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The annual year-end meetings of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division open virtually on November 3, 2021, via Zoom. More than 100 delegates representing 14 countries joined the online meeting to take part in the voting, implementing, and finding ways to further extend the church’s influence and service around the world. 
 
This year’s meeting is different on several occasions, as this will be the first-ever hybrid meeting of the church since the lockdown began. As covid cases lower down in different parts of the world, organizers purposed to ready a hybrid meeting, on-site at the new Life Hope Impact Center and virtually via Zoom. SSD executive committee members who are situated within the Philippines, SSD officers and directors, union officers are expected to join on-site while those who are still challenged with travel restrictions in their respective countries are encouraged to join online.  
 
Pre-council meetings begin November 3 until November 5 while the SSD year-end meetings will commence November 8-10, 2021. These meetings are made even special as General Conference Leaders will be joining in the year-end meetings face to face, the first time in almost two years of lockdown.
 
Delbert Pearman: Mission of the Adventist Church – Past, Present, Future 
The Adventist church, founded 158 years ago through people whom the Holy Spirit has chosen has been true to its message yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The Bible-based, Christ-centered Three Angel’s message has been the church’s message for His people in God’s final hour while it aims to prepare the world to meet Jesus, the Redeemer.

In his message, Pearman quoted a statement from former secretary of the General Conference, Matthew Bediako referring to how the Adventist church has been carefully organized through God’s wisdom and leading and how it lasts its organization to present and to the years to come. “We believe the Lord’s Spirit has led the Seventh-day Adventist Church to a form of organization that carefully balances the need for local church authority with the need to effectively advance the Gospel throughout the world,” according to Bediako.

Adventists should be reminded about how faithfully the Lord has led his church to where it is right now, as it was written in Deuteronomy 28:1-2 and Galatians 2:29, Pearman says, “God’s hand has been leading and because of the faithfulness of His people, God has blessed His church.”

The influence of the church was not limited to hospitals and schools, but it led its members to make use of their spheres of influence to expand the Lord’s work in their respective territories and expertise. The church has established relationships with the government, made use of aviation technology to reach those that are difficult to reach because of transportation challenges. Digital technology has opened opportunities for the Adventist church to involve itself in TV, radio, and social media evangelism reaching more individuals in the fastest way possible.

The Lord is not yet finished and still has a lot of plans for His church as he prepares the world for His soon return.

Agapito Catane: Faithful to the Mission
We remain faithful to God’s mandate to go and tell the world that Jesus is coming. Catane emphasized that in times when we are greatly troubled by the circumstances and turmoil of this world, we should not falter but we have to remain steadfast and true to our mission.

“The Church of Christ on earth was organized for missionary purposes, and the Lord desires to see the entire church devising ways and means whereby high and low, rich and poor, may hear the message of truth,” Catane said. 

“The Church must always be sure that it is doing God’s will, reflecting His image. When Jesus commissioned His disciples to go into all the world, He intended that they should continue the work He had begun. For this purpose, He endowed them with power,” Catane added.

During the pandemic, some individuals remained spiritually stagnant. Spiritual growth stopped because of the fear of uncertainty and anxiety. However, the Lord has paved way for various media where we can utilize to spread the gospel in the fastest way possible. The word of God you never remain in the comforts of our houses. It should reach others that they may also experience the hope we have found in Jesus.

According to the Spirit of Prophecy, “The ability God has given, if not exercised, degenerates. More than this, when the churches are left to inactivity Satan sees to it that they are employed. He occupies the field and engages the members in lines of work that absorb their energies, destroy spirituality, and cause them to fall as dead weights upon the church.”
 

Edward Rodriguez, Communication Department, SSD