September 25, 2009 – Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
A core group of Seventh-day Adventists representing a membership of over half a million throughout Venezuela and Colombia sat down to voice their concerns during the final Facing the Issues program last Saturday, Sep. 19, 2009. The live program, which took place at the Centro Evangelistico del Norte Church, in Maracaibo, Venezuela, was the last in a series of seven unedited, unscripted conversations between top church leaders and a select panel of church members.
The eighteen-member panel was comprised of youth and laypeople chosen by their constituency. Panel members asked questions about member retention, youth initiatives, church technology, and community outreach, as well as family-oriented activities, among others.
More than 700 people were in attendance while the two-and-a-half hour program was broadcast live over the internet. Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in the Inter-American Division (IAD), accompanied by top IAD leaders, was on stage to answer questions and concerns raised by the panelists.
“We have opted for the most modern way of surveying, where we invite a group of people representative of the greater people to investigate and dialogue and discover in which direction [the church] is going,” said Pastor Leito as the program began.
Initial questions dealt with the strategies in place to strengthen the church and those in the high social classes.
“We have chosen small groups as the strategy to help our churches in the winning of souls and the consolidation of the membership,” replied Pastor Leito. “Keeping [members] busy in small groups can keep them active so that in a few years a new congregation can be planted there.”
“What strategy does the IAD have to reach the high classes?” asked Nervin Lopez, a panelist from Colombia.
“We have much interest in reaching the elite class in society because Jesus died for them too,” responded Pastor Leito. “One of the things we are doing is to prepare our pastors so that each one can obtain a master's degree so that he can cater to the higher social classes. We are also addressing that through the training of our laypeople as well.”
A concern was brought up by Francisco Morales of Colombia on the number of members who grow up in the church and later leave the church.
“One of the problems we see is that some take it for granted having been born in the church,” said Pastor Leito. “My mother's religion is my mother's religion. I had to discover Jesus Christ for myself and the church helped me discover Christ and that is why I'm here. We have to work for the conversion of our children so that they can stay in church and they can feel that this is their church and they belong to it,” he added.
Ten-year-old Abner Moreno from Venezuela asked, “What would you improve so that children can feel better at church and what projects do you have for us children in the church?”
“I would improve so much,” answered Pastor Leito. “I would like to know what else we could do. Some believe that it is enough for a story to be told to the children before the sermon and provide coloring books while the adults listen to the sermon. Big mistake,” he added. He challenged church leaders to make their sermons simple as well as deep enough for any child and adult to understand. “Give children more participation in the church service.”
Other questions dealt with what programs were in place to retain new members and old members, what tools were available to help non-believers make the decision to accept Jesus Christ, as well as funding available to aid radio and television stations to promote the gospel.
Pastor Leito also had the opportunity to ask the group and the audience several questions. Among these was this: “What else can the church do to retain members?” Several responses included the importance of the small group ministry, making churches more friendly and starting programs to attract and keep young people and their friends participating in youth programs.
Concerns about the need for more spiritual television programs for children, creative programs for young people, programs geared towards the large ethnic population, as well as programs to strengthen the family were also brought up.
A few members of the audience were given the opportunity to ask questions. Their concerns were about drug addiction programs, orphans, abused women, a stronger health message, and the need to provide church members with the opportunity to pursue a pastoral ministry career.
For Jean Noisette from Ciudad Tablita Church in Venezuela, participating in the program brought him some insight.
The program “was very open and transparent,” said Noisette, who is active as an elder and oversees a group of 55 members. “Before I became an Adventist, I had visited other churches and never saw so much transparency in an organization such as the Adventist Church.” Noisette, who has been a baptized member for eight years, said he would like to see this type of dialogue take place in local churches and with union leaders.
David Andre Lopez, another panelist from Colombia who is active as youth director in his church in Pereira agreed.
“The program was excellent,” said Lopez. “It would be great if we can have it at the local level because…the local fields have issues particular to their region and culture, and it would be great if local conference and union leaders could listen to the concerns and aid in the progress of the church.”
For 27-year-old Anderson Ortiz of Bucaramanga, Colombia, Facing the Issues allowed him to see how structured the church is.
“Once again I was able to observe that our church is very organized and has practically every kind of strategy to continue with the mission of preaching the gospel,” Ortiz said.
Continuing to preach the gospel specifically to the native people was the main concern of Sugeidy Marin of Maracaibo, Venezuela. She was satisfied with Pastor Leito's honest answer, which was that there are currently no specific evangelistic programs for the indigenous people in the IAD.
“He was open enough to take the suggestion and study a plan so that the message can get to these people in need,” Marin said.
That openness to listen, and dialogue with the membership was one of the objectives set out by top church leaders of the church in Inter-America with the Facing the Issues program, said Pastor Balvin Braham, organizer of the program and assistant to Pastor Leito.
“It was very important and meaningful for us to talk to them and listen to them in order to develop team spirit among top church leaders and members,” said Pastor Braham.
With the completion of the seventh and final dialogue program, church leaders are satisfied with the outcome and will soon study the needs through their strategic planning for the next five-year period.
“We were satisfied that some of what we were expecting was fulfilled in terms of our objectives for the dialogue meetings,” said Braham. “Our objectives were to basically evaluate the effectiveness of the strategic issues in the division in order to shift focus in some areas of the strategic plan, deepen focus in others and create new focus to fulfill the pressing needs in our territory.”
According to Pastor Braham, all the data is gathered and being analyzed in order to make specific recommendations to the church's executive committee which will meet in November. The committee will then take action at the various levels of the organization.
Among the recommendations is to have local organizations engage in regular dialogue with their constituency.
For Pastor Leito, Facing the Issues was the best way to communicate and learn from the church.
“I am persuaded that this exercise should be repeated in the future, and as a model to inspire the unions to do the same with their local fields,” he said. “It was very good for us to travel as a team and interact with the church in this manner.”
Our plans and operations for the future will greatly be enhanced and improved,” he continued. “We have started to reformulate our plans for the next quinquennium, and these will definitely be influenced by the result of these meetings. I am satisfied with the results, and only hope it will facilitate the service we give to the field and improve the delivery of the mission.”
Facing the Issues began in last November as a program in which the IAD president could hold unscripted dialogue with an inter-generational focus group representing all 17 unions in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the church leadership, the current programs in the fields, the strategic issues set by the Division, and also for the opportunity to fellowship with the membership of the church. Previous Facing the Issues dialogue programs were held in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Mexico, Trinidad, Martinique, and Haiti.
To view the Facing the Issues Venezuela program as well as previous ones on-demand, go to http://laiglesiaendialogo.interamerica.org/
