2012 NSD ANNUAL COUNCIL

PRESIDENT'S REPORT(Nov. 1, 2012) / Jairyong Lee

1. Introduction

The Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD) serves 1.6 billion people in the vast territory of the northern part of Asia-Pacific. Although there are immensely great mission challenges everywhere throughout the division territory, God has abundantly blessed His work in many wonderful ways. Many churches are experiencing new and fresh spiritual revival, missionary work is actively going on in many parts of the field, and an average of 400 people receive baptism and join the Seventh-day Adventist Church every week in NSD territories. By the grace of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit we will surely have a far greater harvest of souls in the near future. Our work will never stop or become slower until the gospel commission is fully accomplished in the entire field, for Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt 24:14)

2. “Mission First”

As a division, there are enormous amount of mission challenges, the NSD has strongly emphasized the importance of mission in all administrative and departmental plans and activities with a general motto of “Mission First.” In the last few years, the NSD has launched a few significant mission projects to support the work in the field and I am glad to give a brief report on the progress and achievement of these mission initiatives.

1) The 1000 Missionary Movement

The 1000 Missionary Movement (1000MM) trains and sends hundreds of Adventist young people every year for frontline mission work. These young people devote one year of their lives to the Lord in the mission field as volunteer missionaries. In the last 20 years since the inception of the movement in 1992, 6,063 young people from 57 countries have joined the 1000MM and given a precious year of their lives in the mission field as missionaries. Through their efforts 60,546 people have been baptized, 741 church buildings were constructed, and 1,323 churches and companies were established in 42 countries.
Young people are precious members of the church. Without them the future of the church is very uncertain. It is sad to know that so many young people are leaving the church. One of the best ways to retain young people in the church is to give them an opportunity to work as volunteer missionaries for the Lord.

2) Pioneer Mission Movement

Since the Pioneer Mission Movement (PMM) was launched in 2002, over the past 10 years, 75 PMM pastors left their home countries to serve in foreign lands as church planting missionaries. Some of them have returned after completing their six year term, and at present, 43 pastors are working as PMM missionaries in several countries including Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Mongolia, Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Russia and the Philippines.
Eight pastors were selected for the 11th group of PMM missionaries who will be sent to serve in Mongolia, China, Taiwan, Korea, India and the Philippines beginning March 2013. They were screened by local conferences and recommended by the Union Conferences and finally selected by the PMM Management Committee on the basis of recommendations, results of interviews, a written test, and a physical examination. They receive 100 hours of missionary training before they depart for their assigned countries. We deeply appreciate Dr. Cheryl Doss, Director of World Mission Institute who comes to Korea almost every year to give training to departing missionaries.

 

3) Golden Angels

The The Golden Angels singing group has been organized with eight volunteer musicians every year since 2004 in order to support the evangelistic activities of PMM missionaries and to strengthen youth ministries in the field. They are singing missionaries. Tens of thousands of people have been touched by the love of God through the inspiring music ministry of the Golden Angels.
The Golden Angels DVD-8 was released in May 2012. The music DVD is loved by many individuals. The Golden Angels of 2012 have visited China, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan to support evangelistic campaigns and many schools and churches in Korea to bolster up spiritual revival. Invited by Euro-Asia Division (ESD), they had a concert tour in Russia and Ukraine and inspire thousands of young people at their youth congress in August 2012.
The 8 members of Golden Angels for 2013 have been chosen. They are from Taiwan, Japan and Korea.

4) His Hands Mission Movement

 

Since May 2007 when the His Hands Mission Movement (HHMM) was approved during the NSD Midyear Committee in Macao, 3,200 church members in Korea, Mongolia, Japan, Taiwan and China have joined the Movement to work for the homeland mission/evangelism.
The HHMM volunteer missionaries dedicate a minimum of 10 hours a month to reach out to their neighbors with three angels’ messages. They go out in pairs to seek souls. Ellen White asserted the importance of this sort of witnessing program: “Calling the twelve about Him, Jesus bade them go out two and two through the towns and villages....In our own time evangelistic work would be far more successful if this example were more closely followed.” (DA, 350)
This outreach method of evangelism has been proved by many churches to be a effective/successful way of soul winning.

 

5) Mission Day

 

The NSD has celebrated a mission day every year since 2004. On mission day, all NSD workers participate in prayers, seminar, give testimonies and also visit home to home with the printed gospel message. The NSD office workers celebrated the Mission Day this year on April 20. The mission day activities remind all workers of the “mission” that has been given by the Lord to each one.
Many institutions in the NSD territories are also celebrating their own mission day with various programs and mission activities. We are encouraging all our church institutions in NSD to have their mission day celebration every year to help our workers to be filled with the mission spirit.

3. Communication & Leadership Advancement Program

In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, English is used as an official language for worldwide church activities, meetings and communication between institutions. However, English is not widely used in NSD territories, and accordingly, many church leaders are facing difficulties in understanding and giving contributions in international church meetings.
The purpose of the Communication & Leadership Advancement Program (CLAP) is to stimulate, motivate, and encourage young pastors of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division to understand the importance of English language for future church leadership, and to equip them with a good level of English proficiency. Most of the curricula are about the Adventist church leadership development.
CLAP was launched in 2008 with 37 participants from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Mongolia. They took four two-week intensive total English immersion sessions over two years and 33 of them graduated in June 2010. In March 2011, a new group of 36 people started participating in the CLAP program for two years and in August this year 33 of them successfully finished the program. Soon, another group of 35 pastors will begin to take the program as the third group of CLAP. We especially appreciate Professor Erika Hole of Newbold College who has been coming two times every year to teach classes in CLAP since 2008.

4. The NSD Leadership Convention

The NSD Leadership Convention was held in Manila, Philippines from February 13-16, 2012. All Union presidents, Conference/Mission presidents, college/university presidents, elementary and academy principals, hospital presidents and chief administrators of all institutions in the NSD territories were invited to the convention. One hundred and twenty participants enjoyed seminar presentations by selected speakers and had fellowship with leaders from other institutions. After the convention, they visited a few church institutions such as the Southern Asia-Pacific Division (SSD) office, AIIAS, 1000MM Training Center and Adventist University of the Philippines (AUP).

5. GC Officers Visit to China

Elder Ted Wilson and GC/NSD/CHUM officers together with a few directors from the GC/NSD with their spouses visited China from March 29 to April 8, 2012. The group visited the Seventh-day Adventist churches in Shanghai, Wenzhou, Hangzhou, Shenyang and Beijing and also the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and Christian Council offices in the cities.
The GC President’s visit to China has brought great blessings to our church members in the country and helped them understand that they are part of the world family of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It has also brought a good opportunity to introduce the Seventh-day Adventist Church to the government officials of the country.

6. NSD Stewardship Summit in Mongolia

The NSD Stewardship Summit was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on June 1-2, 2012 immediately after the NSD Midyear Committee. About sixty church leaders from all unions and conferences within NSD participated in the summit and were reminded of the importance of stewardship ministries in the church.
The comprehensive approach of stewardship ministries was appreciated by participants. We need to continue to promote true stewardship principles in the church until Jesus comes.

7. Graduation of Chinese Students

There were graduation exercises for two groups of young people from China in the NSD auditorium. The first group of 22 studied Theology in China and came to Korea for graduation on June 7, 2012 at the NSD auditorium. Another group of 32 church leaders from China had a graduation ceremony at the NSD auditorium on August 1, 2012 and received bachelors and masters degrees in practical theology. They studied theology in China with the help of Taiwan Adventist College using Griggs University textbooks.

8. The First NSD Pathfinder Camporee

The first NSD International Pathfinder Camporee was held at Sahmyook University campus from August 7 to 11, 2012. About 5,000 young people from China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mongolia, USA, and the Philippines participated in the camporee and enjoyed well prepared programs and booth activities. On Sabbath, 99 pathfinders gave their heart to Jesus and were baptized in their pathfinder uniforms by pastors who also wore pathfinder uniforms.
The camporee participants had an opportunity to dedicate their heart to Jesus and were determined to be His missionaries in their homes and communities.

9. Ulaanbaatar City-wide Evangelistic Campaign

From September 15 to 22, 2012, a city-wide evangelistic campaign was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. For the first 5 days, the evangelistic meetings were held in 9 places in the city and the last three days there were combined meetings at a rented auditorium. Prior to the evangelistic meetings, about 150 His Hands missionaries did ground preparation for about 2 months and consequently, 264 people finished the VOP correspondence courses and received certificates on Sabbath, the last day of the evangelistic meeting and 106 people received baptism and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Urban evangelism is very challenging in many aspects, but the Ulaanbaatar evangelistic campaign has proved that it is still possible and productive when church leaders and lay people work together trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit.

10. Reorganization of Chinese Union Mission

Our churches in China have gone through some difficult times in the last few decades due to the lack of religious freedom in the country. In spite of limited religious freedom in the country, the Lord has blessed our churches in China in many ways and they have remarkably grown especially in the last 10-15 years. Currently, there are about 4,200 Seventh-day Adventist churches and meeting places with about 400,000 baptized members. The doors of mission opportunities are widely open in the country, and we should take them while they are still available.
The General Conference Executive Committee at the GC Annual Council 2012 has voted to reorganize the Chinese Union Mission (CHUM). A decision was made to separate the Taiwan Conference from CHUM and attach it to NSD, and to make Taiwan Adventist College, Taiwan Adventist Hospital and Signs of the Times Publishing Association NSD institutions, and accordingly to help CHUM to spend more time, energy and resources to support the work in China.
The reorganization of the Chinese Union Mission is effective January 1, 2013.

 

11. Concluding Remarks

In spite of enormous mission challenges we face in many parts of NSD, the Lord has abundantly blessed His work in this region. Ellen White tells us that “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” (9T, 10) As long as we work together with the spirit of unity and trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Lord will continue to lead us to accomplish the great gospel commission in the vast territory of our division.
Dear Executive Committee members, thank you for your endless support, advice and cooperation. Please continue to pray for the bountiful harvest of souls in the NSD territories. We still have a great amount of work for the completion of the gospel work, but by the grace of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we will certainly accomplish our mission in the near future.
May the Lord continue to bless the NORTHERN ASIA-PACIFIC DIVISION!

May the Lord continue to bless the NORTHERN ASIA-PACIFIC DIVISION!