The Florida Conference has been presented with a unique opportunity to support Bible workers in China. There has been a slight easing of the pressure on missionaries in China, and we want to take advantage of this increased opening in the window while it lasts. Our prayer is that all of our churches will embrace this opportunity and adopt at least one Chinese Bible worker through a local church board action. This may be funded from budget or from individual member contributions or a combination of both. Here is a brief Q&A to answer questions you may have:
Q. How are member contributions to be handled? A. This is a local church project. Individual contributions are to be made to the local church. Once $1500 has been collected the funds are remitted to the Conference under the title “China Connection.” Contributions can be coded using #7511 in Jewel and/or AdventistGiving.
Q. Can members contribute through Adventist
Giving?
A. Yes. The China Connection Project can be added to the local church AdventistGiving page by the treasurer as a local church offering. The Conference offering on AdventistGiving can also be used.
Q. What if the church has not adopted a Bible worker but individual members contribute to this project?
A. Individual members may still contribute to the China Connection project. Please remit their donations marked “China Connection” with your normal remittance.
Q. What if a church board agrees to adopt a Chinese Bible worker and more than $1500 is received?
A. Wow. What a great problem to have. At this point the local church board could decide to sponsor a second Bible worker, or the additional funds may be sent to the Conference and will be combined with other similar funds to sponsor another Chinese Bible worker. All donations will honor the donor’s intentions and be applied accordingly.
Q. Will the church receive any information about their adopted Bible worker?
A. Yes. A brief biography will be provided on each
Bible worker. Due to security issues pictures and detailed information will not be available.
Q. Will the church receive ongoing updates from their Bible worker?
A. The China Mission President understands the importance of ongoing communications and is committed to doing what he can to promote this. However, due to the remoteness of some of the locations in which the workers will be working and because of political sensitivities, consistent communication may not always be possible.
Again, the importance of this is not underestimated, and everything possible will be done to keep churches apprised of their Bible worker’s progress.