The Southern Asia-Pacific Division Secretariat announced a 2026 goal of supporting 55 missionaries within and beyond the division while expanding missionary care, studying possible territorial reorganizations and improving the accuracy of membership records.
The initiatives formed part of a Secretariat report presented during the SSD Year-End Meetings under the church’s broader OneVoice27 mission emphasis.
Mission Refocus, which has identified, prepared and sent missionaries since 2023, will place greater emphasis on developing missionaries who make other disciples. Its strategic priorities include the 10/40 Window, rapidly growing urban centers and post-Christian communities.
“We are moving from missionary deployment to missionary discipleship,” said Pastor Jose Zabat, Jr., Mission Refocus director of SSD. Instead of asking only where a missionary can serve, leaders will consider where the need is greatest and whom God may be preparing to go.
Zabat said SSD missionaries serve across Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Eurasia, Northern Asia and Africa. It also appealed for financial support, prayer and continuing care, noting that missionaries need more than transportation to an assignment.
“Deployment tells us someone went, but discipleship tells us the mission continues,” Zabat added.
Territorial studies support frontline mission
Secretariat leaders also identified several territories being studied for possible reorganization. They stressed that the proposals remain under review and prayer.
The studies include a possible Papua Indonesia union within the East Indonesia Union Conference; trifurcation of the Upper Myanmar Mission; bifurcation of the Minahasa Conference, including a Southeast Minahasa Mission; and separation of the Manado and North Maluku Conference into a Manado Conference and North Maluku Mission.
Leaders are also considering organizational arrangements centered on Bohol, Cebu and Masbate within the Central Visayas region.
The report described reorganization as a mission strategy that can bring leadership closer to congregations, respond to geographic and cultural conditions, empower local leaders and improve administrative efficiency.
Missionary care to expand in 2027
The Secretariat said it plans to extend missionary-care initiatives in 2027 to more workers sent within SSD and to other divisions.
Existing support includes spiritual retreats, a portfolio connecting missionary families, a WhatsApp group for communication and personal follow-up, missionary testimonies in Stories of Mission, intentional visits and a weekly “Pray for a Missionary” feature in the Adventist Mission newsletter.
Pastor Joni Oliveira, SSD Adventist Mission director said intentional visits focus on listening to missionaries’ actual concerns, aligning purpose, supporting ministry and remaining available. A trained core team is also preparing for additional instruction from psychologists experienced in caring for missionary families.
“Sending a missionary is only part of our responsibility,” Oliveira said.
Records review produces clearer membership picture
A division-wide, redemptive membership review launched in 2023 produced an approximately 15% reported membership decline in 2024, largely because congregations corrected and updated their records in the Adventist Church Management System.
One union reduced its reported membership by about 50% after reviewing its records. Leaders said the adjustments provided a more accurate basis for planning and decisions rather than indicating a one-year collapse in church participation.
Membership has since increased by 9% over the past three years, and the division expects its current-year total to surpass the level reported five years ago. SSD recorded more than 118,000 baptisms annually from 2022 through 2025, peaking at nearly 128,000 in 2024.
Since 2021, 628,969 people have joined the church in SSD territory, while 138,224 have left, producing a five-year loss rate of 22%. The report said retention improved from three losses for every 10 members gained in 2024 to two losses for every 10 gained.
“Our goal is not merely to increase the number of baptisms, but to increase the evangelistic effectiveness of every congregation,” said Necy Tabelisma, SSD assistant secretary.
The division now obtains 91% of its reported membership data directly from ACMS and began integrating that information into the General Conference statistical-reporting platform during the third quarter of 2026.
Leaders said accurate records must translate into pastoral care.
“Every name represents a person,” Tabelisma added. “Every membership record reminds us of the responsibility to nurture someone in faith.”
Records management exceeds target
During the past five years, six unions and 36 missions and conferences have participated in the Secretariat Development Program. Four unions earned accreditation from the General Conference Archives, Statistics and Research office during the past three years.
Twenty-eight local missions and conferences and two unions have also established records centers and completed evaluations and audits, exceeding the division’s original target of 26 entities.
The Secretariat plans to renew its own records-management accreditation, while two additional unions are expected to apply. Leaders said the work will preserve a reliable account of how the church developed and how God led its members across the division.