Mission Centers Provide Customized Expertise to Reach Across People Groups

When we try to deliver the gospel message to different cultural or religious contexts, what can happen? The reception of the message can be damaged, acknowledged ChanMin Chung, director of the Global Mission Centers.

Addressing Seventh-day Adventist Church executives in Bangkok, Thailand, in August, Chung explained what those centers are and how they help Adventist mission to connect to specific people groups and eventually share the gospel message.

The Message and Its Audience

At the beginning of his presentation Chung shared the story of a missionary serving in Asia who wished to discuss the Genesis story of Joseph with the local people. “His intention was to communicate such values as integrity, sincerity, and diligence to the village people,” Chung shared.

Chung explained how people sat and listened to the story of Joseph. When the missionary was done, he asked his listeners, “What did you learn from the story?” An elder of the village raised his hand. “This man, Joseph, is a good man, because he never forgot his homeland. He asked his bones to be carried to his homeland. So he is a good man.”

The local man had different values, Chung explained. He appreciated the story for a different reason than the one the missionary had in mind. “So,” Chung said, when dealing with specific people groups across the world, “our intentions and the delivery of the message are two different issues.”

Mission Centers to Support Outreach

Against this background Chung explained that the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists launched Global Mission Centers to “find the best way, with our field workers, to deliver the gospel message.” Currently there are six centers of this kind, whose stated goal “is to help Adventists know how to build bridges of understanding and friendship with people from major world religions and philosophies.”[1]

“What we are doing is not just intellectual activity,” Chung emphasized. “We work closely with our field workers . . . and church leaders.”

Chung shared some stories from people who have been impacted by the targeted efforts to give hope to various people groups around the world.

He first introduced a video report by Bledi Leno, director of the Center for Secular and Post-Christian Mission. The center provides resources, training, and special projects to people serving in secular contexts.

A Customized Approach

The video report featured Daniel, a missionary serving in Tallinn, Estonia, alongside his wife, Svetlana, and their daughter. “Before coming here, we served for four and a half years in Tokyo, Japan,” he shared, explaining that every place requires a unique approach.

In Tokyo the focus was on training, but in Tallinn it’s all about developing a strategy that can work in that context. “We realize that one pastor or missionary doing the work alone will not have the same effect as mobilizing the membership and the youth to work together, to bring their friends and their community to God,” he said.

Breakthrough in a Secular Environment

After discussing it with Leno, the regional church in Estonia decided to open a place for young people to meet and play board games. They meet twice a month, as every young Adventist also invites a non-Christian friend “just to connect and be together.” After a few months there are several regular attendees with whom they are developing deep friendships, Daniel shared.

A second step includes inviting them to a movie night and a discussion after the screening. “The discussion builds around spirituality, faith, and the meaning of life.” From there, leaders offer Bible studies, and everyone is invited to attend. The method has proved successful, as even a self-declared atheist has not missed a single church event, Daniel reported. That same young person spent four days at a youth camp and listened to spiritual messages “all the time.”

It’s for this kind of person that the center is there, Daniel said. “We are not only doing a project but finding different ways to connect to people, and through these connections invite them to something else.”

Prayer, Kindness, and Service Make a Difference

Another story shared the experience of the Center for Adventist-Muslim Relations in several African countries. A video message shared the story of Nicolas,[2] a coordinator of mission initiatives in an undisclosed country. He shared how in his early ministry he used to base his outreach in debates, public campaigns, and door-to-door visitations. “These methods created opportunities, but in some cases they also created confrontation,” the video reported. In some places the local government banned some Adventist meetings.

Through training provided by the Global Mission Centers, Nicolas learned about a relationship-focused approach to mission. The program emphasizes three key steps: intercessory prayer, acts of kindness, and house churches as centers for discipleship. “This training changed [his] mission perspective,” the video reported. “He began to see people as neighbors to be loved, respected, and served.”

Little by little, Nicolas and his team began to apply that method with their non-Christian neighbors. Local Adventist members collected food to distribute among non-Christians families during their month-long religious observance. They also built a permanent home for a family in need.

“These acts of compassion strengthened relationships across the community,” the video reported. To enhance the acts of kindness, Nicolas established an entrepreneurial program for women. More than 50 non-Christian women participated.

Creating Trust and Opportunities for Mission

As a result of these efforts, the government in that country took an interest in the program and donated a training facility. Through the coordination efforts of Adventist members, “the program has created trust and opportunities for spiritual conversations,” the video reported. “New believers are now being discipled through house fellowships and Bible study.”

Nicolas’s journey shows how “prayer can replace fear, friendship can replace confrontation, and service can open the way for lasting mission,” the report said.

Chung agreed, highlighting once more the role of the centers. “We are here to assist you, to support you,” he told Adventist leaders. “We are here to help your field workers under your leadership” make a lasting impact in the mission field.

The Global Mission centers are the Center for Adventist-Buddhist Relations (CABR), the Center for Adventist-Muslim Relations (CAMR), the Center for Urban Mission, the Center for Secular and Post-Christian Mission (CSPM), the Center for Adventist-Jewish Relations (CAJR), and the Center for South Asian Religions (CSAR).

[1]Retrieved from https://www.globalmissioncenters.org/home.

[2] A pseudonym