A strategy to revitalize small group evangelism in Najjanankumbi Seventh-day Adventist church of Central Uganda Conference

Abstract

Revitalizing small group evangelism in Najjanankumbi Seventh-day Adventist church is a powerful challenge that the researcher took upon himself. Therefore the purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the biblical foundations upon which the Seventh-day Adventist Church has built its ecclesiology and lay strategies that will serve the purpose. Much attention has been paid, in this research, to the biblical mission that was entrusted to the church. A model putting emphasis on the clergy to accomplish the mission and the laity to accomplish the care of existing Christians has been established. Because of the Seventh-day Adventists’ deep dependence on the clergy, the model suggested in this paper is very challenging but accomplishable. It is the researcher’s hope that this project will help the church to be confirmed as a mission oriented care center. The model developed here envisions active small groups springing up in the whole of Najjanankumbi church congregation. Consequently, non pastor dependent Seventh-day Adventist churches emerging all over Central Uganda Conference, reaching out to lost souls, making Christ’s disciples in every possible people’s group, integrating them into loving Seventh-day Adventist fellowships, and ultimately seeing them saved in the kingdom of God. Statistics of intensive small activities for the previous two years (2008-2010) were compared with those of six months (July-December 2012) to measure the effect of the model on the retention and addition of church members. The results showed a promising increase of new converts by 49%. There was greater involvement of members in small group activities, the return of inactive church members to church activities and the formation of new small groups in church.