May 2008
North NSW Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
July 2008
Advice for the Adventist Church from outside the denomination By Adam Johnstone The evangelistic heartbeat of the Adventist movement is still alive and well according to the research of Natural Church Development (NCD). Compared to the 55,000 churches surveyed around the world on all six continents, Adventist churches consistently score highly in the area NCD calls ‘Needoriented Evangelism’. That is, evangelism that speaks the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the lives of people outside the church in ways that meet their unique needs. On the lower end of the scale for Adventist churches is the area of Wholistic Small Groups. This area relates to the deepening of relationships on the discipleship journey. As it stands, people are likely to find their way into Adventist fellowships on the basis of strong ‘Needoriented Evangelism’ but will struggle to find the intimate community necessary for growth and spiritual maturity. This serves to act as an incentive to remain on the fringe or even outside the local Adventist fellowship. Some in the local community could be heard saying, “Thanks for the invitation, but you
seem to like me more when I’m not part of your church so I’ll stay outside if that’s ok.” Understanding evangelism and discipleship more as a journey than an event or program will be very important in the next phase of the Advent-
“Understanding evangelism and discipleship more as a journey than an event or program will be very important in the next phase of the Adventist movement.“ ist movement internationally. The evangelistic heart must be recognised, validated and put to work. But it will only be effective in as much as it is leads people into a fellowship characterised by authentic intimate community — a place where people are genuinely concerned for you and
not just for what you can do for the church; a place where you feel part of a close caring family; a place where you are allowed to have problems and openly speak about them on your way to complete transformation in Christ. Adventists have participated in the NCD process in 33 countries around the world and are the second most represented group out of the more than 100 denominations and movements in the NCD international database.
Adam Johnstone is the Director of NCD Australia and one of the Directors of NCD International.