Evangelism?

[Gregory Matthews]

With thanks to Adventist today:

Quote

13August 2021 | Ted Wilson, the president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, has announced General Conference plans to distribute a billion copies of Ellen White’s

 The Great Controversy.

Wilson announced the distribution project at the Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI) International Convention held last week in Orlando, Florida.

“The Great Controversy is a marvelous book. I believe every word in this book. I support it and I promote it—the full and complete book,” said Wilson in remarks that were also posted to his Twitter account.

“We’re planning two years of massive distribution of millions upon millions of the full, large Great Controversy in 2023 and 2024. It has already been voted and is called, The Great Controversy Project 2.0. We are talking about distributing up to 1 billion copies,” said Wilson.

 

NOTE:  For now, I am closing this thread for discussion. At a later time, I will open it up--Gregory Matthews.

[Gregory Matthews]

At the recent (2021) ASI convention, President Ted Wilson called for the international distribution of one billion copies of The Great Controversy. Standard editions of this book exceed 700 pages in length.  The costs to print and to ship this book could easily exceed several billion dollars.

This expensive proposal should only be justified by data.  Is it reasonable to expect that the typical person living in the time of short bits of televised   news and opinion would read a several hundred page book that has been dropped into their mailbox absent any request for such a book?  I think that it is not.  In any case, what data exists that tells us that such is an effective means of evangelization?

It is not good stewardship to expend such sums of scarce financial resources absent supporting data as to its effectiveness.

If we have such financial resources available to us, we have thousands of SDA congregations that could spend their portion of the amount needed to distribute this book in a manner best determined to reach their local community.

In this End Time in which we are living, I will suggest that we need to devote more resources to evangelism in the individual congregation.  Focus on reaching the local community in a manner that is best suited for the people in that community.

I believe that if we cannot find more ways in which to support the local congregation and less focus on higher levels of organizational structure that God will intervene in a manner to force changes to be made.

Will we make needed changes in the manner in which we perform our mission, or will God be required to make them for us?  The choice may be ours to make?

 

[Gregory Matthews]

President Ted Wilson has long considered the distribution of The Great Controversy to be a major, effective means of evangelism.  But, the question is:  Where is the data that supports his view? 

The Adventist Review has faithfully reported on the many previous attempts to evangelize by distributing The Great Controversy.  Multiple millions of copies have been distributed internationally.  Some costs to print and distribute have been as high as $5.58 per copy.  Distributions of The Great Hope have been less in cost.  In any case, multiple millions of books have been distributed internationally.

 The costs of this effort have certainly run into the multiple millions of collars.  What are the results?  We do not know.  The published reports in the Review have failed to report any significant results of converting people either to Christ or to the SDA Church.

For links to a few of the published articles, see below:

2010

22,000 copies at $1.25 each to ship, cost of $4.33 to print

https://www.adventistreview.org/archive-3661

2011 

50 million copies

https://www.adventistreview.org/archive-4628

2012 

One million copies of The Great Hope.

https://www.adventistreview.org/archive-5021

2012 

25 million copies

https://www.adventistreview.org/archive-5231

2013 

One million copies & 324 thousand copies two mailings.

https://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/asi-member-blankets-new-york-with-%E2%80%98the-great-controversy%E2%80%99

2013 

1.9 million copies of GC & several thousand copies of a Russian Bible translation.

https://www.adventistreview.org/1516-32

2016 

One million copies and two (2) known baptisms.

https://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/story4363-1-million-copies-of-the-great-controversy-printed-in-poland-in-70-years

 

[JoeMo]

While EGW presents a great view of how people thought in the 19th century, She does not represent the current signs of the times.  The Sunday Law thing is just as small part of end-time events. 1844 was just another year.  Her eschatology is no longer relevant.  That is why her books are no longer effective evangelistic tools.

You want to get a good view of current signs of the times? Look up Rock Harbor Church, or The Way Congregation, or Doug Hamp. From a secular standpoint, look up USA Watchdog.