The year 2009 has great significance for the North American Division (the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America), in general, and for the country of Bermuda, in particular. For Bermuda, this year marks the 400th anniversary of its history dating back to the early settlers in 1609. For the North American Division, 2009 has been designated as the Year of Evangelism. Both events will generate celebrations and interesting activities. The Bermuda Government has planned monthly commemorative events focusing on the country’s history. The pastors, administrators, teachers, departmental directors, students, and more than one million members in the North American Division have been encouraged and motivated to engage in public and personal evangelism. The anticipated celebrations of Bermuda and the many baptisms from the evangelistic thrusts in 2009 remind me of the challenge posed by song, “Bringing in the Sheaves.”

Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide and the dewy eve;
Waiting for the harvest, and the time of reaping,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

Refrain:
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves;
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves.

This evangelistic thrust among God’s people, directed to our neighbors, our communities, and our towns, is most timely as our world experiences a very unprecedented financial meltdown, job loses, home foreclosures, sickness, untimely deaths, and a host of distressing influences motivated by greed and selfishness. People in our communities, our towns, and even our world need a sense of hope and a word of encouragement that a better world and more a productive life can be ours. While a change in our government may facilitate more favorable lending and borrowing policies and better national and international social relationships, we know that the only lasting, permanent solution to our world’s problems is the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

When Jesus told His disciples to go into all the world, He gave them a mission and a commission. We read in Matthew 24:14 (NIV), “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” The preaching of the gospel to the whole world is the mandate and the goal of Jesus. Should we really expect the return of Jesus, when this mandate has not been completed? In today’s world the opportunity of accomplishing Jesus’ Commission has been enhanced by the advance of science, technology, and the world conditions. There can be, however, no substitute for the human agent, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, to accept its responsibility to obey the Commission of Jesus.

As we look forward to the unfolding events of 2009, I implore everyone get involved in some type of evangelism and celebrate the transformation of lives and the growth of God’s church until He comes in all His glory.

Carlyle Simmons is the Atlantic Union Conference executive secretary and the Health Ministries, Human Relations, and Prayer Ministries director.