June 22, 2010 – Atlanta, Georgia, United States…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
As hundreds of Seventh-day Adventists congregate in Atlanta, Georgia, for the worldwide church’s 59th General Conference Session, the church in Inter-America celebrates five years of steady growth.
“We praise the Lord for the wonderful church growth in our Division territory,” says Pastor Israel Leito, president of the church in Inter-America. Pastor Leito attributes part of the success to the dedication of the laity and pastoral ministry force as well as aggressive strategic planning begun 15 years ago.
The church in Inter-America grew from 12 unions, 30 conferences and 30 mission fields in 2005, to 21 unions in 70 conferences and 41 local mission fields this year, a growth not only visible in its membership growth but in its finances as well, church officials say.
Boasting the largest delegation of all world divisions once again, the Inter-American Division (IAD) has more than 350 delegates representing the more than 3.3 million church members in its territory.
Part of the church business agenda at the session will include the election of all world church and division leaders by July 1, 2010.
Pastor Leito, who has been leading the church in Inter-America since 1994, answers some questions on the role of the IAD and its direction as a new quinquennium begins.
QUESTION: With some 350 IAD delegates participating in the session, what do you expect from them and how important is the role of each one of them during this session?
Pastor LEITO: I expect them to be led by the Lord, to use their own criteria, to be very just and open-minded in their evaluations and I expect them to take the interest of the church at heart versus personal ambitions.
QUESTION: With this session’s theme Proclaiming God’s Grace, how important do you feel this emphasis should be throughout the territory? Are we preaching enough about God’s grace in these changing times?
Pastor LEITO: Yes, Inter-America believes in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and we don’t want to put this versus any other way of salvation, . We can trust more on his grace, we can understand his grace better, we can rely more on the Lord and less on what we do and this is why we have chosen the theme in the Division that It is not what we do, but who we are as Christ-loving people.
QUESTION: Do you think this theme can have lasting effect throughout the church in IAD during the next quinquennium?
Pastor LEITO: I hope that the closer we come to the coming of the Lord, the clearer our reason of salvation will become and should become and we should emphasize this far more than ever. We believe that we are one of the few if not the only church that can clearly educate the world and preach the gospel in its fullness of believing in salvation through Jesus Christ and obeying Him by keeping his commandments.
QUESTION: Church growth has been the strong force that has led the church in IAD to be the largest with 3.3 million church members–a goal that you spoke about back in 2005. Are there any goals set for 2015 as far as church membership growth?
Pastor LEITO: Yes, by God’s grace we plan to baptize over one million members, and we will repeat this and more and since we have a vice president dedicated most of the time to membership retention. So if we baptize one million and if we can increase our retention, we should surpass the 4.5 million at the end of this next quinquennium.
QUESTION: How challenging has it been to maintain this growth, and is the church really concerned about retaining old and new members?
Pastor LEITO: We believe that every member that comes in contact with the church and becomes a member should stay. However, we are aware of the realities that we can lose members, but it is our intention by God’s grace to work hard, to keep every member that comes to us through the Word.
People come to the church because they are called by the Holy Spirit, but they stay in church mainly because of three issues: They are convinced of their salvation, and that we need to teach the members–to be assured of their salvation. Secondly, they find something to do, and we must find all avenues to involve as many members as possible in the mission of the church. Thirdly, they stay because they find a friend or friends, and we will struggle by God’s grace to make our churches as friendly as possible to members and visitors.
QUESTION: There is much emphasis put by the world church on making a difference in the community, to work aggressively with the identity of the church held high. How is the church in Inter-America emphasizing more integration in the community at the local level?
Pastor LEITO: We definitely are pushing for this in the territory for more community involvement. In our communities, we must be the best citizens, the best neighbors, the best person there is, the one young and old can trust to come to to get advice. We must be involved in our communities.
QUESTION: Is Inter-America really focusing on that?
We should focus more on reaching the community, much more can be done, and we encourage our unions down to the local churches to be more involved in their communities.
QUESTION: How aggressive is the church in IAD toward reaching its big cities? Are we moving fast enough?
Pastor LEITO: We wish we could move faster, but moving into the big cities is very costly and this is a kind of limiting factor to us the cost of moving aggressively in these great cities. But it is not discouraging us, we are still planning and working towards that goal with our limited resources to help our unions lay plans and execute plans to segment and conquer the cities, block by block and house by house and to continue working with those initiatives.
QUESTION: The church in IAD is investing in its education strategy starting this year. What do you think might become a reality during the next five years, as far as Adventist education in Inter-America?
Pastor LEITO: A reality I would expect is that we would have a far more educated ministry, we will have a far more motivated teacher’s forces and we will have membership that is more aware of the possibilities of furthering education in our territory.
We want to create a better environment in our schools so that Seventh-day Adventists and parents will find it a great loss if they don’t come to our institutions to study.
QUESTION: As a whole, what do you envision for the IAD during the next five years and beyond?
Pastor LEITO: We see the IAD as an ever-growing organization which has not reached its limits of growth. We see Inter-America Division as an increasingly developed division with strong institutions, dedicated members, consecrated laity and we see Inter-America with a leadership culture that is according to the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ of respect, of love, of encouragement and of support.
QUESTION: What presses at your heart about your church in IAD as you’ve served as president since 1994?
Pastor LEITO: I have felt that this is such a loving church. I have felt that it is such a committed church, not without its challenges. I feel that this is a church that understands the mission and is more than willing to be used by the Holy Spirit to pursue and to achieve the mission of filling this territory with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
One thing that worries me as I travel in this division, I ask people if they know the Seventh-day Adventist Church. When they don’t, it makes me sad. We want everyone to know about our church, so this is a vision to make the world church known-To offer everyone the opportunity to accept or reject the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
For more on the church in Inter-America, the latest news on the session and decisions affecting the Inter-American Division, visit us at www.interamerica.org.
