hen General Conference secretary Matthew Bediako gave his secretary's report to more than 100 members of the General Conference Executive Committee who had gathered for the Annual Council on September 25-27, he brought good news.

As of June 30, 2001, the total world membership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church reached 12,035,811. This represents one Adventist for every 510 of this world's current population, an ever decreasing ratio (last year the figure was 1 for every 535). Membership growth is running at just over 6 percent per year. Bediako stated that while it took 140 years (from 1844 to 1984) to reach 4.2 million members, in just five years (from 1996 to the beginning of this year) more than 4.4 million had joined the church.

While such growth gives cause for celebration, "membership retention gives cause for concern," he said. "In 1999 for every 100 members who joined the church, 17 of them were reportedly dropped or missing. In 2000 the figure increased to 20, and for the last four quarters the figure rose to 21.5. The rather high loss suggests the need for careful administrative analysis and response. I believe our soul-winning plans should include good preparation, follow-up, and a place of worship."

He also commented that the Inter-American Division had the highest membership with 2,166,457 (or 18 percent of global membership), with Eastern Africa Division following closely with 2,115,805 (17.6 percent).

To show many of the causes for church growth, Bediako also gave some highlights from of the church's ongoing programs:

Global Mission: "The 10/40 Window in Europe and Asia and post-modern West continues the primary challenges for the GC Office of Global Mission. The successful church-planting program SEEDS is now working closely with Global Mission, and specializes in starting new churches in the secular West. The new Total Employment program is beginning to grow in North America, with plans to begin in other divisions.

This program encourages graduates from colleges and universities to seek employment where there is no church, in order to help establish new congregations. Starting new churches in unentered areas remains Global Mission's reason for being. Global Mission has set a goal for establishing 25,000 new congregations by the year 2005.

Adventist Volunteer Center: Since the center was established, there has been a steady increase in volunteers. In 1998, 1033 volunteers were sent out; in 2000, the number was 1526.

"It is most encouraging to see that a number of divisions are convinced of the value of mobilizing the laity for service and are appointing personnel to promote volunteerism in the field," Bediako said. "Our goal is to encourage churches to sponsor some of their youth to go out as volunteers."

ACTS 2000: One of the church's most ambitious evangelistic efforts was planned nearly three years ago by It Is Written speaker Mark Finley. ACTS 2000, a massive global evangelistic series, involved 10 satellite meetings around the world in two and a half years. ACTS 2000 brought 1.5 million participants together and resulted in 150,000 baptisms.

"Finley and his team are grateful to more than 150,000 laypeople who joined with pastors to provide spiritual preparation, follow-up, and nurture, to the nearly two million interested people who attended these meetings," Bediako said.

Adventist-Laymen's Service and Industries (ASI): Bediako also acknowleged the members of ASI who provided DVD evangelistic tools and Maranatha Volunteers International who built new churches in many parts of the world.

To read the complete text of the GC secretary's report, click here.

Church Finances
In his treasurer's report, Robert Rawson noted that it's high time that budgeting priorities and the allocation of resources must be driven by the church's mission. He noted that mission is the central focus of the GC's strategic planning process.

Rawson also express thankfulness for the church's unprecedented growth in membership and offerings. "It is with heartfelt gratitude to God and His faithful people that I report to you that the Lord has again richly blessed the church in this past year. We are able to report a surplus of $7.5 million from the year 2000 operations. From 1997 through 2000 the total released in the form of supplemental budgets has been $37,702,700." These extra appropriations, above the regular budgets, are dispersed to GC institutions and divisions when the GC's working capital exceeds policy requirement.

He noted, however, that the General Conference and the church's 12 world divisions were phasing in the Tithe Sharing Plan, voted at the 2000 Spring Meeting. Under this new plan each division, at the end of a five-year phase-in period, contributes an equal amount to the cost of operating the General Conference office. In 2001, overseas divisions increased their remittances to the GC from 1 percent to 1.2 percent of tithe, while North America reduced tithe remittance from 10.72 to 10 percent. Rawson acknowledged that the phase-in caused some painful adjustments.

Highlighting another serious concern, Rawson told committee members that there are numerous requests from church entities for exceptions to the denomination's salary scale. "The number, extent, and nature of these exceptions have grown to the point that exceptions to the Church remuneration scale are becoming the norm rather than the exception. This trend is serious and the world Church must consider an appropriate response," he said.

A report from the Remuneration Study Commission, which is reviewing the church's remuneration philosophy, will be presented at the 2002 Spring Meeting.

Following the treasurer's report, committee members voted the 2002 world budget of $114,084,600. This represents an increase of 1.8 percent over the 2000 budget of $112,019,012. Officials also say the cost of GC in-house operations for 2001 will fall well within the years expense cap of $24,981,031.

HOPE IN CRISIS
Introduced by GC president Jan Paulsen, the "Hope in Crisis" plan was voted by the committee. "Hope in Crisis is "a world-wide program aimed specifically at times and areas of great calamity. Hope in Crisis invites people in the midst of tragedy to reconnect with eternal values as revealed in the Bible," says the proposal document.

North American Division president Don Schneider spoke regarding the attacks on New York. "Things have changed. Lives have changed. People have changed," he observed. "Now what are we going to do about it? I have called our union and conference presidents. I told them I was asking for 'a lot of money and your best personnel.' Conferences and other organizations are adopting sections of Manhattan. We are giving hope in this time of crisis."

He also spoke about the intention to conduct 100 evangelistic meetings, "sharing Jesus and what we have-we will make a difference in New York, for the name of Jesus is looked on differently to what it was a few weeks ago." The pamphlet, "Attack on America" by Mark Finley, was distributed, illustrating one approach to the people of New York.

Vice president Ted Wilson responded, "I am excited about this initiative. New York is a symbol of how we can work in the rest of the world. I'm glad we're giving such a strong emphasis for the urban centers of this world."

Mission Agencies Conference
The committee approved a proposal from vice president Lowell Cooper for a Cross-Cultural Mission Agencies Conference. He said that "many organizations and groups are doing much mission work around the world. This is a fine opportunity to place the evangelistic activity of various agencies within the wider framework of the world church."

The goals of the conference that will bring together supporting ministries and organizations engaged in cross-cultural mission activities are: to embrace the strategic issues and goals of the Adventist Church, provide a forum to express and create mission strategies, and coordinate resources to achieve common goals and objectives.

Global Mission director Mike Ryan commented that "in the cultures and religions of the 10/40 window we want to share our message of hope for this time. The challenge is almost overwhelming. This plan invites those representing significant resources to catch and cast common vision for action and facilitate the world mission of the church."

Public Affairs and Religious Liberty director John Graz spoke in support of the proposal. He said, "The conference should not be just about religion, but also about the issues of politics, constitutional issues, and our relationship to governments in these areas. We need to understand the laws relating to religion, and to relate to the other religions."

Cooper agreed that mission needs to be sensitive to local issues, taking into account legislation and government relations. The conference will be scheduled immediately after Spring Meeting 2002.

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Jonathan Gallagher is the associate director, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty department, General Conference