Abednego was embarrassed to ask the question. “Would Global Mission be willing to buy four new spokes for my bicycle?”

I was face-to-face with one of Global Mission’s 20,000 frontline volunteer workers in Sudan. As a Global Mission pioneer he rode 287 miles by bike to his target area. He broke down prejudice by praying for a sick girl who was healed, and became known as the man who talked to the Creator of the world.

Abednego started a new group of believers that was eventually broken up by the civil war. He survived bombing and the strafing of bullets and then came back to establish a second church 140 miles away. While he was traveling to meetings a sniper shot him off his bike, and he slept the night in a ditch. Now he stood before me, in his worn-out sandals, wondering if Global Mission could possibly replace the spokes on his bicycle.

Abednego symbolizes the dedication and commitment that have fired Global Mission since it began in 1990 and led to more than 16,000 churches and thousands more congregations being established, increasing Seventh-day Adventist Church membership from 6 million to 11 million.

Reaching the Unreached With Hope
Global Mission is a special initiative, voted at the 1990 General Conference session, to reach the unreached with hope and to establish new groups of believers in unentered areas. The church identified 2,300 groups of 1 million people in which there were no Seventh-day Adventists, and it was hoped Global Mission would reach each group by 2000.

Since 1990 world population growth has added another 600 groups, making the total 2,900. We rejoice that today more than 2,000 have an Adventist presence, but some 900 remain a challenge. We can look back at the past decade and see tremendous advances in some areas:

• In 1990 no churches or members existed in Cambodia. Today there are nearly 4,000 church members and 65 churches.
• Every conference in the former Soviet Union has at least quadrupled its number of members in the past seven years.
• In 1990 there were 11 church members in the state of Haryana, north India. Today there are more than 400, and more than 5,000 regularly attend worship services in more than 100 congregations.
• China has had the largest growth of anywhere in the 10/40 window. Since 1990 China has had 40,000 more baptisms than the Euro-Asia Division, which includes Russia and the former Soviet Union.
• An average of 4.5 churches have been established every day since Global Mission began.

Global Mission Pioneers
Global Mission pioneers are lay members—usually young people—who volunteer for at least a year to establish a congregation in an unentered area among people of their own culture. These pioneers share through a wholistic ministry. They understand the culture and language, and literally live, eat, and work with the people.

According to estimates, pioneers have established more than 11,000 new Adventist churches and thousands more congregations since 1990.

Global Mission Study Centers
One of the architects of Global Mission once visited Egypt and was overwhelmed by the relative handful of believers after 100 years of Adventist work. In response to this kind of need, Global Mission has set up study centers around the world to help find better ways of sharing the good news. These study centers are specializing in the areas of Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, secularism, and Islam.

New Initiatives for the Secular West
At least 2,600 people attended the debut “One Night of Your Life” program in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in February. A new Global Mission initiative, “One Night of Your Life,” aims to reach people in secular urban areas who don’t attend church. Future programs are planned for North America, Europe, and Australia.

Global Mission is also partnering with Adventist-Laymen’s Services and Industries (ASI) in the Total Employment program, which challenges every Adventist graduate from a tertiary institution to consider finding a job in an area where there’s no Adventist church or an “at risk” church.

This short report has emphasized statistics. Just remember, however, that each statistic represents individual children of God who have come home to their loving Father through the commitment of dedicated people such as Abednego.