Adventist Missions Report

Purpose

The department of Adventist Mission is the official mission office of the Seventh-day Adventist church that seeks to reach the unreached people-groups in the territory of the Northeastern Conference. This department trains the members to develop positive and cordial relations with different people-groups, including Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, and Jews, in order to share the gospel with them in a respectful manner. This department also supports and works along with the six (6) Global Mission Study Centers of the General Conference, which are the Centers for: East Asian Religions, South Asian Religions, Adventist-Muslim Relations, World Jewish-Adventist, Secular and Post-Christian Mission, and Urban Mission.

Service and Resources

1. Gather and analyze information about Adventist presence among people groups or population segments in communities of the Northeastern conference.
2. Enthusiastically promote 13 Sabbath offerings, specific mission offerings and mission projects, and communicate clearly the use and results of the mission offering in world mission.
3. Write proposals to solicit funds for church planting mission projects among unreached people groups or urban missions in our territory.
4. Collaborate with Pastors and their churches to baptize new members and plant and establish new churches among diverse people groups in the Northeastern Conference.
5. Give guidance and consultation to Pastors and members who are working with people from different cultural groups.
6. Provide resources to Pastors and members who are desirous of working with unreached people groups.
7. Aim to recruit, train, deploy, and celebrate with members involved in mission endeavors and the accomplishments of God’s power in the lives of His people.
8. Collaborate with all departments to communicate the mission's challenges and successes to members within the conference, union, NAD, and globally.    
9. Work with churches that are planning mission trips abroad to provide cultural orientation in relation to the country they will be visiting.
10. Identify and gather mission stories and pictures for the North America Division mission publication.

Report

Some of the major accomplishments and milestones of the Adventist Mission Department are:

1. Provided mission awareness and training to five hundred (500) members every month.
2. Managed the only Bengali Seventh-day Adventist Mission in the Northeastern Conference.
3. Established the first Punjabi Seventh-day Adventist house church in the Northeastern Conference.
4. Preached on a regular basis at the largest Punjabi Pentecostal church in Queens.
5. Worked with Muslims in several masjids in New York, including Masjid Al-Abidin.
6. Built positive relations with Sikhs at two (2) gurdwaras in Queens.
7. Mission projects include mission work at the park, urban contextualization, health and family education, and more. .

Challenges and Goals

Seeing that this department is new to the Northeastern conference I had to first bring awareness and training to both clergy and laity. Without an office, secretary, and budget this was a challenge to accomplish. Two (2) important goals are, firstly, for churches that exist in communities that are culturally diverse, an Adventist Mission leader should be elected so these churches can better reflect the demographics of their communities. Secondly, to develop contextualized Bible study material in Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Mandarin, Hebrew and Arabic, to reach the unreached people groups within the Northeastern conference territory.

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