President Report – 2022 NSD Annual Council
I would like to thank and praise God for guiding the Northern Asia-Pacific Division and for His grace and blessings over the past year. I also want to extend my thanks to the leaders of each Union, Conference, Mission, pastors, and church members for their dedication to spreading the gospel of the Lord despite various difficulties and troubles this past year. And I also give my deep thanks to Dr. Kim Si Young, former president of the division, for his hard work in developing the Northern Asia-Pacific Division in the years he served.
2. “I Will Go” Initiative: “Together in Mission – Get Involved!”
Looking over how the various disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukrainian war, earthquakes, and typhoons have caused many difficulties all over the world, we once again realize that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is imminent. Delivering the message of Jesus’s Second Coming is the only way to hasten His coming and fulfill our mission.
The Korean Union Conference has set a budget of 1.38 billion Korean Won for the “I Will Go Project,” and each Conference is promoting a customized “I Will Go Project” for their region. KUC also created a “10/40 mission project” investing 12 billion Korean Won to help more than 40 overseas mission projects in the 10/40 window area. They have already voted to support mission projects in 17 countries.
In this new session, the Northern Asia-Pacific Division will have a new motto: “Together in Mission – Get Involved!” to promote the “I Will Go” initiative in a more active way. To achieve the goal of Sabbath attendance of 100,000 and 40,000 new members, we would like to strengthen three areas: Mission, Revival, and Leadership.
3. 61st General Conference Session
The 61st General Conference Session, which had been postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was held in St. Louis, Missouri., USA, from June 6 to 11. Under the theme of “Jesus is Coming! Get Involved
During the session, representatives from more than 200 countries received reports on the situations of mission work in each field, reviewed and revised the Church Manual, and amended working policies.
Also, during the session, leaders of the World Church were elected; elder Ted Wilson was re-elected as the General Conference president and the GC officers and directors were elected. In addition, 13 division presidents were also elected. Participants were able to once again see how God has blessed His church during the GC session and had the opportunity to renew their commitment to the Lord.
4. 30th Anniversary of Mongolia Mission
The Mongolia Mission invited GC president, Elder Ted Wilson to commemorate the 30th anniversary of mission work in Mongolia at the Suut Resort from August 26 to 28. About 500 participants from Mongolia and from abroad attended this special occasion to give glory to God. During this time, GC and NSD leaders were able to visit institutions of Mongolia Mission and participated in the reboot ceremony of the Gateway Education Center.
In collaboration with these events, NSD directors and several evangelists held simultaneous evangelistic meetings in 21 different locations for a week starting on August 20. On the final Sabbath, we held a baptismal ceremony at the Suut Resort and 155 souls were baptized.
5. Mission to North Korea
The Northern Asia-Pacific Division has been working with the Korean Union Conference and the Korean Church Association in North America to promote the North Korean Mission. There are four main strategies for the North Korean Mission:
1. Prayer Movement. The prayer movement is to pray to ask God to open the doors to North Korea.
2. Train Missionaries. NSD and KUC’s North Korea Mission departments have been conducting NKPMM pastor missionary training, Priscilla and Aquila lay missionary training, and BukBukBuk youth missionary training.
3. Re-establish NK Church Movement. There were 98 Adventist churches in North Korea before the Korean War. If each church in South Korea takes on one church, we can rebuild 98 Adventist churches. So far, 12 churches in South Korea and 5 Korean churches in North America have participated in the movement.
4. Reach North Korean defectors. Currently, there are about 34,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea. If we can train them as missionaries, they will be the most efficient missionaries to North Korea.
6. Mission Unusual Tokyo
Tokyo is one of the most challenging cities in the world in terms of mission. But I’m glad to report there are five missionary families preaching the gospel amidst this great challenge.
“Mission Unusual Tokyo!” aims to initiate an Adventist movement for multiplying disciples and groups of believers in the Tokyo capital region and beyond. Twelve teams of church planters have gone through four modules of training focused on specific competencies needed for church planting. Each team also received mentoring through the process of starting new groups of believers. Some of the teams have begun meeting regularly and others are gearing up to start their meetings and activities in the community. The goal of Mission Unusual is to establish 300 small groups, 2 Urban Centers of Influence, and plant 30 churches.
7. Taiwan Conference Family Retreat & Taiya District Members Congress
In Taiwan, it is very difficult to reach the urban population. This is evident when we see the membership ratio to population, of 3,380 to 1. To overcome these challenges, TWC is planning to launch one new church and three companies in Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.
Currently, we have 13 missionary families from NSD actively working in Taiwan. Some of them are meeting with many colleges students to invite them to our churches. One PMM pastor recently opened an Urban Center of Influence near his church. I hope this can serve as a good example.
The Taiwan Conference held a staff and family retreat from August 7 to 10. About 220 pastors and their family members participated in the event. In addition, the Taiya district hosted a church members’ congress and sports meeting with 250 youth participants at Taiwan Adventist College on August 20 to 21. These events encouraged our members in Taiwan for better service in bringing people to Christ.
8. Children’s Ministry and Youth Ministry
The mission of the NSD Children’s Ministries Department is to nurture children into a loving, serving relationship with Jesus. This department is alive and strong in NSD’s territory. Children are being blessed by the Children’s Sabbath Day, Creation Sabbath, Global Children’s Day, Special Day for Children with Disabilities, and Vacation Bible School to keep our children engaged and connected with God’s Word.
The total number of attendees at the Pathfinder Camporee for each conference under KUC reached 3,313 from 223 clubs last spring and summer, an encouraging comeback. In particular, the West Central Korean Conference hosted an onsite Camporee with 900 participants.
The PCM missionary movement is a college student missionary movement specialized in campus missionary work. The 4th PCM missionaries received missionary training at the Jeju Leadership Training Center from January 19 to 23 and were dispatched to their mission fields in Taiwan for campus ministry.
9. Digital Evangelism
The General Conference is emphasizing and stressing the importance of digital evangelism.
To keep pace with the digital era, each Union, Conference, and Mission has started digital evangelism work. The Korean Union Conference has newly established a digital evangelism department in the Union and Conferences and is recruiting a second group of digital missionaries following the first group.
Japan Union Conference formed a digital evangelism committee and a digital evangelism team, and opened a studio for this task. In March, all pastors from Taiwan, Japan, and Mongolia had time to learn about the digital evangelism ministry through Zoom. Mongolia Mission held its first digital missionary training in May. I would like to thank each Union and Conference for their great support in this ministry.
10. 30th Anniversary of 1000 Missionary Movement
The 30th anniversary of the 1000 Missionary Movement was held in the Philippines on Aug. 5-6, 2022. The 57th batch missionaries who returned from their mission fields and the 59th batch missionaries who were under training at the center joined in the event as well.
Many people from other institutions in India, Mongolia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Bangladesh participated in the event.
Leaders of NSD and SSD, former directors as well as many participants from the Philippines and abroad also took part in the ceremony. During the week of the ceremony, churches around the training center held evangelistic meetings, and 75 precious souls were baptized and became children of God.
I want to praise and give thanks to God for His amazing grace and guidance that He bestowed upon this movement.
Conclusion
God has been leading the Northern Asia-Pacific Division through many challenges and difficulties. Through their untiring dedication and service, former division presidents and leaders have worked hard to develop gospel ministries in our division territories.
Let us move forward and conquer the new territories of gospel commission through faith.
Then we can meet Jesus on the clouds of heaven in our generation. And when Jesus says, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance“ (Matt 25:34), l hope we will all inherit the kingdom prepared for us since the creation of the world. Maranatha!