2019 | The Year of Reclamation
Carlos Craig | Texas Conference President
The great preacher and teacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “Though the winning of souls be a great thing, though the edifying of believers be an important matter, though the reclamation of backsliders calls for earnest attention, yet never, never, never may we cease from praising and magnifying the name of the well-beloved. This is to be our occupation in heaven: let us begin the music here, and make a heaven of the Church, even here below.”
As I ruminated on that thought, it became apparent that in effect, when the church is about bringing worship, honor and glory to the name of our redeemer there naturally follows a flow, an influx of souls into God’s kingdom as a result.
For the past 15 to 20 years, the Texas Conference has committed itself to the task of evangelism, outreach and harvest. God has blessed us abundantly in that effort, yet there seems to have been a missing element within the cause. Namely reclamation. Church statistics tell us of the two most disparaging story lines within the church today. Number one, of the youth or young persons who grow up in the church, somehow seven out of every 10 of them leave the church prior to age 18. Intriguingly enough, the rate is nearly identical as far as those who we baptize off the street as a result of public evangelism. Out of every 10 souls baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, within a years’ time, six have abandoned their place in the church. This begs the question from us as a people as a conference. What shall we do for these?
We will declare 2019 as a year of reclamation. We will place before the 60,000+ members of the Texas Conference the challenge of not only seeking the lost, but also reclaiming those who once walked with us. The estimates as far as ex-Adventists in Texas are alarming. How can we rest or even worship in peace and serenity when thousands upon thousands of former comrades are wandering aimlessly out there in a world that is languishing in disbelief, discouragement and despair? I can’t help but think that the time is now. The moment is here.
May our homes, churches, schools and hospitals strive in 2019 to locate, nurture and extend the call to those who are still our sisters and brothers in Christ, despite Satan’s gallant efforts to entice and seduce them away from the kingdom of God for a season. Most assuredly, what we need more than anything else is an increase in personal, one on one ministry.
Notice the admonition of Ellen White in Christian Service p. 117, “There is need of coming close to the people by personal effort. If less time were given to sermonizing, and more time were spent in personal ministry, greater results would be seen.”
As the people of God, we must ever strive to be salt and light to a world that has been taken captive by vice, corruption and strife. The opportunity is there for us to excel in being a “friend” to those in need. “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me,” Matthew 25:40 NIV. Those are the words of the Redeemer of the world, and words for us to live by.