Participants:
Series Code: GMS
Program Code: GMS000059A
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00:01 On today's program Adventist schools in India
00:03 helping children prepare for a better future 00:06 and Global Mission Pioneers 00:07 in the African nation of Botswana 00:10 all that and much more coming up next 00:12 on Global Mission Snapshots. 00:25 Just before He went up to heaven, 00:28 Jesus gave us a command. 00:31 He gave us a mission. 00:34 Jesus said, go. 00:36 Go unto all the world, telling them of His love. 00:41 This is our mission. 00:43 This is our "Global Mission." 00:51 Hello, I'm Gary Krause 00:52 and welcome to Global Mission Snapshots, 00:54 a program where we look at what's happening 00:56 with Adventist Mission here and around the world. 01:00 In recent years the Seventh-day Adventist Church 01:03 has increasingly focused on Mission to the Cities. 01:06 According to the Global Health Observatory 01:09 a hundred years ago 01:11 two out of every ten people lived in urban areas. 01:15 Today it's more than five out of ten 01:17 and in a few years 01:18 the vast majority of human beings 01:21 will be living in cities. 01:23 Today, we'll be talking with doctor Gaspar Colon 01:26 from Washington Adventist University 01:28 and the Center from Metropolitan Ministry. 01:31 We will also be talking with Wes Via 01:33 who was leading Simplicity 01:35 an urban outreach project in Allentown, Pennsylvania. 01:39 Before we meet our guests 01:41 several years ago the Seventh-day Adventist Church 01:43 chose several major cities 01:45 for special prayer and holistic outreach. 01:49 Let's join Gerson Santos 01:52 who is the Director of the Global Mission Urban Center 01:54 as he introduces us to some of those cities. 02:03 Mission to the Cities, 02:04 this is probably the most important initiative 02:07 that Seventh-day Adventist Church ever had. 02:10 About 200 years ago 02:12 just three percent of the world population 02:14 was living in the cities 02:15 now we have more than half 02:17 of the people in the world living in the urban area. 02:20 In a couple of decades 02:21 we're gonna have three quarters 02:23 of the whole population of the world 02:24 live in those major cities. 02:27 The Seventh-day Adventist Church 02:29 decided to reach out to those urban areas. 02:32 In each division around the world 02:35 one city was selected 02:37 and all over the world we have about 600 major cities 02:41 that will be reaching in a couple of years. 02:43 Let's see some of those 02:45 most challenging cities around the world. 02:59 One of the Mission to the Cities 03:01 urban areas is Lagos, Nigeria. 03:04 A port city, Lagos is located 03:06 on the southern coast of Nigeria, 03:08 the largest city in the country 03:10 and one of the largest on the continent of Africa. 03:13 Lagos has an estimated population of 13 million people. 03:18 The economic success of the city 03:20 is attracting more people all the time 03:23 and Lagos continues to grow rapidly. 03:26 Some place the population as high as 21 million 03:30 yet here in one of the largest urban areas of the world, 03:34 there are just about 03:36 100 Adventist churches in the city 03:39 and only about 12,000 Adventist believers. 03:43 We know that God is here 03:45 and God will give us the means 03:47 and the ways and the courage, and the wisdom 03:51 about how to come about the whole program. 03:54 And we are sure 03:56 that by the end of this year and the years after, 04:01 we will witness some miracles in this city 04:04 because we want Lagos to be won for Christ Jesus. 04:17 Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, 04:20 is also its largest city. 04:22 Founded in the 9th century, 04:24 today Prague is a mix of modern and historical. 04:28 Although there are more than 1.4 million 04:31 inhabitants in this city, 04:33 you will find less than 04:35 10 Seventh-day Adventist churches 04:37 and only about 700 Adventist members, 04:40 that's a fraction of one percent. 04:45 One of the challenges for the church 04:46 is to create a strategy 04:48 of evangelistic work in the cities, 04:50 which will focus on the context in which people live, 04:53 where their needs are, where their injuries are, 04:56 and where they need help. 04:59 Let's go across the ocean 05:01 and look to another challenging urban area. 05:07 Built on the ruins of an Aztec city 05:10 and what was once a lake, 05:11 Mexico City has grown rapidly 05:13 and it's said that the city's population doubled 05:17 between 1930 and 1950. 05:20 Today, Mexico City is one of the world's largest cities 05:24 with a greater metro population of 23.6 million people. 05:29 There are nearly 54,000 Seventh-day Adventists 05:33 and more than 200 churches, 05:35 that's still less than a quarter 05:37 of one percent of the population. 05:46 The city of Kinshasa is the capital 05:48 of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 05:51 Here Adventists are using unique ways 05:54 such as street music to reach people in their community. 05:59 Kinshasa has a population 06:00 that is approaching 10 million people. 06:04 There are about 8,000 Adventists 06:06 and nearly 70 churches less than 0.1 percent. 06:13 My guest is Dr. Gaspar Colon 06:15 from Washington Adventist University. 06:18 Dr. Colon is also the Director 06:20 of the Center for Metropolitan Ministry. 06:22 Welcome, Gaspar. 06:23 I'm glad to be here. 06:24 I'm glad you're here because Mission to the Cities 06:28 is such an important mission challenge 06:30 that we're facing today 06:31 I know it's been a passion of yours for many years. 06:33 How did that start? 06:35 Actually it is something 06:37 which starts with experiencing something 06:41 and then later as the years go by 06:44 learning about it from books 06:47 and other people who have experienced it also. 06:50 Back in 1971, when I was just one year 06:54 from graduating from college 06:56 I had met a young lady 06:58 and we were had courted and we were engaged in 07:02 and we were called as a collegiate task force couple 07:07 to work in Times Square in New York City. 07:11 And so we went to the New York Centre 07:14 which was right there on 46th Street 07:17 in The Times Square area in the Theater District. 07:20 And we were tasked with meeting the needs of community 07:26 that is right there 07:27 in Times Square residential community. 07:30 And so we did everything 07:32 that we could to get acquainted with the area. 07:36 We decided that we would provide them 07:41 with some of the programs that we that- 07:44 that were very popular at the time. 07:46 Stop smoking clinics, weight control programs 07:49 and things of that nature. 07:50 And so we talked to a few people 07:54 but we had already decided what we wanted to do. 07:58 And so we printed up fliers, 08:02 we went into the residential community, 08:05 we hand these out we put them on store windows 08:10 and eagerly anticipating large crowds of people 08:15 to come and to nobody came. 08:19 And we- and we were just surprised 08:22 because we had talked to so many people. 08:24 Said yes, I would come but nobody came. 08:28 And there's as we began to analyze this 08:31 we figured well we better go back 08:33 in the community and discover from the people 08:36 why they weren't coming. 08:37 I mean where we were was only half a block 08:40 away from 8th Avenue and the residential community 08:43 was on the other side of 8th Avenue. 08:45 They wouldn't walk across and into the Theater District. 08:51 And when we asked they said we don't go there. 08:56 And we said but it's just I mean we can see it from here, 08:59 we don't go there. 09:01 And as we look that what we were doing 09:07 we figured we're not going to be 09:09 able to reach these people from that section of town 09:13 we have to move in to the community. 09:15 And so we relocated the ministry 09:18 by looking for and finding a place 09:22 where we could do the work 09:24 that we were called to do. 09:25 So they were basically saying that's an area 09:27 the tourist may go to but it's not for us. 09:29 That's right, there no grocery stores there, 09:32 it's all first foods and high-class restaurants 09:36 and theaters and we have nothing to do there. 09:40 So this is something that I heard you emphasize 09:42 many, many times that you have to understand the community 09:45 because it has its own rhythms, 09:47 it has its own ways of doing things. 09:48 That's right. 09:49 And too often we think 09:51 we know what they need and we bring it in, right. 09:53 That's right. 09:54 So what did you do, you obviously started a- 09:56 you moved across to the right place 09:58 and then what did you do? 09:59 Well, what we did is we looked around 10:01 we found to this storefront 10:04 between a former church that we later found out 10:08 was a discotheque and a Chinese laundry 10:12 and it was maybe nine or ten feet wide 10:15 and 30 feet deep. 10:17 And it was- it was sufficiently. 10:20 We carpeted it and we wanted to set it up 10:24 at the same time while we were doing that 10:26 we were visiting the school's 10:28 and offering the health teachers 10:31 and the science teachers to help the kids understand 10:36 about smoking and health issues and drugs. 10:41 And so we came in with little talks 10:46 for the third, fourth, fifth graders 10:48 and then in the middle school also we went in, 10:52 they used to be called junior high schools 10:54 back then in New York City. 10:57 And we got acquainted with all the children in the community 11:00 who were going to school in that, in that area. 11:03 That opened the way for us to get to know the parents 11:06 because as we went around visiting the neighborhood 11:10 and talking to people it- 11:12 it just began to become very family like 11:17 and we were very much in tune 11:20 with what was happening in that community. 11:23 Then of course we wanted to kickoff 11:26 the inauguration of our community center. 11:31 And we needed to put up a sign 11:33 and in those days a bubble letters were in 11:39 and so we got this thick Styrofoam 11:42 and we were going to do the shaping of the letters, 11:46 "the opened door" and so- 11:51 but we didn't want to do it inside of the center, 11:55 so we figured would go down to a playground 11:58 down the street and get that done. 12:01 And as we did that there were some kids 12:04 that were playing basketball 12:06 and one of them came over and said what are you doing? 12:08 And we say well we're putting together a sign 12:13 for a community center down the street. 12:15 And he said well, can I help? 12:18 And so he started helping and we gave them the tools 12:21 and his starter shaping the letter 12:23 and one of his friends came. 12:26 And when his friend asked he said 12:30 well we're, we're building a sign 12:32 for our new community center down street. 12:36 And so immediately it just seems like 12:40 they were wanting this so much 12:42 this became their project as well as our project 12:45 and that's how a ministry 12:47 with pathfinder's and stop smoking programs 12:50 and people would come and it was a busy place in town 12:54 because they were feeling that they owned this place 13:00 as a place where they could come after school hang out, 13:04 do things and have their parents 13:07 involved also in programs. 13:09 Fantastic. 13:11 Thank you Gaspar, for reminding us 13:13 of the first step in urban mission 13:15 and that is to be understand 13:16 to become one with the community. 13:18 Our viewers at home, 13:20 if you want to learn more about urban mission 13:22 just go to missiontothecities.org 13:24 and we also have reminder for your Mission 360 Magazine, 13:29 full of mission stories from all around the world 13:31 including urban mission stories. 13:33 You can go to Mission360Mag.org 13:36 and there you can read it online and you can get an app 13:39 for your various types of readers 13:42 from Kindle through to whatever. 13:44 So thank you so much for joining us today, Dr. Colon. 13:48 Thank you. My God bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17