A 10-day Presidential Executive Administrative Council (PREXAD) together with field visit was conducted in China this year from August 31 to September 9. This was an annual event to bring together the Division officers, Union presidents and Mongolia mission field director to review and discuss some of the projects of the NSD and to listen to the reports, the challenges and the opportunities from Unions/Mission Field. At the same time to brainstorm for the future potential plans and development for the enhancement of the work in NSD territory.
The PREXAD this year was quite unique and special as compared to the previous years. The church leaders not only spent time talking about the business, but spent quite some substantial time traveling and visiting some of the churches in China in more than 5 cities including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Yixing, Wuxi and Nanjing.
To most of the participants, this was an eye-opening experience to witness how Seventh-day Adventist Churches have gone through the difficult times all these years without any assistance coming from outside, yet, because of the spirit of sacrifice and dedication, and the passion for evangelism from many church members, we can see how the Holy Spirit was working among His people, and the churches were growing rapidly in those big cities.
The delegation was met with warm and cordial welcome by the local church members. "I really want to thank God for your spirit of sacrifice and the passion to spread the last day Adventist message to your community, that’s the very reason why God has chosen us as His special people, because we are the people of His Mission." said JaiRyong Lee, the president of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division who led the delegation and preached two Sabbath sermon with word of encouragement to our Adventist believers in China. According to the statistics, there are more than 400,000 Seventh-day Adventist Church believers now worshiping in China within more than 4000 churches and meeting places.
Reported by Stanley Ng
Assistant to the President for China Affairs