Landmark Adventist Evangelistic Campaign to Hit London Next Fall

By Nana Sifa Twum, with Adventist Review staff

London will witness the biggest evangelistic campaign in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Britain in the fall of 2016, the co-organizers announced.

Richard de Lisser, president of the Adventist Church’s South England Conference, which includes London, said the church would intensify its evangelistic efforts through the satellite systems of the U.S.-based Three Angels Broadcasting Network. 

“The north, south, east, and west must hear the Adventist message and make a meaningful decision in their lives,” de Lisser said during worship services at the London Ghana Church attended by 3ABN founder and president Danny Shelton.

“We are happy — I in particular — that 3ABN has decided to join hands and lead this mammoth evangelistic campaign with money, personnel, and equipment for the greatest event in the history of the church” in Britain, he said.

Shelton told the Adventist Review last July that the independent Adventist broadcaster intended to target London in its first major evangelistic series outside of the United States in a decade. 3ABN’s last foreign campaign took place in India and was organized with Maranatha Volunteers International. 3ABN also worked with evangelist John Carter in Russia in 1992.

Read newly elected 3ABN president Danny Shelton prepares London campaign

The Oct. 24 announcement at the Ghana church confirmed the London plans were moving forward and introduced the South England Conference as the local partner. It also set a date for the event: September 2016.

De Lisser said his conference was prepared to work closely with 3ABN to share the news of Jesus’ return within its territory and beyond. He also said church members in Britain were becoming more interested in evangelism.

“Who knows, perhaps this might be the final push before Jesus comes,” he said. “We are also encouraging all members to live for the Lord and His work. This is what we call ‘evan-living.’”

Shelton said the greatest witnessing asset of Adventist members was their own testimonies of Jesus’ transforming love in their lives, which he encouraged them to share.

“The time has come to share the gospel in a more focused way with the inner cities,” he said. “Inner-city residents need the tools to address problems of poverty, crime, chronic disease, and the erosion of the family. We have the answer in Jesus, and we want to make Him irresistible to our viewers as we give them the tools for living.”

Two other churches in London — Holloway and Croydon — also hosted speakers from 3ABN on the same Sabbath that Shelton and de Lisser spoke at the Ghana church. The 3ABN guests attracted a large number of Adventists from across London and elsewhere, including from the Plumstead, Hampstead, Stratford, London Romanian, and Welling churches.

3ABN musical duo Reggie and Ladyelove Smith “thrilled the hearts” of the Ghana congregation with inspirational renditions, said the British Union Conference, which oversees South England Conference.

“It was a day of inspiration for members of the congregation, many who were seen using their phone cameras to take shots or record some of the songs,” it said in a statement.