May 3, 2012 – Miami, Florida, United States…Libna Stevens/IAd
For over a year now, the Seventh-day Adventist Church throughout Inter-America has been keen on creating the kind of spiritual revival that will motivate church members to lead a prayerful life, study the Bible regularly and be a witness for Jesus Christ. This week, more than 70 church leaders met in Miami, Florida, to gauge the progress of this spiritual movement, as well as planning future revival and reformation efforts.
“It is important that we continue emphasizing the three key elements we have designated for revival in our territory,” said Pastor Abner De Los Santos, vice president of the church in Inter-America in charge of member retention. “Revival and reformation need to be permanent in whatever takes place in the church.”
It is the third meeting, which gathered top church leaders and spiritual revival and reformation coordinators throughout the 21 major church regions in Inter-America. The focus during the two-day meeting was geared toward the conservation of church members and seminars on Family Life ministries which will be focused throughout 2013.
Gary Swanson, associate director for Sabbath School and Personal Ministries for the Adventist world church, presented a four-part seminar on the theology of retention and pointed out the need to keep members active in a culturally diverse, financially overwhelmed and broken-family-filled church today.
Swanson touched on the broad concerns about retaining members who have apostatized and new members who are brought into the church and how to engage them in the life of the church.
“Do we value people? Then we must care for them,” said Swanson. “Great value must be placed in that person who’s missing from coming to church and who just joined the church.”
Pastor Pedro Iglesias, family ministries director for the church in Inter-America, presented practical initiatives and programs to strengthen families at church and ways to minister broken families as well. A spiritual revival is key to making a difference in fortifying families and strengthening the church.
It’s all about strengthening the church, agreed Pastor Roberto Herrera, revival and reformation coordinator for the church in Inter-America.
“We want our churches to continue active in spiritual revival movement,” said Herrera. “Our challenge is to keep persevering in motivating members to seek the Scriptures and lead a prayerful life.”
“This is a movement that involves people, not programs. This is a movement that belongs to the church,” explained Herrera. “Keeping an ongoing prayer program and study of the Bible and encouraging members to use their spiritual gifts to reach others, is what‘s going to make the kind of impact God has entrusted us to do.”
Each of the church regions in Inter-America reported on the programs and activities introduced since revival and reformation was launched in Inter-America on February 2011 and on-going initiatives to continue creating an environment of spiritual revival for the membership.
For more on Inter-America’s Revival and Reformation initiative, the following websites:
Resources:
Vision One Million: http://visiononemillion.org/
Revival and Reformation webpage: http://praying4revival.org
In Spanish: http://estamosorando.org
French: http://praying4revival.org
Facebook
English: http://www.facebook.com/praying4revival
Spanish: http://www.facebook.com/estamosorando
