Validate the need of all NAD services, ministries and committees.
· Define the evaluation criteria and procedures to ensure that departments and ministries remain effective.