Participants:
Series Code: MTS
Program Code: MTS002702B
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00:26 Welcome back to Lyon.
00:28 And behind me you can see 00:29 the dramatic architecture of the Confluence Museum, 00:33 which has exhibits in science and anthropology 00:37 amid this is very, very modern architecture. 00:40 Next up, we travel to Silver Spring, 00:42 Maryland to learn more 00:43 about the worldwide publishing ministry. 00:46 I'm here with Almir Marroni, who is the publishing director 00:51 for the World's Seventh-day Adventist Church. 00:54 Now people may not know 00:57 what a publishing director is or does, 00:59 so you don't work on the press all day, 01:00 what do you do? 01:02 Yeah, thank you for the question, Rick. 01:05 The publishing department here in the General Conference 01:08 works to coordinate literature distribution. 01:12 We advise publishing house regarding production, 01:15 what to produce, 01:17 what kind of books the church needs the most, 01:19 especially to reach out. 01:22 So this is our role to work 01:26 promoting literature distribution worldwide. 01:30 So you said reach out, so literature is mission? 01:34 Yes. 01:35 Absolutely. Yeah. 01:37 We are celebrating this year 170 years 01:40 since the church printed the first piece of literature. 01:44 It was July 1849. 01:47 So pioneers, they brought 1,000 copies, 01:51 they prayed for it, 01:53 and the church started distributing. 01:57 I remember reading, you know, sometimes mission history 02:00 and seeing that. 02:02 Sometimes in some countries 02:03 the very first intro arrived was not a missionary, 02:06 but it was literature. 02:07 Yes. 02:09 Now and I think there are a number of countries that way. 02:10 Yes. 02:11 So as you're, you know, working with literature evangelists, 02:15 I think, LEs we call them 02:17 and also publishing houses and things like that. 02:19 I remember meeting 02:21 with literature evangelists sometimes 02:23 and they had the best stories. 02:24 Yeah. 02:26 Do you have any stories that you can share with us 02:27 about what's happening? 02:28 Rick, we have around the world 02:31 45,000 LEs 02:34 and we estimate that this group, 02:37 they reach around 30 million people yearly 02:42 in personal contact, individual contact. 02:46 And we have many stories. 02:48 For example, I want to mention a story 02:50 without mentioning the country. 02:53 There is a country 02:54 in limited religious freedom place. 03:00 And our literature evangelists were selling a book 03:03 in different language 03:07 because people from the neighbor country 03:10 were leaving there. 03:12 And the literature evangelist was selling 03:14 and then the police came 03:16 and police arrested her and her colleague, 03:20 took them to the police department. 03:23 And the police officer start blaming them 03:28 to disturbing people 03:29 and she said, "No, we are not disturbing. 03:31 We are promoting health, 03:33 we are promoting freedom from drugs." 03:38 So you should go chasing these people 03:40 who were distributing drugs, 03:42 we are promoting just the opposite. 03:44 We are promoting health. 03:46 So shame on you. 03:48 She said, "Shame on you. 03:49 You shouldn't be chasing us." 03:52 And as she said that the earth shake 03:56 because this is a territory of earthquakes. 04:00 That men became so mad and said, 04:02 "Okay, you go home, you go home." 04:04 And she called the publishing director, 04:07 he came. 04:08 And when he took her to her home, she asked, 04:12 "No, no, pastor, 04:13 please don't take me to the home. 04:16 Take me to the same street where I was working. 04:20 I want to continue from that door on." 04:24 This is the spirit of our literature evangelists. 04:27 Some of them they work in places 04:29 where we don't have freedom to work, 04:32 but they have this sense of mission. 04:34 They want to share the gospel and they move forward. 04:39 And when we talk about mission, 04:40 we're talking about mission holistically. 04:43 We care for the whole person, physically, spiritually, 04:45 and everything else. 04:47 So somewhere along those lines that's our mission. 04:50 Now when it comes to literature evangelists, 04:54 you mentioned something about 04:56 there are student literature evangelists as well. 04:58 So does that mean they're learning 04:59 to be literature evangelists or? 05:01 Yeah, we have three areas of distribution. 05:04 First area is the original area. 05:08 I mean, all Adventists are literature distributors, 05:13 all of them. 05:15 It was the way the church started 05:17 before we had the first literature evangelist, 05:20 which came only 32 years later. 05:23 So the church began distributing literature 05:27 every church member. 05:29 So literature evangelists, they are missionaries 05:31 who accept a call to dedicate full-time or part-time 05:36 to literature distribution. 05:38 In this group, we have a student program, 05:42 which is recruiting students from our universities 05:45 or even young people from our churches 05:48 to engage literature distribution 05:50 for a short period of time, like summer vacation. 05:54 So the students, 05:55 they do these work on summers or short vacation time. 06:00 And we have a group of 20,000 of them. 06:04 And that's actually hard work. 06:06 And you would think, you know, that, 06:07 you know, students would say, do I really want to do this? 06:11 But I have a feeling 06:12 that it is a wonderful life experience 06:15 that prepares them for a lot of things 06:16 in the future. 06:18 Ellen White says that this is a best practical school 06:21 you should engage in. 06:22 And she said for those 06:24 who are preparing to be ministers, 06:25 there is no best training than canvassing 06:28 and she says that. 06:30 We have a nice group of young people doing this. 06:34 For example, in Japan, 06:36 they have the Youth Rush project in Japan 06:39 and they are doing extraordinary things, 06:41 where things are difficult. 06:44 And these Japanese young people, 06:47 they are visiting people like nobody else does. 06:51 And they are doing great job in Japan. 06:54 Which is interesting because in Japan, 06:55 you generally do not invite people to your home, 06:59 culturally, but people are opening their doors 07:01 and things are happening. 07:02 I had the privilege to accompany for two days 07:05 this program in Japan, going out with them. 07:08 And it was amazing. 07:10 People even don't open their doors. 07:13 They put their nose outside 07:14 and they look in through this small space. 07:19 A young literature evangelist present books 07:22 and say a prayer and do the work is amazing. 07:25 I see you bought some books. 07:27 Can you tell us a bit about these books? 07:29 Yes, we have here three copies 07:32 of missionary books of the year, 07:35 2018, The Power of Hope, 07:39 2019, Hope for Today's Family, 07:42 and 2020, Hope Beyond Tomorrow. 07:45 So these books are meant to inspire our church members 07:49 to distribute worldwide. 07:52 We estimate that we produce 07:53 around 50 million books per year, 07:56 missionary books in more than four 40 languages. 08:02 So our church members... Yeah. 08:04 I think I've heard them called sharing books and like that. 08:05 Yes, yes, sharing books. 08:07 Because take a book and share it with somebody 08:09 that you know, it can be your neighbor or can be whoever. 08:10 It's very small price and then they can distribute. 08:15 Wonderful. Yeah. 08:17 Thank you for being with us today. 08:19 For Mission 360, I'm Rick Kajiura. 08:23 Next up, we learn more 08:24 about how mission offerings are to mission 08:27 as water is to a land of drought. 08:38 The Seventh-day Adventist Church 08:40 is known around the world for its mission outreach. 08:43 And your mission offerings 08:44 are the workhorse of these efforts. 08:46 These offerings do the heavy lifting 08:48 and foundation laying the repair and renovation 08:51 of the basic structure of the church's work 08:54 around the world. 08:55 Without the mission offerings, all the other structures 08:58 and systems built upon it could crumble. 09:01 Your mission offerings are like a life giving river 09:03 with tributaries flowing around the world, 09:06 carrying refreshing water to mission fields. 09:09 Sometimes we want to give to a specific project 09:12 or to put our offerings towards something special 09:14 that stirs our hearts. 09:16 We see the results, we feel satisfied. 09:19 Giving to the mission offering may not be as glamorous 09:22 as giving to a specific well-advertised 09:25 project or program. 09:27 But wait, if it weren't for mission offering 09:30 to sustain them, 09:31 these projects would never happen. 09:33 So what happens to our tithes and offerings? 09:36 Well, when we return 10% of our income as tithe to God, 09:40 the Adventist Church uses it 09:41 to support pastors and evangelists 09:44 as well as some teachers and other workers 09:45 involved in spreading the gospel. 09:48 On the front lines of mission, 09:50 tithe is not used to fund orphanages, 09:53 schools or health programs 09:55 and it doesn't cover miscellaneous operational 09:57 expenses either. 09:59 The mission offering does this. 10:01 You see our mission offerings fund 10:03 what can't be funded through tithe. 10:06 So when mission giving falls, 10:08 then work gets cut back worldwide, 10:11 mission projects falter, the movement stutters. 10:15 None of us want this to happen. 10:17 So our mission offerings 10:19 help ensure that mission work operates continuously 10:22 around the world. 10:23 Want to see how our giving impacts people 10:25 around the globe? 10:27 Mission 360 TV programs, Mission Spotlight, 10:30 and the Mission Quarterlies offer regular updates 10:33 on mission around the world. 10:34 These stories take you to dozens of countries 10:37 to see what Adventists are doing in places 10:39 you may have never even heard of. 10:42 And what about the 13th Sabbath Offering 10:44 which began in 1912? 10:46 For many years, this offering was an overflow offering. 10:48 A budget was set to fund the mission program. 10:51 And once that money was raised, any extra, 10:54 the overflow was used to support a special project 10:57 chosen for that quarter. 10:58 However, during recession in the 1970s, 11:01 there was no overflow offering. 11:04 So church leaders voted to always send 11:06 25% of the offering collected on the 13th Sabbath 11:10 to support specific projects for each division 11:12 on a rotational basis. 11:14 Through your 13th Sabbath Offerings, 11:17 you have helped build schools, dormitories, hospitals, 11:21 clinics and church buildings, 11:23 launched mission boats and set up lamb shelters, 11:26 printing presses, universities and more, 11:29 altogether more than 1,000 projects. 11:32 And because tithe money can't be used for buildings, 11:35 the 13th Sabbath Offering has frequently been used 11:37 for construction projects. 11:39 All of this could have never happened 11:41 without the Holy Spirit's leading 11:43 and your regular faithful support 11:45 of the mission offerings. 11:47 We encourage you to join Adventist everywhere 11:50 to prayerfully consider 11:51 what you can do to keep a faithful river 11:54 of mission offerings bringing life 11:56 giving water to mission fields around the world. 12:10 Well, that's about it for today's program. 12:12 And I hope that you've been inspired 12:14 and challenged by our 360 degree view of mission 12:18 around the world. 12:19 And I want to thank you for being part 12:21 of the Adventist Mission team. 12:23 Because if it wasn't for you, 12:24 if it wasn't for your donations to global mission, 12:27 your mission offerings, 12:28 your prayers and your personal involvement, 12:31 none of what you see on this program 12:33 would be happening. 12:34 And it's exciting to see new groups of believers 12:37 being planted, 12:38 new centers of influence established, 12:40 new people coming to know Jesus 12:42 for the first time in their lives. 12:44 Well for Adventist Mission, I'm Gary Krause. 12:46 And I hope that you can join me next time 12:48 right here on Mission 360. |
Revised 2020-10-06