In some parts of the world, traditional forms of Adventist evangelism still “work”. A nation-wide evangelistic campaign was held in 2016 in the Central-African country of Rwanda. Within a few months, about 110 000 newly baptized members joined the church. However, in other parts of the globe—notably in the Western world—similar evangelistic methods have lost their effectiveness. In recent times, despite generous budgets and extensive advertising, few people come to a public evangelistic series, and keep attending after the first meeting. Other forms of traditional evangelism, likewise, fail to produce significant results.
Challenges
The Seventh-day Adventist Church has always believed that Christ’s commission to proclaim the gospel “to all nations” must be taken with utter seriousness, and that “the end” will not come until this task has been accomplished (Matthew 24:14). Until quite recently, it seemed that the Adventist mission was a real “success story”. In 1970, there was one Adventist in this world for about 3,000 people. In 2020, just fifty years later, the ratio of Adventists to non-Adventists had improved to 1:308. However, lately the growth of the world-wide Adventist Church is stagnating. The dream of further exponential growth that would result in reaching the 50 million-member-mark within another decade or so, now seems unrealistic. One of the sad reasons is a dramatically poor retention rate. The church’s statistical office tells us that we lose over 40 percent of our new members relatively soon after their entry into the church!
The growth of our denomination reflects a pattern that many other denominations are also experiencing. There is a general trend that Christianity is moving “south”, that is: away from the more developed countries to the developing world. The western world is becoming more and more secular, and no longer interested in institutionalized Christianity. Many denominations in Europe see a steady decrease in their membership, and an even more dramatic decline in church attendance. In part, this trend is camouflaged by the arrival of Christian immigrants—refugees, students, and millions who are looking for a more prosperous future for themselves and their loved ones. In several countries, the Adventist Church would have no future, were it not for a reinforcement by brothers and sisters from “the south.”
Any Adventist who follows the official church media regularly meets the expression “10-40 window”. It is a missiological term which refers to the segment of our globe between roughly 10 degrees and 40 degrees north of the Equator. Most people in this part of the world are Muslims or belong to one of the other major non-Christian world-religions. The Adventist world leadership considers this “10-40 window” to be one of the greatest mission challenges. However, despite all recent evangelistic initiatives, the church-growth results remain rather paltry.
Another enormous challenge is presented by the large cities of our world. The percentage of the world’s population that lives in an urbanized environment keeps growing and has risen to about 68 percent. But Christian missionary work—that of Adventists included—in the ever-growing urban centers, remains to a large extent, a matter of “plowing” and “sowing” on the rocks.
Will the job ever be completed?
Around the year 1900 about thirty percent of the people in the world identified themselves as Christians. A century later the population of the world had vastly increased, but the percentage of Christians remained virtually the same. Two decades into the twenty-first century, mission experts report that the percentage of Christians in the world has slightly increased—from around 30 to just over 32 percent. But, as the world population keeps growing, this means that the number of non-Christian people in the world, in actual fact, keeps going up. Each minute 266 persons are born, which makes for a total of 400.,000 extra people per day—all of whom must be reached with the gospel.
Looking at these and other key mission statistics, one wonders whether the job of preaching the gospel to “the whole world” will ever be completed. And, if it is true that Christ will not come until the mission mandate has been fully implemented, one wonders whether He will ever be able to return . . .
Together, but with a special responsibility
I have no answers to many of the questions concerning the completion of the gospel commission, and how this relates to the Second Coming of Christ. However, let me share a few thoughts that may help those who, like me, struggle with these issues.
Let’s remind ourselves that the gospel mandate has not only been given solely to the Adventist denomination. All Christians share in the task of “proclaiming” the message of Christ and of telling others of what He has done for us. It has never been the official position of the Adventist Church that Adventists are the only agents in the preaching of the gospel. As early as 1926, a very significant statement was included in the GC Working Policy book. It can still be found in the ever-growing “black book.” Policy number O 100 reads: “We recognize those agencies that lift up Christ before men as a part of the divine plan for the evangelization of the world, and we hold in high esteem Christian men and women in other communions who are engaged in winning souls to Christ.”
This does not mean that the Adventist Church is simply one voice among a plethora of other Christian voices. While we recognize that we hold many of our beliefs in common with other Christians, we believe we enrich the Christian testimony by our emphasis on several “special truths”. The Adventist focus is found specifically in the messages of the three angels of Revelation 14. The first message underscores the importance of our worship of God as the Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of all that is. The second message contains a stern warning about a progressive disregard, all around us, for biblical principles and ethical norms, while the third message concludes that all men and women in this world must ultimately make a choice: Who will they serve? How will they live? Will they decide to follow God’s instructions with all their heart?
Is it all about doctrine?
For many Seventh-day Adventists, proclaiming the gospel message equals giving doctrinal instruction. And, certainly, doctrines are not unimportant! They help us to provide structure to our faith and to our witness, just as grammar gives structure to our communication through language. The famous American theologian Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962) underlined, in a frequently-quoted statement, that the gospel proclamation has often lacked the substance that it should have: ‘A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgement, through the ministry of a Christ without a cross.’[1] As Adventist Christians, we must, however, not just focus on the doctrinal correctness of what we bring to the Christian table, but more than ever, on its relevance. Postmodern people want to know—more than the modern generation before them—what the Christian message can do for them. What can the words of Christ mean during the week for our daily life of work and recreation? How do “fundamental beliefs” translate into a life of meaning and true happiness? How do doctrinal truths nurture the relationship with the One who is Life and Truth? When Jesus spoke about the Truth, He told his disciples that the Truth would make them free (John 8:31). The Truth must do something for us. In other words, it must be relevant and relate to all aspects of who, and what, we are. This realization adds a vital dimension to an already gargantuan task.
God’s project
So, will this assignment of bringing the message of Christ to “all the world” ever be accomplished? The answer is: Yes, it will. Somehow, and at God’s time. We must allow God to surprise us. In the meantime, it is our responsibility to do all we can to share our faith with others in ways that are relevant to them. It means that we must translate our message in ways that remain true to the essence of God’s Word, but can be understood and will be appreciated by the secular, postmodern men and women of today.
While we do this, let us ever remember that we are not dealing with something we can refer to as our project. It is God’s project. The words of George E. Ladd, who was a prominent teacher at Fuller Theological Seminary (1911-1982), seem particularly apt for the present generation of Adventists in the western world: “Christ has not yet returned; therefore, the task is not yet done. When it is done, Christ will come . . . So long as Christ does not return, our work is undone. Let us get busy and complete our mission.” [2]
Reinder Bruinsma, PhD, has served the Seventh-day Adventist Church in publishing, education, and church administration on three continents. He writes from the Netherlands where he lives with his wife Aafie. Among his latest books is I Have a Future: Christ’s Resurrection and Mine. Email him at: [email protected]
[1] Richard Niebuhr, The Kingdom of God in America, (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1988 ed.), p. 193.
[2] George E. Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1959), p. 137.