Adventist Church in Mexico Achieves Record Digital Impact During National Evangelism Series

One-week initiative wraps up extensive mission and community outreach across the country.

October 24, 2024 | Puebla, Mexico | Cristel Romero and Libna Stevens, Inter-American Division News

For the fourth consecutive year, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mexico held a live evangelistic series across digital platforms, television, and radio networks, both nationally and internationally. The eight-day event, themed “Jesus is Enough,” took place from September 14-21, 2024, from Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, and marked the culmination of extensive mission initiatives that had been ongoing throughout the year across the country’s five major church regions, or unions.

Spreading a Message of Hope

The series, which conveyed the message that “Jesus is enough,” was the centerpiece of months of outreach driven by committed church leaders and members, including young people, who shared messages of hope both in person and through digital channels, said Pastor Ignacio Navarro, president of the Chiapas Mexican Union and president of the church’s administrative office in Mexico.

Navarro emphasized the importance of involving all members in this mission.

“We invited everyone to become messengers of hope, to tell those in despair that Jesus is enough to transform their lives and offer eternal life, just as He promised,” Navarro said. “There are things we cannot achieve on our own, but with Jesus, all things are possible.”

Each night, Pastor Luis Orozco, youth ministries director of the North Mexican Union and keynote speaker, addressed a variety of spiritual topics including identity in Jesus, guilt, the Ten Commandments, spiritual blindness, traps of the enemy, and the sufficiency of Jesus in our lives. More than 300 church members and friends attended in person at the Chiapas Mexican Union auditorium, while thousands gathered in homes—dubbed “Houses of Hope”—across the country to watch the program.

In addition to the Houses of Hope, the series was broadcast in schools, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and other venues. Church leaders reported that the campaign reached its highest digital engagement yet, with over 27,000 devices connected live via Facebook and YouTube, surpassing the numbers from previous years.

Expanding Digital Reach

“The impact of this year’s campaign is difficult to quantify, but we saw over 27,246 devices connected live,” Navarro said. This represents a significant increase from 17,500 simultaneous connections in 2023; 14,400 in 2022, and 10,000 in 2021, he reported. Thousands more watched the series after its original broadcast, and many celebrated baptisms across the country as a result of the campaign.

In addition to the digital platforms, the series was also aired on 20 radio stations throughout Mexico, Hope Channel Inter-America, and 3ABN Latino.

The combined efforts of church leaders and members led to the baptism of over 12,000 new members across the five Mexican unions—Central, Chiapas, Inter-Oceanic, North, and Southeast—since July, culminating during the campaign week.

Powerful Testimonies

Among those baptized during the week in Chiapas was Marien Alejandra Román, president of the Emiliano Zapata Municipal District. She had been reintroduced to the church through a local pastor who invited her to attend the series.

Román shared her story, recalling how she grew up attending Adventist churches and schools but left the church at 15 to explore the world.  “Two months ago, when I was walking through a plaza, a pastor who sent me reflections during the pandemic, greeted me and invited me to attend his church. Later he invited me to the evening series.

“I never thought I would return, but after attending the series, I made the decision to get baptized,” Román said. She also shared her newfound faith with her colleagues and friends, vowing to lead her district by example.

Elsewhere in Chiapas, 38 young people from the Huehuetán Estacion District chose baptism after watching the series. They had been ministered to by Edgar Angel Zuñiga, a former addict who now shares his story and leads others to faith, including young people struggling with addiction.

“My life changed radically when I was baptized and soon after I began sharing the Word of God.” His influence brought him to a local gym, where, through his friendship with the owner, Zuñiga was able to use an adjacent room to minister to young people and project the recent online evangelistic series.

That adjacent room was one of the 4,423 Houses of Hope in Chiapas which were used to transmit the evangelistic series.

In northern Mexico, in the Anastasio V. Hinojosa Community in Zacatecas, church leaders decided to broadcast the series in the central square as the community was celebrating its 75^th anniversary.  Loudspeakers drew residents from their homes and farms to hear the message of hope, with many expressing interest in further Bible studies.

The evangelistic series has marked a before and after among the families in the community said Miguel Patiño, a layperson who along with his wife are continuing to minister in the community with visitations and bible studies.

Increasing Baptisms

The Southeast Mexican Union saw a significant increase in baptisms leading up to the national campaign, with 1,327 baptisms in 2023 and 1,703 from July to September 2024, reported Felipe Domínguez, personal ministries and Sabbath school director for the Southeast Mexican Union.

“Over the past four years, we have seen the church adopt a new strategy with greater reach,” Domínguez said. “We can reach places and people that traditional methods could never touch, thanks to digital platforms.

In Central Mexico, which includes the vast Mexico City metropolitan area, Pastor Jorge García, president of the Central Mexican Union, highlighted the importance of digital outreach. “This fourth campaign has shown how media can foster greater involvement among church members year after year,” García said. The region saw 489 Houses of Hope open during the campaign and recorded over 2,000 baptisms since January.

The Inter-Oceanic Mexican Union also embraced the Houses of Hope initiative, with 4,750 small groups setting up homes, parks, and community centers to host viewers. The region saw 4,017 baptisms from July to September alone.

“The spiritual life of the members is strengthened when they hear the testimonies, conversions, and the souls being baptized, as well as hearing the powerful messages,” said Abraham Sandoval, president of the Mexican Inter-Oceanic Union. “This motivates us to continue working with dedication toward fulfilling the mission.” The campaign is eagerly awaited year after year by the membership, Sandoval added.

A Unified Purpose

Pastor Sedric Arena, personal ministries director of the North Mexican Union, emphasized the unity of purpose behind the national campaign. “Unity at every level is crucial for effective evangelism,” said Arena. “What impressed me most was the involvement of every member, every action working together to spread the message that ‘Jesus is Enough.’”

This year’s success was driven by numerous outreach activities, including food distribution, concerts, health initiatives, youth marches, and the distribution of new Bible study materials. Hundreds of Adventist influencers and young people, known as Creative Disciples, amplified the campaign on social media using the hashtag #JesusEsSuficiente.

For the first time, the church also invested in targeted advertising on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, and TikTok, reaching over 6.5 million people.

Plans are already underway for next year’s national online evangelism campaign, which will be hosted by the North Mexican Union from September 6-13, 2025.

Yannina García, Victor Martínez, Gaby Chagolla, and Helena Corona contributed to this article.

To watch the online evangelistic series of Sept. 14-21, 2024, from Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, click HERE

To learn more about the “Jesus es Suficiente” series, visit esperanzamexico.com