Evangelism Strategy for Church Growth within Latvian Conference of Adventist Church

After Gorbatchov’s perestroika at the end of 1980 many people in Latvia began to search for their lost Christian identity and knocked at the different church doors. Many foreign evangelists came, mainly from the USA, to preach and conduct evangelistic campaigns. Also home pastors tried the best to baptize as many as they could. Nearly every minister in the Adventist church was occupied in evangelism, as seminars were running in many places. There was no time for strategy and biblical-theology.
During the time that I started my ministry church tactic were – preach, baptize and count. Problems started later as many new church members did not understand where the church was going. What is church theology of ministry and mission, what kind of strategy is here to continue church growth not only in quantity but also in quality? Many church members asked, ‘what do I need to do?’ The answer was, ‘keep commandments, visit regularly worship services, pay, pry and obey’. Church practical aspects of biblical ecclesiology were strange not only to members, but also to pastors coming straight from church without theological education and deeper understanding.
Today the situation is changing slowly. New educated pastors are making paradigm shift and are trying to change the old stereotype of the pastor as a clerical who does everything and members as laity watching and criticizing. In my research paper I am intended to do exegesis of Matthew 5.13-16 in order to study biblical theology of church ministry and mission. At the end of paper I am going to briefly summarize the outcomes of exegesis and those principles relevant for the church in Latvia.…