OR AN ENTIRE WEEK IN MID-September last year, the South Philippine Union office was empty. Usually a hive of activity with 47 employees, its halls and offices were quiet. Every staff member, including janitors, secretaries, department heads, and the president, were on the road visiting major cities and towns of Mindanao.

Together with a group of laypeople, the office staff visited 20 cities and distributed 500,000 invitations to study the Bible. In many places they held parades through the main streets, while teams of young people handed out leaflets to office workers.

On the other side of the world on the Caribbean island of Grenada, all churches joined together one Sabbath afternoon in November 2003 to distribute invitations in 50,000 homes across the island.

In South America whole congregations go out on Sabbath afternoons to pass out Bible study invitations. In Brazil one church received 369 Bible study interests from just one Sabbath afternoon effort.

The 400 church members in Mongolia, all relatively new Adventists, have already started working toward their goal of placing a Bible study invitation leaflet in every gur (traditional round canvas-covered house) in the country.

Similar stories are being repeated around the world. From Australia to the United States, Thailand to Germany, church leaders and laypeople are taking up the challenge of Sow 1 Billion--a remarkable world church plan to distribute 1,000 million leaflets inviting people to study the Bible, and to involve church members in mission.

"We stand at the door of great opportunity," says Harold Baptiste, a vice president of the General Conference (GC) and chair of the Sow 1 Billion task force. "Something big is about to take place in the church worldwide."

Why Sow 1 Billion?
When GC president Jan Paulsen first introduced the Sow 1 Billion plan to church leaders in October 2002, he said the initiative was "maybe bigger than we can grasp right now."

He observed that church membership around the world is growing at an amazing rate--in the last 10 years of the twentieth century the number of new Adventist congregations around the world increased 70 percent. It took 100 years for the church to reach 1 million in membership; it added the most recent million within one year.

Yet if church membership is increasing rapidly, the world's population is growing even faster. There are more than 6 billion people in the world, and every second of the day four more people are born. Each year the global population increases by 130 million.

"When we think about the big cities of the world--the multimillion-population
cities--and we think about the mission that Christ has given to us, we wonder, 'How can we do this?'" commented Paulsen later. "Jesus has said, 'I want you to be My witnesses. I want you to take this message everywhere, and I'm not coming back until you have done this.' The task seems so huge--how is it possible?"

The idea for Sow 1 Billion was born from this challenge. It is a mass effort to distribute an unprecedented number of Bible study invitations, taking literally the counsel of Ellen White to scatter witnessing literature "like the leaves of autumn."

Keeping It Simple
At the center of Sow 1 Billion is a small Bible study invitation leaflet, with the theme of "Don't Be Afraid"--a thought expressed more than 300 times in the Bible. Each of the 13 world divisions is adapting the content and design of the leaflet for the culture of their particular audiences, and printing it in many different languages--from Kiswahili to Creole, Amharic to Tigrinya, Russian to Hindi. But the bottom-line message is one of finding hope in an uncertain world.

The leaflets aren't intended to be a theological treatise. They're not confrontational. Instead, they are small pieces of literature that aim to catch attention, spark interest, and offer a way for people to find out more information--through either a Web site, a phone number, or a mailing address.

These Bible study invitations are designed to be small enough to be carried in a jacket pocket, or to fit easily into a handbag. They can be distributed by mail or by hand; passed out on city streets or sent to family and friends.

"With Sow 1 Billion you can simply take a tract and stick it in an envelope when you pay your bills," says Mark Finley, director of global evangelism for the GC. "You can simply go through the grocery store, smile at the checker, and say, 'Oh, Mary, there's something I want to leave with you today.' Going through a toll booth, you can give it out. In fact, with Sow 1 Billion you don't even have to speak. If you can hand out a tract you can participate in Sow 1 Billion."

Lay Participation
In 1908 Ellen White wrote as follows: "The work of God in this earth can never be finished until the men and women comprising our church-membership rally to the work and unite their efforts with those of ministers and church officers."* This concept, of all parts of the world church working together toward a common goal, is at the heart of Sow 1 Billion. "In our thinking about mission there cannot be an artificial divide between lay and institutional church outreach activities," says Paulsen. "There must be a total change in paradigm, with all quarters of the church focused on mission. We must finish the work together, as one family. And it is in this model that we must move forward with Sow 1 Billion."

Laypeople are the driving force of Sow 1 Billion. Laypeople have been involved in every stage of the initiative, including the initial planning. A group of laypeople have also provided funding for the printing of the leaflets. During the Adventist-Laymen's Services and Industries (ASI) convention in August, an offering of $1 million was raised for Sow 1 Billion. In most parts of the world lay members will have the primary responsibility for delivering the brochures, and will also lead out in the follow-up to responses, sending out Bible lessons and giving Bible studies.

"When Jesus said to go into all the world with a message of God's love, He wasn't just talking to evangelists, pastors, teachers, or administrators," says longtime ASI member and Sow 1 Billion supporter Garwin McNeilus. "He was talking to you and to me--everyone who is a follower of Christ."

The Challenge of Follow-up
Printing and distributing 1,000 million Bible study invitations is no small task. But perhaps the more difficult, and most important, part of Sow 1 Billion is what happens next--following up on the requests for Bible studies.

"We have some 145 Bible schools around the world in 130 countries," says Kurt Johnson, GC world Bible correspondence coordinator. "We've been talking to Bible school leaders from various countries about the need to print Bible lessons and train church members so they can work together and be ready for all the requests we receive for Bible lessons."

People are often nervous about giving their first Bible study, says Johnson. But once they see someone learn to love Jesus and make a decision to follow Him, "they have no words to describe the joy and excitement they feel."

In Asia, South America, Inter-America, and parts of Europe and Africa, Sow 1 Billion is already under way, with leaflets being distributed and Bible study requests beginning to flow in. In other areas of the world church, preparations for Sow 1 Billion are well advanced. "The biggest challenge for the church is to prepare the hearts of our people to have the will to follow this up," says Michael Ryan, a GC vice president. In the words of Mark Finley, "Sow 1 Billion is ambitious, but I don't think anything is too ambitious for God."

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*In Atlantic Union Gleaner, Nov. 4, 1908 (see also Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 117).

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Bettina Krause is assistant to the General Conference president for global initiatives.