Born for a Mission

Editorial by Jorge Aguero

The reason for both Jesus’ birth and the Seventh-day Adventist Church have something in common. His birth was not to divide history into two time periods—B.C. and A.D., nor was the birth of the church created to divide Sabbath keepers from Sunday keepers. The commonality is that the birth of Jesus was prophesized by Old Testament prophets and the Adventist church was born of a prophetic movement.

Jesus was given His name, Emmanuel (Isa. 7:14), which means “God with us” (Matt. 1:23, NIV), before He was born because He was destined for a mission. God descended from heaven to a manger in Bethlehem to fulfill a mission in favor of humanity. Matthew 1:21 declares: “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (NKJV). Matthew clearly defines that Jesus’ mission is to save. In fact, in Luke 19:10, Jesus explicitly says that His mission is “to save that which was lost” (NKJV).

We carry the name Adventist because it identifies our mission. This year we celebrate 155 years since our church was organized. Our mission is to spread the news of the Second Coming of Jesus. As a church, we cannot forget the reason we came into existence: to fulfill the mission of Jesus. Ellen White says, “The church is God’s appointed agency for the salvation of men. It was organized for service, and its mission is to carry the gospel to the world” (The Acts of the Apostles, p. 9).

Jesus was born with a mission; our church was born for a mission. Let no one and nothing distract us from that divine mission.

Jorge Aguero serves as president of the New Jersey Conference.