BY JONATHAN GALLAGHER

capacity for self-analysis is an essential aspect of any successful organization. At times the church has shied away from what can be a difficult task, content to allow things to take their course. But the message and mission of the church deserves the best we can offer, and that can only be determined by examining where we are and where we need to be. That's where the research comes in.

Under the auspices of the Institute of Church Ministry, based at Andrews University in Michigan, church researcher Roger Dudley (pictured above) polled Adventist leaders for a comprehensive "SWOT" analysis. For the uninitiated, "SWOT" is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Some 294 church leaders responded-including division and union officers, together with presidents of education and healthcare institutions. "Given their positions of responsibility and the global nature of the sample, it was presumed that their combined views would represent a fair picture of the present condition of the church," says Dudley.

The questionnaire surveyed the four areas with 81 specific statements that respondents were asked to rate on a 1 to 5 scale (5 most important). The most important strengths of the church selected by the respondents were "message of hope" and "biblical basis for doctrines," with "multi-cultural church," "tithe-sharing," and "unity" also ranking high.

Main Weaknesses
The main weaknesses were identified as "loss of young people," "no growth in secular societies," and "Bible study and prayer"-presumably the lack of it! Dudley comments: "The greatest perceived weakness-great loss of young people to the church-seems appropriate given the findings of the 10-year longitudinal study of youth retention in the North American Division that 40 to 50percent of baptized teenagers leave the church or become inactive by the time they are in their mid-twenties."

Dudley also pointed to the weakness of "few women in leadership" placing higher even than such concerns as "growing spirit of congregationalism" and "spirit of independence without concern for the larger body."

All the listed opportunities received an "important" or "most important" rating by the majority of participants in the survey. Top of the list was "new openness to the message in many places"-a widespread recognition of how much more the church can do in so many areas around the world. Other significant opportunities ranked high were "technology communication" and "people in transition outreach."

As for the threats, the greatest perceived issue was the "strong press for materialism and secularism in the world," a realization of the corrosive effects of modern philosophy on spirituality. The fact that the population of the world is growing faster than church membership, and increasing global poverty were the next two most important threats identified by respondents. Also listed high were "attacks on theology" and "nationalism threat."

Rating Strengths
"World leaders tended to rate most strengths and opportunities as 'important' or 'most important' and most weaknesses and threats as 'serious' or 'most serious,' Dudley concludes. Additionally, "Out of 81 items covering all four categories, 72 of them were given top ratings by a majority of the respondents. This suggests that the world church has a very large agenda."

Despite this, Dudley observes that the data provides the church with information to set priorities. "The church faces large challenges in retaining its youth, speaking to the secular mind, dealing with population growth, and encouraging members to remain faithful by maintaining a rich devotional life."

In the end, such self-analysis may simply confirm what we intuitively know already-that the Adventist Church faces many challenges in these areas. Yet there are significant resources that can be used if they are rightly applied. It's here that research can help give focus and direction to confirm priorities and to make sure that the church is not distracted by side issues. In the end, the church is about one thing: mission-the sharing of the good news of God, the blessings of a wonderful life here, and the even higher joy of wider service in the world to come.

With such a perspective, and with such a gracious God, even the weaknesses become strengths, and threats become opportunities. With God, all things are possible.

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Jonathan Gallagher is an associate director of the General Conference Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department.