Sharing Books Reach Homes across Australia, New Zealand

More than 65,000 copies of a new sharing book will be distributed to people in communities across Australia and New Zealand in May and June 2022.

Step Beyond is a paraphrase of the classic Steps to Christ by Seventh-day Adventist Church co-founder Ellen G. White. The new edition produced in Australia includes local contact details and special offers to connect with community members who are interested in growing their understanding and experience of faith.

“Steps to Christ is a book many of our church members have read at some point,” Australian Union Conference (AUC) president Terry Johnson said. Johnson is also chair of the Literature Ministry (LM) committee. “This new edition is something that we can be confident in sharing with friends, family, and people in our communities,” he said.

Johnson said many church members are keen to share their faith but often feel unsure about the best way to do it. “Many of us love and cherish this book, meaning that this is a simple way to respond to a question from a friend or neighbor, offering them something that helped us in our own experiences of faith.”

He explained that currently, there is one Adventist for every 406 people in Australia. “So, if we believe that God is calling all people, we need resources that we can use to share the gospel widely and effectively,” he said. “And I believe this particular book is easily shared and accepted, read, and digested.” 

The first shipments of Step Beyond were sent out to conferences in the last week of April, with churches and church members encouraged to consider how they can best share copies of the book in their communities through the month of May and beyond.

“Sharing month is an intentional mission movement in the South Pacific Division with hundreds of churches reaching out to their community,” Brenton Lowe, Adventist Media Literature Ministries coordinator and LM committee secretary, said. “Step Beyond is a tangible gift to share Jesus. It serves as a reason to visit our neighbors or invite a friend over for dinner to make meaningful connections and give a hope-filled gift. It is sharing Jesus made simple. You can be a friend and let the message of the book transform their life.”

This new edition of Step Beyond is an initiative of the LM Committee and Signs Publishing and comes on the back of strong engagement with sharing books in the past year, including Hope for Troubled Times (almost 90,000 copies shared), A Taste of Food as Medicine (about 80,000 copies), and Advents for Kids (about 10,000 copies). 

Leaders behind the initiative also posted 10 ways members can use to share Step Beyond in their communities, including preaching from the book, giving it to church guests as a gift, and posting one’s testimony in relation to the book online with selected quotes.

Additional copies of Step Beyond and other sharing books are available through LM coordinators in local conferences across Australia and New Zealand, or through local Adventist bookstores.

The original version of this story was posted by Adventist Record.