❤️📖 FROM THE HEART | 01.05.2026 | One Global Mission | Pastor Erton Köhler
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a global family with a clear structure and a living mission. Today, we are a worldwide membership of more than 24 million people, and every day thousands more are baptized. This growth means that thousands of people across continents and cultures choose Christ daily. These are not just numbers. They are stories of faith.
How is a global family organized so that local churches maintain their identity while still moving forward together? The foundation is simple. Local churches are grouped into local conferences or missions. Conferences and missions form unions. The unions are organized into thirteen world divisions, which function as extensions of the General Conference headquarters for strategy, accountability, and mission. This system allows a church member in Kingston, Kigali, or Kuala Lumpur to belong to the same movement while serving in their local community.
The East-Central Africa Division serves twelve countries and reports more than five and a half million members. The Euro-Asia Division stretches across northern Asia and Europe, spanning multiple time zones. Inter-America connects Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and the northern part of South America. The Northern Asia-Pacific Division brings together the Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. South America unites eight nations from the Andes to the Amazon. The South Pacific Division includes Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Vanuatu, and many island nations. The Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division now reports more than four million members. The Trans-European Division includes numerous countries across Northern and Western Europe. West-Central Africa includes twenty-two countries.
Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon 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). The church exists for this witness. Thirteen divisions—from house churches to university chapels, from deserts to islands, and from megacities to mountain valleys. The world is very large, yet God’s call is very close.
About the series
From the Heart is a weekly devotional series in which Pastor Köhler reflects on what it means to be grounded in the Bible and focused on the mission, collectively and individually. Each episode is grounded in the four pillars of the Seventh-day Adventist Church strategic plan: Communion with God, Identity in Christ, Unity through the Holy Spirit, and Mission for All.
The series connects biblical faith to everyday life, sharing short reflections and glimpses of how God is at work through the Adventist Church around the world.
Pastor Erton Köhler is President of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist World Church.
