Living The Mission

The following is the Inter-American Division president’s quinquennial report during the 62nd General Conference Session. A video report based on this report was featured during the July 10 evening session. 

July 10, 2025 | Miami, Florida, United States | Elie Henry of Inter-American Division and Adventist Review

Every breath we take is evidence that our Creator makes provision for us to live. And to live is not just to breathe, but to experience fellowship, to enjoy, to rejoice, and to be thankful.

Living the Mission is a concept that takes on a much broader meaning. It’s no longer just about doing or feeling, but about integrating God’s will into our daily lives. Every strategy, event, effort, and initiative in the Inter-American Division (IAD) territory becomes more meaningful when the mission is lived.

Answering the Call

Our church members across our 25 unions, having answered the call “I Will Go,” travel from towering buildings to the most remote places to serve others with love. They are committed to teaching and sharing the good news of salvation, always striving to reflect the character of Christ and make the promise of Joel 2:28 real: “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy” (NIV).

As we live the mission in the beautiful territory of Inter-America, we are witnesses of how the Lord has blessed His church. Today we praise His name for the growth, not just in numbers, but in transformed lives.

Currently the IAD has 157 local fields, organized into more than 25,000 churches and companies, with a total membership of 3.7 million. This growth is the result of the united work of pastors, laypersons, and those who work in institutions and other ministries as they passionately respond to God’s call.

A Spirit of Generosity

The current global situation, with its political and economic tensions, has not stopped the faithfulness of our brothers and sisters in Inter-America. Through them God performs a weekly miracle of generosity, allowing the church to become a powerful instrument to bless the world.

We see the love and commitment with which church members express their complete trust in the divine provider by returning their tithes and offerings. This is a tangible reflection of a faith community that not only proclaims the message but actively lives the mission.

From the northern reaches of South America, in countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, to Central America, Mexico, and the beautiful islands of the Caribbean, men and women have answered the call “I Will Go,” living the mission with deep commitment and love.

All the Family in Mission

This commitment has been clearly demonstrated, as more church members and families have embraced both personal and public evangelism across all levels of the church. Each department and ministry have united under the initiative All the Family in Mission, working together to share the gospel and engage others in mission.

Thanks to the remarkable engagement in this movement, more than 1 million laypersons have served as Bible instructors, more than 250,000 families have witnessed to at least one other family, and 100,000 small groups have engaged in evangelistic outreach. Thousands more have contributed to community projects, church planting, and sustained health ministry efforts.

These initiatives, carried out during the past two years, have culminated in major reaping campaigns, including territory-wide coordinated baptismal ceremonies. More than 800,000 new members have joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the IAD during this 2020-2025 period.

Since its establishment in 1922, the Inter-American Division has been driven by one clear goal: to see church members actively living out the mission God has entrusted to us. This calling is woven into the very fabric of who we are—like the air we breathe across the 42 countries that form our dynamic, fast-growing, and deeply connected mosaic of cultures. What unites us is a collective calling: to share the love of Jesus and the hope of His soon return.

Reaching Remote Areas

In the most remote regions of our territory, such as the eastern plains of southern Colombia where dirt roads lead to dozens of Indigenous communities, Misael Artunduaga, a lay Bible instructor, has been living the mission through listening, connecting, and forming friendships with them. Misael met the leader of one of the Indigenous communities and gifted him a Bible, which soon turned into studying the Word of God.

He travels on his motorcycle two, three, and sometimes 13 hours to the many remote communities, socializing and integrating into their culture, fishing with them, planting cassava in their small gardens, and telling them about Jesus while living in their communities for weeks at a time. Misael considers his work with Indigenous communities one of the most meaningful and fulfilling experiences of his life. For him, living the mission means getting involved with these Indigenous brethren, spending time with them, preparing them for Jesus’ second coming.

Thanks to Misael’s initiative, the gospel has reached 11 of the 67 Indigenous communities in the region, and nearly 700 persons have been baptized there. The church has now appointed a local pastor to assist in ministering to the new congregations formed in the region.

A Clear Calling

Roger Alleyne, a lay evangelist, born and raised on the island of Tobago, found a clear purpose in living the mission as a young man after experiencing the joy of a life transformed in Christ. He left his ungodly ways after listening to his grandmother, who raised him, urging him to go to church, any church. Roger came upon a Seventh-day Adventist Church, and it was there that he understood about the second coming of Christ and felt a deep commitment to sharing that good news with everyone around him.

Realizing that he had a clear calling from God and wanting to be better prepared as a lay evangelist, Roger decided to study theology while continuing to work as a technician at the electric company. While visiting homes for his work, he finds people searching for truth, looking for things to satisfy their hearts.

Roger has been seizing every opportunity to share hope. Thanks to his love for Christ, he has conducted dozens of evangelistic campaigns throughout the Caribbean and other parts of the IAD, resulting in more than 600 persons who have given their lives to Jesus.

Expanding Urban Missional Churches

Across the Caribbean Sea in Panama City, Panama, is Jonathan Pacheco, a radiologist, who was raised in the Adventist Church but left for a period. Sometime later he and his family began attending church sporadically and went through a painful marital crisis during that period.

Everything changed when a friend invited them to a new urban missional church called Conexión 7. He and his wife felt the warmth of the members and loved the vision of presenting the gospel in a different and innovative way and decided to be part of it.

Soon after, Jonathan and his family turned their home into a space for discipleship, where the mission is lived out through conversations, laughter, social activities, Bible study, and much prayer.

Today the Pacheco family is actively participating in mission, sharing the gospel with professionals, neighbors, and friends in their small group. Several have already been baptized, and the group has expanded to become a second urban missional church in Panama this year.

For Jonathan and his family, living the mission means that others can learn through him and his family what God’s love is about.

Assisting Vulnerable Communities

In the city of Tapachula, in Chiapas, Mexico, where thousands of migrants pass through facing uncertainty, danger, and pain, Tanya López, a young medical doctor, has been sharing compassion and service through an ADRA Mexico project for three years. Her journey to living the mission began after a doctor colleague invited her to a youth small group back home in Guadalajara in northern Mexico.

A devout Catholic, she was impressed with the kindness and peaceful connection in the small group. Soon after, she began taking part in the outreach projects of the Adventist Church in reaching needy communities where Bible stories were told, songs were sung for children, and free medical services were given by ADRA volunteers. Soon she began taking part in ADRA medical brigades, where she served as a doctor. The warm welcome from the young people and their example of being involved in the mission strengthened Tanya’s budding faith and awakened two childhood dreams of hers: working with children and serving vulnerable communities.

There, amid service, she not only got involved in the work through ADRA but also gave her life to Jesus. Tanya has seen families arrive—children, teenagers who travel alone, pregnant women, women who have suffered abuse during their journey, just for being migrants.

There are cases that bring tears to her eyes, but she remembers what Jesus did for people regardless of where they came from or what they had done. She knows God charted her path to share compassion and love with every encounter, every patient she cares for.

For Tanya, living the mission means answering the call of Jesus to serve people and live with love and commitment. When young professionals such as Tanya integrate their vocation with a spiritual calling, the mission stays alive.

Each of these stories represents just a glimpse of what the members of God’s great army in Inter-America are doing, committing themselves deeply and being used as valuable instruments in the hands of the Lord.

Wholehearted Commitment

This is the passion of our members as they live the mission—filled with hope and wholehearted commitment.

There are families and individuals whose active faith drives them to engage with innovation and creativity, using every available means at their disposal. They support such institutions as publishing houses, hospitals, health food factories, the educational system, radio, television, and digital evangelism, reaching more people every day.

From the hundreds of Adventist cyclists in Colombia engaging fellow riders and community members through the I Want to Live Healthy initiative to the many church members across Mexico participating in 5K walks and runs, the movement for healthier living is growing stronger every day. This same passion drives a network of health food factories producing hundreds of healthy food products throughout the Inter-American Division.

The mission continues to thrive through dozens of vibrant urban missional churches, centers of influence serving diverse people groups more than 900 primary and secondary schools, 14 universities, and 12 hospitals. It also reaches hearts through dozens of radio stations and Hope Channel Inter-America television network, along with its 19 media centers across the territory—all working together to instill the hope of the gospel and invite others to take part in Living the Mission.

To further strengthen this ongoing mission effort, the Inter-American Division with its 25 unions has committed to the church’s Mission Refocus initiative in this triennium in collaboration with leaders from eight world church divisions. Resources have been dedicated to supporting local workers in evangelism, sponsoring missionary couples, funding church planting teams, building churches, providing Bibles and literature, supporting school infrastructure, and offering student stipends and more.

This Mission Refocus strategy collaboration has deepened the IAD’s commitment to mission, driving efforts to double financial support for global mission and evangelism initiatives during the next five years.

Embracing the Great Commission

The Inter-American Division embraces the identity described in 1 Peter 2:9—as a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession called to declare the praises of Him who brought us out of darkness into His wonderful light. This divine calling shapes our mission: to reflect God’s glory, to reach every corner of our territory, and to lead others into the light of Christ through educating, serving, and evangelizing.

Time is short, and many have yet to hear about Jesus. And He wants them to be saved! With great humility and deep gratitude we offer our praises to Him for inviting us to be part of His mission.

We continue to preach hope, serve with dedication, and educate with faith, keeping our eyes on the cross and our hearts focused on the mission—until Christ returns and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Maranatha!

To view the IAD Quinquennial Report for 2020-2025, go to

HERE for English

HERE for Spanish

HERE for French