Adventist Mission Program

Nothing distinguishes the Advent Movement more strikingly than its vast mission program, a program that envisions the whole world, a program that began in a small way at the very time that our educational work began. At that time our numbers were so few and our funds so limited that it seemed utterly fantastic even to think of a world mission work.WBEGW 63.2

The thought was then current among us that we would be able to fulfill the prophetic description of the first angel’s message, a message that was to go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, by preaching it to the immigrants from all lands that had come to America, and would continue to come. We reasoned that these people would send back the message to their own dear ones or carry it back on a return trip, and thus the Advent message would be spread to the four corners of the earth.WBEGW 63.3

We smile at that view today, and well we may. It showed the littleness of our vision and of our faith, but let us think twice, remembering that then our numbers were pitifully small and our resources likewise. Even in the days of A. G. Daniells’ presidency, which was in the twentieth century (1901-1922), there were some among us who thought him rash because he said that the day would come when our church members in the homeland would be giving on the average of a thousand dollars a day toward missions. We give very much more than that now.WBEGW 63.4