Adventist Leader Urges IAD Leaders to Place Discipleship Back at the Heart of Mission

Pastor Gerson Santos, associate secretary of the General Conference, opens his devotional message on NOv. 12, 2025, by calling Inter-American Division leaders to refocus on intentional, biblical discipleship. [Photo: Keila Trejo/IAD]

November 24, 2025 | Miami, Florida, United States | Libna Stevens, Inter-American Division News

The call to return to the heart of Adventist mission resonated as Pastor Gerson Santos, associate secretary of the General Conference, delivered the devotional message on Nov. 12 during the Inter-American Division’s (IAD) Annual Council. Addressing administrators, pastors, and leaders from across the territory, Santos urged church leaders to reclaim discipleship as the core of the church’s identity—beyond structures, beyond programs, and beyond numerical growth.

“Friends, if you forget everything I spoke about for three and a half years, do not forget this: make disciples until I return.” Santos said, paraphrasing the heartbeat of Jesus’ Great Commission. “If you forget everything else, do not forget this.”

A member from the North Mexican Union in  the recent Annual Council meetings  on Nov. 12, 2025, listens attentively as Pastor Gerson Santos outlines global retention trends and the urgent need to deepen discipleship across the territory. [Photo: Keila Trejo/IAD]

Santos opened by referencing new sections added to the Church Manual that clarify the role of the pastor, not simply as a Sabbath morning preacher or hospital visitor, but as a trainer and mobilizer for mission.

“The pastor is not called just to preach or visit the sick. He is called to train the church for mission—equip the members, make disciples, evangelize, and plant churches. That is how the early Adventist movement grew,” he said.

He emphasized that these additions give “focus to what is most important,” but warned, “There is one priority that can never be lost.”

Santos offered a behind-the-scenes look at how Church Manual changes occur, reminding leaders that meaningful transformation begins at every level of administration.

Pastor Santos holds up the Church Manual while explaining how its new sections emphasize pastoral responsibility for training members in mission and disciple-making. [Photo; Keila Trejo/IAD]

Facing a Changing World

Moving to global trends, Santos outlined some of the most pressing challenges for Adventist mission today including Islam’s rapid growth, expanding secular and post-Christian cultures, and the rise of major urban centers.

“By 2060, Islam is projected to surpass Christianity in global population. We face realities our pioneers never imagined,” Santos explained. And yet, he added, the church often uses outdated methods. “We cannot change the doctrine—but we must change the methodology. We are still preaching like it’s the 1800s in New England. The world has changed.”

An executive committee member from Venezuela reacts with laughter as Pastor Gerson Santos shares an illustration during his devotional. [Photo: Keila Trejo/IAD]

Santos shared sobering membership retention data: 4 of every 10 people who join the Adventist Church leave.

“We are adding members, but we are not always multiplying disciples,” he said.“And that is the root of our losses.”

The issue, he insisted, is not theology — it’s process.

“For many, church membership means simply sitting quietly and doing nothing wrong. But that is not discipleship. In the early church, following Jesus required transformation, mission, and sacrifice.”

Pastor Gerson Santos explains that four out of every ten members who join the Adventist Church leave, urging leaders to strengthen discipleship practices to nurture and retain new believers. [Photo: Keila Trejo/IAD]

Santos illustrated what true discipling looks like: slow, relational, intentional.

“Discipleship is not just doctrine—it is shared life,” he said. “You cannot make disciples from a distance. You must enter people’s homes, listen to their stories, and walk with them.”

He then told the story of a young woman who walked into an Adventist church after researching online what the Bible teaches.

“She told me, ‘You are the church that teaches almost everything the Bible teaches.’”
Through relationship, study, and involvement, she later became an Adventist—then a theology student, and eventually a pastor, Santos added.

“When you baptize someone who is already preparing another person for baptism, you don’t need post-baptism classes. That person is already a missionary,” he said.

An Annual Council committee member listens attentively as Pastor Gerson Santos of the General Conference presents membership and discipleship data on Nov. 12, 2025. [Photo: Keila Trejo/IAD]

Santos challenged leaders to stop looking at documents and start looking at real outcomes.

“If you tell me your church has a discipleship plan, I will ask only one thing: Does it work?” “If it works, then tell me a story—because stories reveal results.”

Santos described an inspiring project in Kolkata, India, where targeted training and home-based ministry transformed a city that once had only two small congregations.

“Today there are nearly 36 congregations in the city. Not because of events, but because of disciples making disciples,” he shared.

As he closed, Santos pointed back to the Great Commission.

“The Great Commission was not an afterthought. Jesus did not say, ‘Oh, I almost forgot—go make disciples.’ No. He said, ‘If you forget everything else, do not forget this.’”

He urged them to walk out of Annual Council with renewed personal commitment.

“Our mission is to be disciples and to make disciples until Jesus returns. This is our calling, our identity, and our hope,” Santos said.