CHUM—Stewards for the Mission
The Biennial Chinese Union Mission (CHUM) Treasury Conference was held online from October 20-23, 2021. The first part of the event was dedicated to stewardship leaders. Elder Juan R. Prestol-Puesán, the former Treasurer of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Global Conference, Elder Paul H Douglas, Treasurer of Global Conference, Mr. Karnik Doukmetzian, General Counsel for the General Conference, Pastor Marcos Bomfim, Director of Stewardship Ministries of the General Conference, and Elder Andy Cen, Treasurer of CHUM, shared a wealth of messages including the topics of Spiritual Preparation for Stewardship Leaders, Leadership in Challenging Times, Mission-Focused Leadership, Interpersonal Relationships, and Corporate Governance. In conjunction with the God-First Emphasis Day, Part two was a church-wide event opened to the general public. Pastor Marcos Bomfim gave an in-depth and practical presentation on Teaching Children Spiritual Values Through Finances.
This Treasury Conference was initially scheduled to be held in Hong Kong in October 2020. Still, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, speakers and participants from around the world could not attend. The conference was therefore postponed to 2021.
We pray and trust that God will prepare this spiritual feast for His servants in much better timing. While we were waiting, we received a message of encouragement from Elder Juan. He said, "I cannot think of a more important message I would share with you today than our understanding of stewardship in the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. It is foundational to our spiritual growth and the governance and operation of the Seventh-day Adventist church." Mr. Karnik also shared with us the prayer of Moses in Psalm 90:12, "Lord, Teach us to number our days, so that we may gain our heart of wisdom." He said, "All of us are troubled by what is happening around us with this Pandemic, but as Moses reminds us, we need to have some perspective…… All things require reflection and the faithful realignment with our thinking and work towards both the reality around us and the purposes of the Great God we serve."
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 55:8) God is faithful. During the delayed period, He led the CHUM Stewardship Ministries to conduct dozens of small-scale online learning sessions with churches within the region. These learning sessions have brought the churches, which are in all different situations, to a better unity in understanding and application of the Treasury and Stewardship principles through studying the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, and enabled us to practice and popularize the online meetings platforms.
Meanwhile, God has prepared a more diversified team in the Chinese Union Mission to prepare for this online conference. This online conference is quite different from the past face-to-face events. The team united in prayers, and that enabled them to overcome many difficulties and unexpected situations. Putting their trust in the Lord, they learned to work with each other humbly and were given all the talents needed to accomplish the tasks.
According to our original plan, only 200 church leaders and co-workers could participate in the face-to-face conference, but God was able to do more than what we asked and thought of. In the end, 982 people signed up for the online seminar, and nearly 700 different users from 16 countries/regions attended the online event. Many more church leaders watched through the broadcast at their local churches. The final attendance was several times what we had planned. The brothers and sisters who attended the workshop asked nearly 100 questions, and most of them were answered live. From the feedback collected, most attendees found the seminars very biblical and practical, and they received much inspiration and encouragement. We believe that the Lord will lead us through the Holy Spirit to practice what we have learned so that we can become stewards who know what it means to be faithful to God's Mission and how to remain faithful.
Today, the epidemic still exists, and difficulties remain, but nothing can stop God's Great Commission from being accomplished. "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21).
