By Henry R. Moncur III | ATCU Communication
On Sunday, October 27, 2024, leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist church in the Atlantic Caribbean Union (ATCU) launched the Discipleship and Soul-winning Coaching Institute, an initiative that calls for church leaders and members alike to mobilize for evangelism with the goal of holding 30 simultaneous evangelism meetings across the ATCU territory. During February 8-22, 2025, over 20 preachers from countries in the Caribbean will share in massive proclamation meetings in the three island nations (The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands) of the ATCU.
The Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists (IAD) in collaboration with the Atlantic Caribbean, Belize, Caribbean, Jamaica, and Haitian Unions will pioneer this novel institute. In addition to reinforcing the biblical foundation for soul winning and discipleship, the long-term objective is to provide relevant training and coaching to local church members for effective soul winning and discipleship of believers.
.png)
Pastor Balvin Braham, IAD vice president and lead coordinator for the institute, noted the significance of the initiative. “The time has come for us to use new strategies to involve our members and to be able to reach more people with the gospel, and there are many demographics of our societies that we are not reaching.”
It is anticipated that at least 50% of the membership of each church in the ATCU will be recruited and registered to be involved in the Discipleship and Soul-winning Coaching Institute.
“All of us can play a role in sharing the love of Jesus,” said Peter Kerr, ATCU president. “The Discipleship and Soul-winning Coaching Institute helps us to all move forward together to proclaim the gospel in a way that will involve our members and impact our territory in a great way for Jesus.”
The plan is straightforward. Every church and/or district will be assigned a coach experienced in soul winning and discipleship who will work along with the pastor in preparing for the meetings. Each registered member will be encouraged to participate in discipleship initiatives according to their choice. Some discipleship initiatives include vocational skills training, community projects, prayer evangelism, neighborhood evangelism, social media influencers, and more. The institute will culminate with a reaping series and massive territory-wide baptism on February 22, 2025.
“The Discipleship and Soul-winning Coaching Institute is for all Seventh-day Adventist members and churches across the Atlantic Caribbean Union. Every member, pastor, young adult, family, child, and even school is encouraged to participate. While the goal is to have 50% of members from each church registered to participate, we want every member in every church in ATCU to be involved,” said Dr. Kent Price, ATCU assistant to the president for evangelism and overseeing the initiative. “Together in mission, we can reach many more souls in ATCU.”
Every pastor and Bible worker who is registered to participate in the Discipleship and Soul-winning Coaching Institute will be at one of the registered sites to help ensure proper planning and preparation as well as to provide training and resources for the church to develop an ongoing effective outreach and evangelism ministry to their community.
Members are invited to be involved in this major evangelism undertaking and can register their participation at https://forms.gle/Sokbr2QQcWk2Bxdr7 (English); https://forms.gle/hu3PqEPQd5Nq68BRA (Spanish); https://forms.gle/CDSfgHYU8pSfd1mt7 (French).
“We want the power of God to descend on us and our territory as never before,” Kerr said. “The Discipleship and Soul-winning Coaching Institute is a clarion call for all of us to become involved and to take by storm our territory with the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus and to make an impact that has never been seen heretofore in the Atlantic Caribbean Union. We are called to be disciples; let us all get involved.” With a membership of 27,694, ATCU, which is headquartered in Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas, comprises four fields, namely, the Cayman Islands Conference, the North Bahamas Conference, the South Bahamas Conference, and the Turks and Caicos Islands Conference. In addition, Northern Caribbean University, which is in Mandeville, Jamaica, is jointly owned and operated by ATCU and the Jamaica Union.