wfn.org | Adventist Council on Evangelism and Witness

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October 8, 2000
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Adventist Council on Evangelism and Witness Meets: "The 
Church's Primary Function is to Witness"

Silver Spring, Maryland, USA - The pivotal role of 
evangelism in the life and mission of the Seventh-day 
Adventist Church was reaffirmed as church leaders from 
around the world met to explore new ways of sharing the 
Adventist message of hope. 

The inaugural meeting of the Council on Evangelism and 
Witness, held September 18 and 19 at the world 
headquarters of the Adventist Church, was significant on 
a number of levels, says Pastor Mark Finley, an 
evangelist and secretary of the Council. 

Finley says "the very fact that there is a Council on 
Evangelism and Witness at our church headquarters" 
indicates the high priority placed on evangelism by 
church leadership.

"There is a danger that after more than 150 years, the 
Adventist Church could become institutionalized in its 
approach to its mission," says Finley. But the meetings 
provided "tangible evidence" to the contrary, he says, as 
church leaders from around the world shared their passion 
for evangelism and spoke about the challenges they face 
in their regions.

Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the Adventist Church 
worldwide, has said that the "rationale for the setting 
up of such a council is very simple.  The church's 
primary function is to witness.  When that is 
accomplished, we are useful to God.  If that function is 
not accomplished, we may as a church be busy, innovative, 
resourceful, and even ingenious, but not an instrument of 
God's mission."

"We are living at a time when the growth of the church is 
exploding," says Finley.  "And the more we grow, we have 
to ask the question 'what more should we be doing to 
fulfill our mission as a church?'"  To focus inward, 
instead of outward, at this point would be a deadly 
mistake, Finley adds.			      

Finley says that the initial meeting of the Council was 
also important in establishing a level of "collegiality" 
among members of the group, who came  from Australia, 
Central and South America, Europe, Africa, and the United 
States. Participants included pastors, church 
administrators, evangelists and lay people. 

Finley acknowledges that the members represent a vast 
array of different cultures and environments. But he says 
that the "diversity and variety enhanced the 
productivity" of the group. "If, for instance, my 
specialty is urban evangelism and I'm taken and put with 
a group dealing with the challenges of the 10/40 window,* 
it forces me to think out of the box, to think more 
creatively," he says.

Urban evangelism, lay training, new technology, "reaching 
unchurched people," were some of the areas studied by 
small discussion groups formed by members on the second 
day of the Council.  Future meetings will build on the 
creative process started by the Council at this initial 
gathering, says Finley. (287/2000)