San Salvador, El Salvador…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
What is the image your church is portraying? What is the appearance of the church building? How friendly is the church? How involved is the church in the community?
Those were just some of the questions Seventh-day Adventist leaders from the Inter-American Division (IAD) territory addressed during a special two-day session of meetings on church image. Church officials from Central America's three major regions met to discuss and establish plans of action to improve the image of the church in the community. The meetings took place in El Salvador from May 24-25.
Church image is among five major strategic issues the IAD addresses. The others are church growth and consolidation, education in the church, consolidation of the family unit, technology and the mission of the church.
“This is the first time that we have held this session on church image,” says Pastor Juan O. Perla, executive secretary for the church in Inter-America. “Church image is one of our strategic plan issues and until today we have worked on that only in our [headquarter] office without making contact with the territory where we need to improve church image.”
That was the main reason the leadership of the church in the IAD territory decided to meet with some 80 administrators of unions and adjacent local fields in Central America to deal with the strategic issue of church image. Other church leaders from Dominican Republic and Venezuela were also present.
While some seminars concentrated on the physical upkeep of church offices and buildings, particular attention was paid to programs designed to consolidate church members, better embrace new church members and increase the involvement of the church in the needs of its community.
“Church image is about first impressions,” comments Pastor Perla. “What are the first impressions that the member or visitor gets when they come into your church?”
“To consolidate the membership or the new members, we have to take into consideration the first impressions that the member or visitor gets even before they are baptized. When the church concerns itself with the community, then members or visitors will not leave the church with bad impressions,” Pastor Perla explained.
Although Pastor Perla says there is recent emphasis on church image, “the church will not cease being who it is just for appearance's sake. We still have our faith, our doctrines and our fundamental beliefs,” he adds.
Church leaders had the opportunity to share with neighboring church leaders their plans to improve church image in their region.
According to Pastor Perla, the church in El Salvador has been allocating special funds for projects to improve, repaint and air-condition churches. Panama, on the other hand, has an on-going project, along with the local Adventist Development and Relief Agency, to ensure that every church member will learn to read by the year 2010.
A new session on church image will be held for the remaining ten church regions of the IAD territory at the Dominican Republic during the spring of 2008.
