The 2018 Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD)Midyear Committee took place from May 22 to 24, 2018, in Sapporo, Japan, right after the All Japan 2018 Maranatha evangelistic series, which had 161 simultaneous meeting sites throughout Japan.
With the special expectation of continuing mission momentum, not only in Japan but also China, Korea, Taiwan, and Mongolia, the NSD executive members and invitees met together for development and progress of God’s mission agenda.
A special emphasis was introduced by the NSD president Kim SiYoung to the Midyear EXCOM members: Ministering to the Needs (MTN). This MTN concept was brought out from Matthew 25:35-36 and quoted from Ellen G. White’s writing, Ministry of Healing page 143. President Kim suggested that Adventist living in the last days should be mingling, caring, and sharing as Jesus Christ mentioned. He appealed to the church leaders that NSD Vision One Million 2020 could be accomplished through TMI (Total Member Involvement) and MTN.
Hensley Moorooven, the newly elected undersecretary for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, said during his morning devotional presentation, “Christ came to this world to meet the needs of mankind.” He shared from the first six chapters of the Book of John.
Sung Kwon, director of community services in the North America Division, was invited to lecture about the importance of community services for the successful missional church. He emphasized that missional church should be “for our community” instead of “being an attractive church in our community.”
During the business sessions, the EXCOM members approved several major agenda items: TMI evangelistic meetings at 2019 sites in the year 2019, PCM (Public Campus Ministry) Missionary Movement, Combined Offering Plan, and NSD Privacy Policy.
After the meetings, the participants visited at Hitsujigaoka Observation Hill to see the Christian legacy of Dr. William Smith Clark. Sapporo was one of the main Christian mission centers during the Meiji Era when the Protestant Christian missionaries began to enter into Japan. Dr. Clark, who was the president of Massachusetts Agricultural College, was invited to serve as the president of the Imperial College of Agriculture at Sapporo (1876-1877). During his short term, he evangelized his whole class of students. He left a significant Christian impact on Japan with his prominent words for young people in Japan: “Boys, be ambitious [for Christ].”
SungSub Song, NSD Associate Secretary