Antioch Initiative - Reaching Into the Cities
Antioch is all about community engagement. What does the community need? How can we be the hands and feet of Jesus, how can we show others God's love, and how can we be the church for these last days? While these are not the only ways to engage the community, the three key areas where Adventists in North America can reach those in its urban areas include:
- Centers of influence in cities
- Public evangelism
- Media, especially social media
Centers of Influence
As part of his 2022 YEM report, G. Alexander Bryant, North American Division president, shared a look at the North American megalopolises, in particular 20 metropolitan areas. In these places, he said, “you have epicenters of power ... the political power, the entertainment power, the economic power, the media power, the educational power, … and God has called us to impact these cities.”
Bryant then introduced the Antioch initiative, when “we take the resource that we have collectively, and we focus them in one area — we’re talking about centers of influence. We need to have thousands of centers of influence all around the North American Division. We’re stronger together. We can come together and power the church forward in a better, stronger, and more effective way than if we did it separately.”
Multiplying, one of three strategic focuses for the North American Division, has many facets. Some of the ones with the potential for huge impact include church planting, centers of influence, and public evangelism. The latter two (centers of influence in urban areas and public evangelism) are aspects of the Antioch initiative, which centers on the engagement of all church members, and the leveraging of resources especially in places where the population is high. The goal is to add 50,000 disciples in our cities to serve in churches, in schools, with indigenous Americans, with immigrant groups, in centers of influence, as student missionaries in metropolitan areas, in community service, and more. It is finding out what the needs are and aggregating “our resources to come in and help in particular projects,” said Bryant, in his 2023 NAD YEM report.
Bryant shared that one way we can all work together is through initiatives such as Antioch, which include mentoring and outreach. “What would happen if division, union, and local conference resources ‘collide’ in one place at one time? Put all the resources we have into one or two cities for a couple of years and see what happens? I believe the Lord can do something special. Intentional and systematic mentorship for every level of the church. All or our media ministries working together. Centers of influence providing healthful eating alternatives, exercise classes, food distribution, counseling services, computer training,” he said, imagining how working together would create these synergies that would transform into providing for needs and bringing people to God. Recently, three cities — Dallas, New York, and St. Louis — were chosen to pilot Antioch.
“That is the message the Lord gave the Seventh-day Adventist Church though His servant Ellen White. I tell you today that we are not too late. It’s not too late to take the message that God has given us to another level.”
Public Evangelism
With Pentecost 2025, the emphasis is on the Holy Spirit leading churches, schools, and members to hold proclamation initiatives in their communities — outreach events that lead to evangelistic meetings. In 2024, the year of preparation, churches and schools have been signing up with the goal of holding at least 3,000 events across the division. [Learn more here, and check out the Pentecost 2025 website for even more information.] Following the biblical model in Acts 2, all members are called to prayer and to engage in sharing Christ's message with the world.
Reaching people where they are, carrying for their needs, sharing the love of Jesus, is vital. As White writes in The Ministry of Healing, “Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Savior mingled with people as one who desired their good. He showed sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He invited them, 'Follow Me'” (p. 73).
This is a clarion call for us, as Seventh-day Adventists, to carry the everlasting gospel to every corner of the earth, starting here in North America, stated Bryant.
Social Media
Bryant also shared that in addition to centers of influence and evangelism, one of “our strategic focuses for the next three years is to take our media resources and expand them, and to focus on how we can take these media resources to be more impactful in these big cities that God has called us to reach.” Leveraging social media is the primary focus at this time, with other media efforts to follow. While social media is not just for people in cities, and overall social media outreach can encompass anyone with a computer or smart device, there is a way that we can more effectively minister to those in our urban areas.
Of the three strategic focuses the division designated in 2021 as important, the use of media will be vital in reaching the cities. Bryant encouraged year-end meeting attendees to explore the opportunities and network, and collaborate across all organizations, finding ways in which “we can maximize and expand our utilization of media.”
“This is an area where we can allow our youth and young adults to help lead the way,” advised Bryant, sharing information about the 10,000 Digital Disciples initiative. “Why not let them loose in the areas that they naturally live in to lead the church on how we can use those social media platforms to advance the gospel of Jesus? That is what that initiative is about ... we’re going to train and equip them to go into the ‘new’ arena we call social media, and spread the love of Jesus Christ.”
UPDATE: The North American Division has identified three cities that are part of the Antioch Initiative. Those are Houston, Texas; New York, New York; and St. Louis, Missouri.