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Honiara, Soloman Islands
AMN Staff/Andrew Kingston
The administrative office of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Solomon Islands, or Solomon Islands Mission (SIM) recently hosted its first ministers' meetings, attended by 128 pastors. It resulted in them endorsing a strategic plan to grow the church from its present 43,000 members to 100,000 by the end of 2010.
The president of the Solomon Islands Mission, Pastor Andrew Kingston (centre), with pastors and their wives, who were ordained at the recent ministers' meetings.
"It’s scary for us to have such a bold aim but we feel that God has so many doors opening here at the moment we would be foolish to carry on our business as usual," says Pastor Andrew Kingston, president of the SIM."Rather than following a more traditional approach, where the pastor works while the church members support or watch, this strategy involves the entire church family within the country intentionally reaching out to their friends for Jesus Christ."
Luther Taniveke, director of personal ministries for SIM, states that given the culture within the Solomons, it will prove to be a successful venture, as friendship is something that is highly valued within the entire country.
The plan is based on a five-step strategy, where each church member selects an acquaintance or friend and begins to pray for them. Then, they intentionally reach out to them and build a strong friendship, with the third step being an invitation to attend an outreach series at the local church or join a home Bible-study group.
Once their friend has accepted Jesus and been baptised, the fourth step involves a process where they are integrated into the church family. Finally, the newly baptised member is invited to think of a friend they would like to see accept Jesus and join the church - and so the process continues.
"While this is the main thrust of our work here in the Solomons, other plans are in place to support and reinforce the five-step plan," says Pastor Benjamin Asa, SIM general secretary.
Guest presenters at the minsters' meetings included president of the Adventist Church in the South Pacific, Dr
Barry Oliver, general secretary of the Adventist Church in the South Pacific, Pr Lawrence Tanabose, and Dr Aaron
Lopa, senior lecturer in the Theology Department at Pacific Adventist
University.
A highlight of the meetings was the final Sabbath, where four ministers were ordained to gospel ministry. "While the church in the Solomons faces huge challenges with its
extremely low currency (a Solomon dollar is worth approximately AUD 15
cents), plus a huge area to care for and maintain, the church leadership within the country is very positive and have
committed themselves to actively growing the kingdom of God within the
country," says Pastor Kingston.
More activities are planned for the coming year, with plans for the Hope Channel to be online and the Discovery Centre being reopened. Pastor Kingston says the literature evangelist team is growing, and an evangelistic training school is being conducted by ministerial secretary of the South Pacific, Pastor Gary Webster. This will be concluded with an evangelistic series, to be conducted in Honiara later in the year. Each department in the SIM is working to implement strategies to train church members.
"The youth department is gearing up with even more ‘Elijah Projects’ being conducted throughout the year, while the women’s ministry department is preparing programs on helping women with literacy," says Pastor Kingston.
The health department, under the leadership of Dr Silent Tovasia, is also continuing to strengthen its program by using health education as a means to help people and show them the love of Jesus.
