Seventh-day Adventists across the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD) are becoming intentional in highlighting the basic tenets of Christian life. Church leaders in the region recently reported on new initiatives that seek to increase participation in family worship and stress the essential role of prayer in daily life.
Focus on Family Worship
The region’s family ministries department, with the help of family ministries directors from the Korean Union Conference, the Taiwan Union Conference, and the Mongolia Mission, has completed another one of this quinquennium’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), known as KPI 6.4. The indicator encourages the church to find ways to significantly increase the number of members regularly engaging in family worship. It is a goal under a spiritual objective selected by family ministries leaders of the Adventist world church, namely, “to increase accession, retention, reclamation, and participation of children, youth, and young adults.”
To support family worship, regional leaders funded the translation of a devotional book into the major languages spoken across that church region. With the recent completion of the Mongolian version, the book As Light Lingers: Basking in the Word of God, by Nina Atcheson, has now been translated, published, and distributed in the four major languages of the NSD: Chinese, Korean, Mongolian, and Japanese. According to leaders, the goal of this project was to help provide and promote concrete Bible study skills, along with personal and family devotional inspiration.
The book As Light Lingers has been well received and read by many, according to the feedback sent to the regional office. “This book is really inspirational; I was very blessed through this work,” a reader commented. Another one wrote, “The book is a must-have for every family and is an inspiration to read. Thank you for translating this book.” “I was blessed with this book, and I want to read my Bible more,” another reader added. Still, another one commented, “This book has given me good ideas of how to introduce my children to Jesus and help them to enjoy spending time with Him in prayer and Bible study.”
Focus on Prayer
Sahmyook University, a Seventh-day Adventist school in Seoul, Korea, began a new semester in early 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with a Feast of Prayer. The initiative seeks to fill the entire semester with prayers asking God for assistance to deal with and overcome the current crisis and other school needs. Organized by the Office of Chaplain Affairs, the “Special 150-day Noon Prayer Feast” has been ongoing for months and is scheduled to be completed by the end of July.
Throughout the semester, for 10 minutes right before noon, all professors and staff members meditate on a reading specially produced by the Office of Chaplain Affairs, followed by individual or group prayers in their respective department or office, school officers reported. “Issues to be prayed about include mission revival, the growth of donation culture within the university, and the government-run evaluation for higher education restructuring,” they shared.
Additionally, Sahmyook University held the “United Early Morning Prayer Week for the New Semester” for five days, from March 1 to 5. The meetings began at 5:50 a.m. each day at the main sanctuary of Sahmyook University Seventh-day Adventist Church and were livestreamed on the university’s YouTube channel.
“I believe that the moment we realize our weakness and vulnerability is when we need to turn back to our God,” Kim Won Gon, head chaplain of the school, said. “I sincerely hope that the entire Sahmyook community will come together and pray and experience the power of our almighty God this year.”
The original versions of this story and this story were posted on the Northern Asia-Pacific Division news site.
