- ContributedDr. Patrick Allen, president of the West indies Union Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists.
Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter
HAVE YOU noticed how rapidly sanctuaries of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church (SDA) are springing up all over Jamaica? It seems you can hardly travel a mile in the island without encountering an SDA sign welcoming you to the particular village/community you are approaching.
That speaks to the growth of one of the largest church groups in Jamaica.
I would not be surprised if the results of the census currently under way show the SDA as the single largest Christian community on the island - with more than 600 churches islandwide and an active membership of about 200,000. Clearly, this group is doing some things right.
DOING SOMETHING RIGHT
For that reason I sat down with Pastor Patrick Allen, president of the West Indies Union Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, to learn more about its church growth strategies.
Most pastors would perhaps concede that when a church's membership reflects the demography of the society, it is doing an effective job at evangelism.
In this regard, Dr. Allen, who has been serving a five-year term since 2000, disclosed that within his denomination, 70 per cent of the membership is youth as most members falls within the age range 18-35.
Most pastors, too, would concede that when a church has a 50-50 ratio in males to females, it is one of the vital signs of healthy and effective evangelism.
I am yet to learn of the church in Jamaica, or anywhere in the western world where that has been attained.
But the local SDA has come close as, by Dr. Allen's estimates, the denomination is comprised of about 60 per cent women, and 40 per cent men.
This comes at a time I suspect that most churches in Jamaica have maybe a 80-90 per cent female composition. In other words, the SDA is doing something right.
Yet interestingly, Dr. Allen says there is no department within the denomination set up explicitly to target men for evangelism.
What then accounts for its success in ministering to men?
Dr. Allen suggests that the careful, diligent exposition of the Bible which takes place during Sabbath School plays no small part in that attracting and keeping men in the church.
"Men on the whole want to make decisions and come to conclusions based on facts. I don't think they don't just go out and be emotional about something because they feel that this is what they want or it should be."
The Sabbath School, he says, caters to the intellectual and rational appetite that men have.
The Sabbath School is one of the pillars of the church's growth. It has Dr. Allen says, very topical subjects covered.
But what I find most amazing about it is that the curriculum is universal. That means that the global Adventist church will next Sabbath be studying the same lesson.
Hence if you find yourself in Australia this Saturday you need not miss out on the lesson you would study if you were in Sabbath School in Jamaica as the identical lesson would be taught in the SDA church nearest you.
SPLITTING CONGREGATIONS
One of the SDA's church growth strategies that intrigues me is that which comes about after a congregation has grown to a certain size and then some members are asked to leave that church to become the nucleus of another church in a different locale.
Pastor Allen says there is no numerical figure that must be attained before a church splits up to start another congregation. Rather, he stressed that it is all based on what the denomination perceives as the need for a church in a particular area.
"It is not because the church is too large that it is going to be split. It is because there is a need for a congregation somewhere."
Sometimes, he said, some members are asked to leave their regular place of worship "to strengthen" a struggling SDA church elsewhere.
But this dividing of the church is done "out of need" and not mechanically.
It is certainly a Biblical church growth strategy and sound. There is empirical data to support the validity of such a church growth strategy in non-SDA communions.
The benefits of dividing one's congregation to establish another church are many. Sometimes when a church is "too large" some people feel "lost" within a crowd.
It also gives scope for under-utilised skills in a particular church to find expression in the new church or it might come to the fore as the seasoned leaders leave to establish a sanctuary elsewhere.
Despite its evangelistic fervour, the SDA in Jamaica does not have any missionaries at present serving on the foreign missions field, at least not to the best recollection of Dr. Allen when I spoke to him.
An engagement in sending and supporting persons to the foreign missions field is a standard vital sign of a healthy church, many pastors would concede. So the SDA has some homework to do there.
However, though they have no one serving as missionaries from Jamaica at this time, that is not so say that the SDA is without a vision for Christian missions.
According to Dr. Allen "We in Jamaica tend more to give to missions than to go. We have been socialised that way. Every Sabbath morning we give missions offering and that is different from the regular tithes and offerings. Last year in Jamaica, we gave probably $18 million to $20 million for missions."
No wonder the church is swelling in numbers as it is. I am yet to encounter the church that gives much to missions that does not experience enviable numerical growth. Yet, Dr. Allen is quick to point out that most of the SDA members are poor people and the church is without a significant economic base, except from the tithes and offerings it receives.
ROTATING PASTORS
Rev. Rick Warren, author of the immensely popular church growth strategy book The Purpose-Driven Church, in a study he did before he became the founding pastor of one of the largest churches in the United States, the Saddleback Community Church, in Orange County California, noted that the churches with the largest congregations, for the most part, had a pastor serving for a long tenure - upwards of 15 years.
Yet some experts in church growth concede that the biggest obstacle to moving a church forward is oftentimes the pastor.
In this regard, however, the SDA is not unduly shackled as its 150-170 pastors have term limits for their tenure at any one church.
Pastors are regularly rotated among SDA congregations.
Dr. Allen explains "The tenure of a pastor's service in a congregation is usually for a session term which is approximately four years, it could be more or less depending on the circumstances e.g. vacancy in a circuit, which is a group of churches; he is doing a good job and the circuit needs his service for some more time he may stay for another session but certainly not beyond. The pastor is usually selected based on the needs of the circuit and the special gifts and expertise he has. For example, if he works well with young people and the district has a preponderance of them he would be assigned there, or if the district has special building needs and the pastor has skills there he may also be assigned. The given of course is the fact that the pastor is a spiritual person.
"The rationale behind moving a pastor to another circuit (or district as it is used interchangeably), is that his gifts and skills may be needed elsewhere, and a circuit may be in need of a different type of leadership. In either case, the pastor's strengths are experienced elsewhere and other churches benefit also for their growth. Also when his personality is not fitting with a particular district he has a chance to grow in another place with a different set of people with whom he may work far better and more effectively."
Not every church will desire to implement some of the things that work for the SDA.
But these things, however, deserve to be considered, because clearly, this denomination has much to teach the rest of the Christian community. It is doing some things right.
Mark Dawes is a Staff Reporter. Send feedback to dawesmark@hotmail.com
