You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8, NIV).
According to the General Conference Working Policy, the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is to “Make disciples of Jesus Christ who live as His loving witnesses and proclaim to all people the everlasting gospel of the Three Angels’ Messages in preparation for His soon return” (Matt. 28:18–20, Acts 1:8, Rev. 14:6–12). This statement would resonate with most Seventh-day Adventists, but do most employees of denominational institutions feel they are contributing to this wider Church mission?
In the 2025 Institutional Workers’ Survey, respondents were asked about how they view their contribution to the mission of the church through their work. The findings are revealed below.
Service of the Mission of the Church: Educational Workplaces
When employees of Adventist schools, colleges, and universities were asked whether they agreed with the statement, “I serve the mission of the Church through my work,” 78% strongly agreed and a further 15% agreed more than disagreed.
Service of Mission of the Church: Non-Educational Workplaces
Likewise, when employees of Adventist healthcare, media, welfare, publishing, and food industries were asked how much they agreed with the statement, “I serve the mission of the Church through my work,” on average, 76% strongly agreed with the statement, while a further 16% agreed more than disagreed.
In total, 93% of teachers and 92% of employees of other Adventist institutions agreed or strongly agreed that they serve the mission of the Church in their work. This is very encouraging data and suggests that most Adventist institutions are not suffering from mission drift.
Mrs. White wrote in Acts of the Apostles, “The church is God’s appointed agency for the salvation of men. It was organized for service, and its mission is to carry the gospel to the world” (p. 9). In defining the role of laypeople in the mission of the church, she went on to declare, “It is not ordained ministers upon whom we must depend for this work, but laymen who love and fear God, and who feel the burden for the salvation of souls. They can be agents and co-workers with divine providence in seeking to save the lost” (6MR 20).
Undoubtedly, given the nature of the worldwide Church and the broad spectrum of Church institutions, there is a very wide range of ideas about how the mission of the Church should be implemented. In future posts, we will look at the questions and responses designed to find out what employees of Adventist organizations thought the aims of the Adventist Church should be.
You can access the full report here.
Created in collaboration with the Institute of Church Ministry.
Published by ASTR on 1/29/2026.