Alfred McClure, President, North American Division
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Territory: Bermuda, Canada, Saint Pierre et Miquelon, the United States of America, Johnston Island, Midway Islands, and some islands of the Pacific.
Union Conferences: Atlantic, Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada, Columbia, Lake, Mid-America, North Pacific, Pacific, Southern , and Southwestern.
Statistics: Churches–4,759; Membership–898,876; Population–303,173, 690. [1999 statistics from the current yearbook]
“This is our church,” announced Alfred C. McClure, President of the North American Division (NAD). It was a theme carried throughout the report by upbeat NAD leaders.
The program emphasis was on diversity, evangelism and growth. Leaders came on stage to introduce each segment and make comments, then a video presentation followed.
Membership growth for the last five years was reported. “At present, the membership of the NAD exceeds 900,000 members,” announced NAD Secretary Harold Baptiste. In the past five years, a record number of 185,687 new members joined the church in North America. And in 1999, for the first time ever, over 40,000 were baptized.
Treasurer Juan Prestol reported an increase in tithe for the Division--the total in 1999 topping $US 610 million.
NAD President Al McClure spoke of the new phenomenon of church planting. “There is an explosion of new congregations,” he said. More than 400 new churches have been planted in North America since 1995, involving local church members and pastors, not just evangelists.
Since 1995, more than 750 evangelistic series have been held in North America. The highlight has been the explosion of a new form of evangelistic series. “A new form of evangelism has emerged, called Net Evangelism. It first began in the NAD, in 1995,” said McClure. The Net Evangelists of the past five years were on the platform and introduced to an applauding audience.
Vice President for Education, Richard Osborn, touched on the challenge of secularism in the NAD. “We have large areas like Toronto that still haven’t felt the influence of the Church,” he said.
But attention was turned to efforts to address this. “Tonight in Toronto, we have been feeding the homeless,” said Cyril Miller, NAD Vice President for Evangelism. “This year, we will feed the homeless, and last year, and the year before that. It is an example of what we are doing to follow the example of Jesus.”
The report showed video clips of individual examples of church success in different areas. There was a sense of ownership and pride in the church. As one Salt Lake City church member said on the video report: “I feel proud. I feel proud of being a Seventh-day Adventist. Our church is God’s house of prayer for all people, everywhere.” |
