BY JONATHAN GALLAGHER, United Nations liaison director, General Conference

n his Sunday afternoon report to the General Conference Executive Committee, GC secretary Matthew Bediako shared a historical perspective of the church and its growth since organization in 1863. That year, he noted, the membership was 3,500 with 22 ordained ministers, and a total tithe of $8,000. By the end of June 2003, the world membership of the Adventist church stood at 13,166,801.

Reviewing the reports from the Church's 13 world division, Bediako highlighted exciting examples of growth and development, such as the restructuring of the church organizations in Africa that has resulted from massive growth in membership.

He noted developments in Mexico, where for the first time the church will be able to make radio broadcasts; the distribution of 123 million Sow One Billion tracts in South America; the inauguration of an Institute of Public Evangelism in the South Pacific division; the 300-300-300 project in Euro-Asia with its focus on new pastors and church buildings; 100 evangelistic campaigns in the Spanish Union, the first-ever outreach program in Cambodia, with GC president Jan Paulsen leading out; 100 pioneer missionaries in Northern-Asia Pacific division; the distribution of 25 million Bible study cards in North America; a major church planting conference in Finland; 1,275 baptisms from literature evangelism in Zimbabwe; the doubling of the membership in the Sahel Union in West-Central Africa division; 15,632 new members in Southern Asia division in just one quarter; the new division of East-Central Africa with more than 2 million members.

Yet against the bright examples of growth must be set the challenges. Bediako expressed concern over the high rates of attrition-with an average of 35 percent of those joining the church leaving every year.

"This means that for every three individuals who accept the three angels' message, one leaves us," Bediako explained. "We need to find out why they are leaving so we can change this picture. Could it be lack of proper preparation before baptism, especially when mass baptisms are conducted? What plan is in place to nurture these new members? Are there pastors, evangelists, and trained lay leaders to work with them? After the stadium or large hall meetings are ended, do we have a place of worship for them? I believe that during the planning meetings we should consider these important issues."

Following up the secretary's comments, Bert Haloviak, director of Archives and Statistics profiled the membership statistics. With 958,222 accessions over the past four quarters the church continues to grow strongly, although this figure represents a 3.8 percent reduction compared to the previous year. Highest annual growth is in the Southern Asia division at 15 percent, down from a peak of 31 percent in 2002, representing accessions at 250 per day for the past five years.

For the world church, daily rates are 2,623 accessions with 674 losses, making an increase of 1,569 every day. Global tithes and offerings are contributed at a daily rate of $4.85 million.

Projections for the future presented by Haloviak show that based on current growth rates, the one Adventist per 480 of the general population will be one in 341 by 2010, and 1 in 135 by 2030. By 2030, the church would be over 60 million baptized members. However, membership retention is an increasing problem, Haloviak noted, as is the issue of membership discrepancies as indicated by underreporting of losses and deaths.