Report

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Each week millions of Seventh-day Adventists around the world join each other in worshiping their Creator. They live in different locations, different cultures, and worship in different styles. But one thing remains the same: they are dedicated to spreading the Gospel of Christ around the world. They give their time, their energy, and their money for this cause.

Telling other people about the saving grace of Jesus isn’t something they can do all by themselves on their own. The Adventist church works together by pooling its resources to spread the Gospel.

In recent years there has been a major shift towards more project-giving, which has helped stimulate interest in missions and this has been a great blessing in many areas. Various ministries and groups have taken on projects and have thus helped to strengthen the work. We praise the Lord for this! However, one of the drawbacks of excessive reliance on project-giving is that attention spans can often be short.

When there is greater need or more promotion in another area, most of the support is shifted to the new area, often leaving the local organization (if there is one) to carry on the project or outreach without sufficient resources. Sometimes all the progress that has been made is lost. The need for a strong mission offering program that can sustain major long-term initiatives is doubly important as we focus on the 10/40 area.

The Lord has given to us an extraordinary investment opportunity. He does not look at the size of the offering, but at the sacrifice on the part of the giver. Someone has said: “Giving is not God’s way of raising money; it is God’s way of raising people into the likeness of His Son.”

This past quinquennium (2005-2010) the annual worldwide tithe increased 40.2% from $1.32 billion in 2004 to $1.85 billion in 2009. World Mission Offerings over the quinquennium increased 31.8% from $48.7 million to $64.2 million. We can clearly see God's leading and rejoice in the faithfulness of His children.

Robert E. Lemon, Treasurer General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Someone has said: “Giving is not God’s way of raising money; it is God’s way of raising people into the likeness of His Son” (Treasurer's Report, 2010 GC Session, Atlanta, GA).

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