The first business session of Annual Council 2023 occurred on Friday, October 6, 2023, with a special emphasis on the mission refocus of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church. The annual meetings, themed Chosen for Mission, provide an opportunity for church leadership to make special announcements to affect the Church and its mission moving forward.
Among the presentations of the first business session of Annual Council 2023 was a report from the Future Plans Working Group in which its members presented the proposed strategic plan for the next quinquennial. Mike Ryan, special assistant to the president, introduced the new plan which will be adopted at the next Annual Council in October of 2024. Ryan explained that many worldwide programs and initiatives have adopted the “I Will Go” Strategic Plan since it was adopted in 2018, so the upcoming plan for 2025-2030 will keep the name “I Will Go.”
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
Dr. David Trim, director of the Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research (ASTR), shared extensive research, detailing the importance of data analysis in choosing future plans for the church. Some data went as far back as 2002, continuing through 2023, to reveal key areas the Church can improve when making plans for the future.
The current strategic plan steering the mission of the Adventist Church from 2020-2025 is “I Will Go” and has three areas of emphasis, 10 objectives, and 59 key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs, Dr. Trim explained, must be measurable, and the way we measure them is through surveys.
Measuring the Current Strategic Plan
The three areas of emphasis for the current strategic plan are mission, spiritual growth, and leadership, with an additional area of emphasis left open for the Holy Spirit’s leading. This fourth area of emphasis, the Holy Spirit, proved necessary as the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise a few months after the plan was adopted, requiring flexibility and faith in the Spirit from leadership and members alike to move the Church forward.
Nevertheless, research indicates that while many of the 59 KPIs were successful, others missed the mark.
Five- and Ten-Year Trends
In research of global church members from 2020-2023, institutional workers from 2016-2023, global church leaders in 2022, and global pastors from 2022-2023, data revealed startling facts about the spiritual life practices and doctrinal beliefs of Adventist members.
Dr. Trim said of Bible reading, “In the last five years, daily Bible reading has effectively plateaued…Weekly Bible reading has dropped since 2018 from 89% to 85.” The research also indicates fewer people are reading Ellen White, indicating a 2 percent drop in those who read Ellen White 2-6 times per week and a 3 percent drop in those reading once weekly.
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