A Message to Church Members from NAD President Daniel Jackson About Hope and Compassion

Dear Co-workers,

I want to personally thank you for everything you do for the advancement of God's kingdom in your communities and in your churches. I am grateful for this because mission must be at the very top, front, and center of our agenda.

I believe that in order to be effective in reaching others we must have a united vision which leads us all in the same direction. We also need an ongoing and active conversation, which empowers our pastors, congregations, and institutions to reach people within their sphere of influence. This is why, during our 2015 Year-end Meeting, our North American Division Executive Committee voted three very significant outreach initiatives.

The purpose of these initiatives is not to intrude in the work that you are doing locally, but to ask for your cooperation in building a grand collaboration of effort and spirit for mission throughout this vast territory.

The Initiatives are:

Compassion 10 Million: Engaging every member in mission by investing 10 million hours sharing the love of God and the compassion of Jesus in practical ways with our communities, outside the walls of our churches during 2016. For more information and some funding opportunities check: www.compassionmovement.org

Plant 1000: Planting 1000 new community churches across the United States, Canada, Bermuda, and the islands of Guam and Micronesia. Sadly, there are many who live in our cities and towns who still do not have access to a Seventh-day Adventist Church. We envision the day when we have a church for every 25,000 inhabitants of North America. If your congregation is interested in planting a new community church, feel free to go to: www.nadchurchplant.org

Day of Hope and Compassion: We have set aside the weekend of April 16-17 (Saturday and Sunday) to celebrate the fact that we Adventists are the people of Hope and Compassion. During this weekend we would love to see each one of our members engaged in some type of mission outreach in the community: (1) intentional acts of compassion in our neighborhoods and communities; (2) distribution of literature which is practical and will help to improve the lives of families and individuals in our neighborhoods; (3) a social media campaign which will proclaim Hope and Compassion through post and photos in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media outlets (hashtags: #dayofhope #compassion10m).

The purpose of the Day of Hope and Compassion is to activate Adventists in our churches, schools, and hospitals, all at the same time, in Jesus’ lifestyle of love, service, and mission. For more information and ideas, please go to: www.compassionmovement.org. (Sign up here.)

There is a tremendous amount of influence and effectiveness in the people of God praying and working united. If we all engage and invest in working together across the division, we will help transform communities, our message will spread, and our churches will be filled with people who are saved and expect the Second Coming of Jesus.

Here you will find posters, which promote these initiatives. Take time to look into these missional initiatives and engage your members in this movement of outreach awakening in North America.

Thank you so much for giving high priority to this very important matter!

May God continue to bless your efforts for Him.

Dan Jackson, President