Evangelism and Missions
The British Union Conference is called to lead a mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ who live as His loving witnesses and proclaim to all people the everlasting Gospel of the three angels’ messages in preparation for His soon return.
Entrusted with this mandate, the Mission and Evangelism Department of the BUC worked strategically and collaboratively with the two conferences (South England Conference and North England Conference) and the three missions (Scottish Mission, Irish Mission and Welsh Mission) over the last 4 years to advance the Gospel message throughout the British Isles. ‘Strategically and collaboratively’ here means working together to develop, strengthen and deliver ministries and services to enrich the lives of the leadership as well as church members. Additionally, we have been evaluating the progress, outcomes and impact of our ministries across the BUC territories through accountability reporting, even though this is sometimes a challenging task.
In 2023, empowered by the Spirit, the British Union Conference Executive Committee adopted and launched the Reflecting Hope strategy, which is a contemporary evangelistic initiative in response to the General Conference’s ‘Christ for Europe’ programme. Reflecting Hope is an intentional, innovative and impactful evangelistic initiative to connect the contemporary European mindset with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The initiative was focused and executed under the BUC’s Strategic Priority #1: ‘Reflecting Christ’, which focused on emphasising a discipleship lead by total member involvement, but also on engagement by pastors and elders as a local approach to evangelism.
Why Did the BUC Take On This Challenge?
Based on data from the UK Census conducted in 2001, 2011 and 2021, there has been a dramatic transformation of the religious landscape of England and Wales over the last couple of decades. Christian affiliation has declined by 25.5 percentage points from 71.7% (2001) to 46.2% (2021). The most significant change in the England and Wales religious landscape has been the decline in Christian identification. Christianity has fallen from being the overwhelming majority religion to representing less than half of the population. Thus, the Reflecting Hope initiative became an intentional effort by the BUC to attempt to address the problem. Its focus represented a paradigm shift from event-driven evangelism to sustained, discipleship-focused mission engagement.
Phase One: The Pilot Programme (2023)
The initiative was launched in February of 2023 and engaged 62 congregations across the BUC territory during this phase. This phase focused on testing models of outreach and spiritual revival, culminating in evangelistic proclamations during the final two weeks of May 2023.
The key pilot activities included:
A training weekend (18-21 January 2023) with international speakers
An introduction to mobile phone evangelism
An emphasis on Christ’s method alone in personal discipleship initiatives
The development of creative evangelistic resources
Phase Two: Leadership Development (2024)
In 2024, the Reflecting Hope project focus moved from learning and evaluating to equipping pastors with the tools for sustainable, mission-driven ministries. In November of the same year, the Reflecting Hope training retreat was held from 22 to 24 November 2024, and it attracted 243 local church leaders and more than 40 pastors from across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
The initiative articulated a critical perspective shift: ‘The number of active disciples, not the number of baptisms, should be the measure of the growth of the church.’ Such a powerful statement encapsulates the initiative’s core philosophy of prioritising sustainable discipleship over event-driven projects.
Reports from 2024 indicate measurable progress across multiple indicators. Local churches across the BUC territory reported increased community engagement, baptisms and revitalised church life. The initiative has successfully mobilised member involvement in evangelistic activities while maintaining a focus on sustainable discipleship practices. The new shift of evangelism facilitated large-scale literature distribution, including 50,000 copies of The Innkeeper’s Story for holiday outreach and over one million leaflets with digital follow-up QR codes.
Reflecting Hope Key Impact Indicators Based on 2024 Congregational Reports
Phase 3: Total Member Involvement (2025)
Under the banner ‘Keeping Hope Alive’, Phase 3 in 2025 extended the call to action to every member across all 309 BUC churches. The aim was to make every believer a champion of hope and a bearer of light in their communities, and to foster the belief that Reflecting Hope is no longer just a conference: it’s a lifestyle, a commitment from every believer to keep the message of hope alive in a world that desperately needs it.
Project Impact
It can be noted that these reports indicate measurable progress across multiple indicators. Many churches across the BUC territory reported increased community engagement, baptisms and revitalised church life. The initiative has successfully mobilised member involvement in missional and evangelistic activities while maintaining a focus on sustainable discipleship practices.
Beyond these quantitative metrics, it is crystal clear that these initiatives have fostered significant qualitative improvements from an institutional church to a missional church. Churches reported renewed missional focus, improved member engagement in personal evangelism, and an enhanced understanding of contextual ministry approaches appropriate to the increasingly secular UK context.
Challenges and Strategic Opportunities
It is evident that the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the British Union operates in what is known as an increasingly secular context where it encounters significant cultural resistance, rendering traditional evangelistic approaches ineffective. In effect, these contextual challenges compel the church to ask itself if it can remain culturally relevant while maintaining theological distinctiveness.
On the other hand, though, it is highly understandable that the church recognises the need for locality-appropriate approaches that acknowledge the diverse contexts within the BUC territory, from urban London to rural Scotland, from multicultural Birmingham to traditional Welsh communities.
Leveraging technology using mobile phone and digital platforms could be an effective way of doing evangelism today, as they offer unprecedented access to previously unreached demographics. Creating creative, contextually appropriate evangelistic materials that resonate with contemporary UK culture could also offer tremendous access.
In summary, the greatest missional challenge the BUC has is for church members to 1) cultivate an intentional focus on giving first to others – encouraging members to consistently ask themselves, ‘How am I doing at giving to others?’ and ‘How am I gratefully giving to God?’ rather than ‘What am I getting out of church?’ and 2) make relationships and friendships (rather than calendared events) the focus of their ministry, both in the church and in the community.
Recommendations for the Next Quinquennium
Firstly, our strategic target is to improve and expand digital evangelism. We hope to work collaboratively with other departments to develop a comprehensive online presence through live-streamed services, podcast ministry, social media campaigns and interactive Bible study platforms. We hope to partner with Hope Channel and utilise digital Adventist resources.
Secondly, we would like to strengthen community engagement – that is, to establish partnerships with other Adventist organisations to increase missional Community Services activities and create family-oriented community missional engagement that demonstrates practical Christianity.
Thirdly, we would like to recommend and implement enhanced member training in mission and evangelism workshops that focus on majority-population demographics, personal ministry initiatives and ongoing discipleship development; also, to equip members with practical tools for lifestyle evangelism and conversation starters.
Fourthly, in collaboration with the Youth Department, we would like to create dynamic programmes to address contemporary issues, mentorship opportunities, service projects and social events that engage younger generations in meaningful ministry and community building.
Finally, we would recommend a strategy to expand home-based Bible study groups, interest-based fellowship circles and neighbourhood outreach teams.
Appreciation
The work of the department could not have been accomplished without the support of some faithful servants. Dr Kirk Thomas served in this department with distinction, dedication and determination. Lois Campbell-Ross is the able and capable secretary of the department; Anastasia Ross served with commitment and passion and passed the baton on to Lois. Catherine Boldeau served as Coordinator for the Reflecting Hope initiative in its first phase. We must say thank you with gratitude to all the Mission and Evangelism directors in the conferences and missions, and to Anthony Wagner-Smith, former TED Mission Director. A massive thank-you to the BUC administration and field leaders. I thank the Lord for my son and late wife for the passion we have shared for doing ministry.