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Record Live is a conversation about life, spirituality and following Jesus in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Hi there, everyone. I'm Jarrod. And I'm Zanita. We are your hosts of Record Live, a podcast where we talk about church, faith, and living well. We believe as followers of Jesus, faith is more than just a set of beliefs. It's a way of life, something we put into practice. Let's go live.
Hello everyone. We are without our old faithful captain, Jarrod, today for the first time, but he promised us that he would remain a loyal watcher of Record Live, so, send him some love in the comments, send him some good luck. But today we are joined with Juliana from the Record team once again. Thank you for coming on, Juliana. Hey, thanks for having me. Now, a few weeks ago you went to the South Pacific for Christ event, and you had some conversations with some people there, which we are gonna be replaying today. Do you wanna tell us who you spoke to at that event?
Yes, so the interviews we're playing today, are the ones with the AUC president, or Australian Union Conference president, Dr.
Brendan Pratt. And also the Papua New Guinea Union Mission president, Pastor Denny Philip. Awesome. Now, everyone's probably cluing on that TPUM for Christ is coming up, but you mentioned before we hit record that something else is also coming up. Yes.
Each of the South Pacific for Christ events will be happening regionally. So this year we have Trans Pacific for Christ. Next year we have New Zealand Pacific for Christ. Uh the interviews for those ones were played last week in Record Live. And so if anyone wants to watch that, they can go and look for that episode.
Um, but, in 2029, we will have Australia for Christ, and then in twen- ... Is it 2030? Wait, I am so confused. No. 20- 2028 we'll have Australia for Christ, yes. And then 2029 we will have, PNG for Christ again. Yeah, I know at South Pacific for Christ when I mentioned this last week on Record Live, the big question was, "What's gonna happen in Australia?"
So looking forward to the conversation. Mm-hmm. Dr. Brendan Pratt. He's the Australian Union Conference president. Welcome. Thank you. You have been here all week with us in this event.
Have you enjoyed this week at the conference? What are your thoughts? What stood out to you? I've thoroughly enjoyed it. What stood out, um people's heart for mission, the focus on integration for mission I thought was incredibly valuable. I really enjoyed the centers for secular post-Christian mission and the urban centers from the general conference were here, 'cause that's our Australian challenge.
And so I appreciated that the whole idea of mission was seen from a very broad perspective. Hmm. Before we talk about Australia for Christ, it would be good to give our viewers an idea of what Australia looks like as maybe a mission field. What are some of the challenges that you face in your region?
Australia is certainly a mission field. 84% of Australians don't connect with a church community, and so that's a huge thing in itself. Australia is increasingly spiritual but not religious, walking away from institutional religion. What does that mean? If we look at the challenges in Australia, it does come back to what consumerism does to a culture, what that does to religion- Mm
and the opportunities that also gives. It's, uh certainly a mission field in Australia. Mm. You were one of the union presidents that were elected right at the end, towards the end of 2025. So you have a lot of the quinquennium still ahead of you. What are your goals and strategies for this quinquennium?
And then, and you're right, I still have my L plates on. But yeah, there's a lot of opportunity. So strategies and goals, working on what's it look like to integrate for mission. What would it look like in Australia if we could get all our entities, and whether that be s- our schools, age care, local churches, everybody, all our members, what would it look like if we're all rowing in the same direction with a mission focus?
That's one of our big challenges. So integrating for mission. Uh our mission statement is about inspiring, empowering, and equipping missional conferences, and that's empowering them to respond to God's love, God's calling. So what's it look like for the Adventist Church in Australia to be a beautiful picture of God?
What's it look like to captivate people with a picture that compels people in their relationship with God? And in the midst of consumerism, which destroys people having time with God, with one another, what's it look like to call people to a better way of being human- Mm ... which is all about time with God, time with each other, and all those things that actually do life better than what we have as in Australia at the moment.
Mm. Now moving to Australia for Christ- Yes ... which I'm very interested about. It's coming up in 2028, and some people are a bit skeptical about it because, you know, if we look at PNG for Christ and Trans Pacific for Christ, they are pretty much following the same model What can we expect in Australia?
Because I, I can't really picture that same model being applied here. Would that work? So what do you have in mind? Well, some of it's exactly the same because humans are very much the same in many regards. So I've appreciated seeing PNG and TPUM put a huge emphasis on prayer, put a huge emphasis on equipping their members to share stories, a huge emphasis on small groups, a huge emphasis on people realizing how valuable the mission is.
So that is essential everywhere, and that's what we can learn from what we've seen already. However, you're right. The mission in a different context, in a highly secular, people call it post-Christian, I think our younger Australians are pre-Christian. In that environment, it is a different challenge, but it still comes down to what's it look like to connect hearts to a loving God?
What's it look like to have people see Jesus? I think there's opportunities with the rising anxiety in Australia. We're more anxious now than ever, and we're lonelier now than ever. And so I think Australians are realizing that the political systems, technology, the economy, all those things we put our trust and hope in, they're not stacking up.
And so I think Australia for Christ in 2028 is the perfect time for it because it does lift our intentionality, our outward focus. It's like, you know, when you have an exam to study for, you know you've got to sit down and get it done. I think it lifts the intentionality across our church system and across our church members to go, "Hey, this is when we really get this intentionally right."
Will it include some of the stuff that PNG and TPUM included? Yes, it will. Oh. Because Australia's incredibly multicultural, and so we have parts of Australia that we can learn directly off them. Will it include stuff we haven't seen before? It has to Because to reach the 84% of Australians who don't connect with any faith community, no one is connecting with them as far as what it looks like to introduce them to Christ.
So we've got to think of things we haven't done yet. This is where our young people are particularly important. This is where innovation comes into it. We're setting up innovation hubs where we're saying to our young people, "You don't, we don't have to try and teach you about how to reach Australian young people.
You are one of them." Mm. "But what's it look like? What can you teach us as a church system to do that connection better?" So we're gonna have to innovate, try new ideas, learn new things. We'll work out some things that don't work. We'll work out some things that do work. Um, that's a, a challenge for us, but reality is God's already working in Australia.
Mm. We join God in that mission, and we get the fun of discovering what that mission looks like. Mm. How do you expect people to start preparing for it? Because it is a harvest program, so for the harvest you have a whole preparation. Yes. So how do you expect people to start preparing for it? Well, the preparation, if we take what was explained, by by, Pastor Charlie Jimmey yesterday, that preparation does include an intentional prayer focus.
It really does. It does include a focus on what it means to be part of our communities. One of our challenges is we do the AUC surveys that, you know, get all the opinions. Many of our church members have filled out their surveys. The surveys show us that overall people say, "I'm growing my connection with Jesus," but when we ask them, "How comfortable are you sharing Jesus?"
Most people tick unsure. Mm-hmm. They're unsure. They're not quite sure how to share Jesus. Mm. So that's a challenge that we have to get right because our best effort is to have our church members be the evangelism campaign. Their lives are the campaign, and so we can pay for programs and strategies and media and advertising.
That's all good. But imagine if we had 60,000 church members who their life's evange- evangelism campaign, if we have them so eager to share faith that wherever you find a church member, you find someone who's sharing Jesus. That's our big challenge in Australia. Mm. Our big challenge in Australia is Australians connect with friends.
They accept invitations from friends. The only way we're gonna get this right is if we all get it right together. Mm, mm. Very good. And before we close, in addition to Australia for Christ, what should church members in Australia be aware of terms of mission? In terms of mission, we've got One Voice coming up in '27.
Mm. And at first we thought, "Hey, is One Voice gonna compete with Australia for Christ '28?" But no, because One Voice is mission for all. One Voice is having everybody comfortable with sharing Jesus- Mm ... which is what we've gotta do anyway. So One Voice will be '27, where we're saying, "How do we share Jesus well in Australia?"
Getting ready for '28 as well, so we've got that. You'll also hear about Church Next strategy. That's what we're doing to encourage this innovation to reach the 84%. Mm. So what's it look like to find different ways and different expressions of being the Adventist church that engage the part of Australia that doesn't engage at the moment?
So that's pretty exciting. But if you're a church member in Australia at the moment, then I really do believe that it's just intentionally making that space and time to grow with God and grow with people. Because in our consumer culture, the opposite to consumerism is community. If we can do community really well and build relationships, that's where Australia for Christ '28 is gonna work.
Mm. Yeah it's a time where with AI and, you know, so many automated things, I think if we can take that human side to the next level and be there for people, I think it's going to be something really different that will stand out. And we use all that technology. We've got clever people doing clever stuff.
Mm. That's all needed. Mm. But there's also the simple things of just simply connecting with God, connecting with people, allowing God to work in and through you. And that's what we talk about: inspire, empower, equip. Inspiring, connecting with God. Empowered with inner strength out of Ephesians 3. Equipped out of Ephesians 4 to be people of light in the darkness of Australia.
Very good. Thank you so much. You're very welcome. Awesome. Again, that was Dr Brendan Pratt, the Australian Union Conference president. Um, Juliana, this is your second time now listening to this conversation, obviously 'cause you're the interviewer, but what stood out to you this second time around?
I find it interesting that he highlighted the fact that Australia is very much a mission field. People that live in First World countries, sometimes they can think that they have everything sorted out. But it's actually quite challenging to reach people here. It's challenging not just because of the culture around us, but because of our own culture as well, because as he said, we find it difficult to share Jesus with other people, and we need to learn how to do that properly.
And I also got really excited about the fact that, um, One Voice '27 is right before, one year before Australia for Christ. Because as I mentioned in the interview, all the South Pacific for Christ events are harvest programs, harvest campaigns, and so I think it's gonna be a good way to sow the seed, uh, in- Mm
2027 so they can harvest it in 2028.
Yeah, absolutely. Good timing for us in Australia. Yeah, I think it's interesting. I know he talked about, and I think we're becoming more aware of this, you know, people typically think that we live in a country where people aren't interested in God anymore, but the statistics are showing that people are increasingly spiritual, maybe not religious, but they're still interested in spiritual things.
They still often believe that there's a higher power. And one thing I really liked about South Pacific for Christ, the other month was that they showed all these videos of mission initiatives happening around the world. So they showed videos from Kolkata in India, in Oslo in Norway, in Los Angeles, and there's just some really creative mission initiatives that are happening around the world that I think, yeah, Australia could definitely learn from.
So if anyone's watching, I'd love to hear what kind of creative initiatives that either you've like heard of or been a part of or seen. So let us know . But we have another video from pastor Denny Philip, he is the president of the Papua New Guinea Union Mission.
That's right. It's so, great to be here with you. Tell me, how are you feeling about this event so far that we are attending? What stood out to you this week? Yeah, I think what stood out here in the SPD for Christ launching is, for me, it is the mission. A very strong emphasis, strong focus on the mission, whether it be missions to different parts of the world or missions within our unions.
And also minions to missions to other, other, places where we haven't really reached our people. So for me, the focus here, the SPD for Christ, is mission and how best we can engage everyone to be involved in reaching someone for Christ Great. So PNG for Christ will be the last of the For Christ events in the SPD, but it actually started in PNG in 2024.
And it was so successful it became an SPD-wide initiative. But before we talk about PNG for Christ, can you give us an idea of what are the challenges in your area? We know that the church in PNG recently, experienced, growth. But what are the challenges that you are facing now over there?
So the growth also comes with a challenges as well. Just like in every places, every countries, it has their own challenges and challenges are everywhere. In PNG, some of the challenges that we are facing there is, um, you know, during the time when church was actually growing, a lot of engagement and a lot of involvement.
There's a challenge that people may now be complacent- Mm-hmm ... more sort of relaxed and not to be involved in the church systems or church ministries anymore, because of what they did in PNG and and then they may say that, "Oh, it's time for us to wait in 2029 or, or let's wait and support other missions."
And there could be a complacence there as well. There might be also, the idea of people becoming more, consumerism, where people sort of feed themselves so much. They grow their own spirituality but don't really want to engage and continue- Mm ... sharing and engage in small, care group ministries or engage in other form of community service and reaching out people.
So, uh, ministry may not be as effective as it was, during the, COVID period and trying to reach people, so there could be a challenge of people not so much really involved. Um so I think we needed to also, uh wake them up again and say, "You know, we still have the mission. We still have to go to the people.
We still have to connect with people and engage everyone in the mission." Hmm. Can you share what are your strategies, or your goals for this quinquennium? Maybe some of them are addressing those issues. Yes. So at the PNGUM here in this quinquennium, we've got four main key strategies Four main key strategies and they are, one is the mission.
We wanted to focus and have a strong emphasis on the mission part of it. And in the mission strategy, we wanted to promote a daily communion with God. That's something that we wanted to ensure that there is a very strong and a vibrant, a thriving spirituality and people having, having a strong spirituality in their life, in their homes, and in the daily experience with Christ.
So we wanted to promote Alive in Jesus. Resources like Alive in Jesus, Back to the Altar, Bible reading plans, are some of the things. Sabbath school lessons for the adults and for children. And we wanted to revive a very strong family focus and family worship, um, uh, back into the home so that we revive a very strong spirituality as well.
We also wanted to engage everyone to reach one. So we have a strategy called Each One Reach One, so everyone does not become just merely an observer, but they have a responsibility. Everyone can reach someone, that they can share their story, they can share their testimonies, they can do a prayer for someone, they can, introduce Jesus, they can share their testimonies and if everyone is doing what they can and using whatever gifts that God has gifted them to engage in mission, I think we can also multiply the church, multiply the membership because everyone is doing something for the Lord.
And the other strategy in the mission is we wanted to make sure that everyone, every church is becoming a training school. We wanted to train every church That they become training to send people to grow their faith and they train people to engage in mission.
So we, we have a, a clear focus on, multiplying the disciples and that is more training. So church is becoming a training hub where we train people to grow their faith and train people to engage in the mission as well. So that's basically in the strategy around the mission. We also have the strategy on the service where we wanted to use ADRA, as key partners reaching out to the people, connecting with people.
We wanted to have, our schools, actually engage in the ministry where they not just giving a head knowledge to the children, but they also transform the heart with the Adventist messages we have as well. So discipling the children at school as well. We also wanted to work with, the health services, that we are not just providing health services out there, but we are providing spiritual services using the health ministry as well.
So we wanted to be more integrated, in the way we do ministry, um, to reach the people. So that's basically in the area of service. And the other thing that we wanted to use is the Adventist Community Service. We call it ACS in PNG. Mm. ACS has been a great church ministry that includes every age groups.
The young people, the children, the mothers and fathers, the families, everyone comes on the ACS to serve the community- Mm ... to meet the needs of the community and to, and to bring people in the community back to Christ as well. So that's something that we wanted to do in the ACS as well.
And then the other one that we have is the Adventist Aviation Services. Oh. So the Adventist Aviation Services, they're not just flying the plane, but they serve the people in the rural communities. They fly the plane out in the very mountainous places, rough and rugged it may be, but they serve the people in those places.
So we wanted to serve the people in those communities as well. So that's come under service, strategy. The other strategy is, uh, we call it people and culture, which we wanted to train many people for service, whether it be in the church, in school, leadership development for the health leaders.
We wanted to ensure that people are given skills and opportunities to be trained to serve in those places. And, and, and the other thing we wanted to do in that strategy is to, improve the governance systems of the church. Mm. That's one key area that PNG has not really doing well, that the governance system in the church In the missions, the union, or even in the schools and hospitals have not been done really well, so we wanted to improve in, in that as well.
Mm. Very good. A lot of plans. There's a lot of things that we- Mm ... wanted to do, but there's I think some, yeah, some key areas that we wanted to focus on. Mm. And now let's talk about PNG4Christ. As, uh, we mentioned, it was a massive success in 2024. And you get to do it again in 2029. So how are you preparing for that?
So the preparations for 2029 starts now. And that's what I wanted to inform the church in PNG in every way. The preparation for 2029 PNG4Christ starts here in 2026. We had previously, we had about eight years to, to deliver the 2024 PNG4Christ. We only have about two years to start preparing for the 2029 PNG4Christ.
So I like to encourage the church in PNG to start reaching each one, each one reaching one. We wanted to ensure that there is a strong care group, so we call it small groups right across our churches, our communities. That we wanted to encourage every people to start growing small group movements in places where you are.
And we also wanted to ensure that, that we Connect with people. We are not just an isolated church that operating in the community, but we wanted to see the people serving people in the community. Make the presence of the Adventist Church felt in your community by connecting with your people.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Very good. Before we close, in addition to PNG4Christ, what should church members in your region be aware of in terms of mission? You already listed a bunch of strategies and goals like ACS, but- Yes. So, so our people in Papua New Guinea, we don't want you to be more relaxed and more comfortable thinking that we have delivered PNG4Christ in 2024 and then we become observers of what happened in TPU or in Australia or in NZPUC.
But we wanted to encourage all Adventist churches and Adventist young people to start doing preparations for 2029 this year. We already starting to also, send missionaries out as part of that as well, but, we're gonna send missionaries to Indonesia. We're gonna send missionaries to, to other places as well.
But the most important thing is that the base, the sending country must be very strong in mission as well, so that we can, we can, actually support other parts of the world's, mission needs as well. So yeah. So basically we just wanna encourage everyone to do what we have done in 2020. The movement that started in 2020 in preparations for PNG4Christ, a small groups and connecting with the community, that sort of, ministry, we wanted to encourage every churches to participate.
Very good. Thank you so much There you go. Great conversation with you, Juliana and Danny Philip, the PNG Union Mission president. I think one thing, that stood out to me was that growth comes with its own challenges. Yeah. Obviously in 2024 we saw amazing things happen, but with that came their own challenges. So I think it's awesome that they are encouraging people to not be complacent, to keep on praying, to keep on creating small groups, encourage people to connect with their community and to lean into their gifts. So I really like what he had to say about all that.
What did you pick up, Juliana, from that conversation? It was the same thing actually. Um- Great ... yes. It- back in 2024, they had, I think more than 200,000 baptisms during- Mm ... PNG for Christ. And so there was a massive growth for them to experience at once. And they had other challenges like, not having enough church buildings for people to congregate in.
But I think it was very inspiring seeing how they are encouraging their church members to keep working, and not only working there, but also helping the mission globally, the mission in the South Pacific and around the world as well. So that's very good. It's something that should inspire us and yeah- Mm
encourage us as well. For sure. I think it's a lesson we can all take So thank you Danny, and thank you Brendan, um, for what- Mm ... you shared with us as well. Next week we have our final interview from South Pacific for Christ with Gary Krause, the Director of Adventist Mission talking specifically about mission in the cities.
So yeah, we will see you all back then . Thank you Juliana for coming on. No, thank you. It was fun. Nice.