Here are some of the projects we are working on that directly impact mission and ministry..
1. eGiving
The eGiving facilitates the electronic collection of tithes and offerings for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific Division. The app enables the returning of tithes and giving of offerings to all churches set up for eGiving using credit or debit cards. Defaults for churches and credit/debit cards can be set up to make repeat giving easy. During the pandemic this app was vital to the strength and support of the church and its mission, seeing both giving and the number of givers dramatically increase. Recent updates to eGiving have enhanced the emphasis on giving to your local church and its ministries.
Available on web, Apple App Store and Google Play store.
2. Ministry Development (MD) – Local Ministry Leadership, Progression, Administration
Ministry Development Portal (MD) was born with the dream of helping pastors and chaplains lead themselves and their ministries better – helping them to be the most Spirit-filled, resourced and fulfilled ministers on the planet. Built by ministers for ministers, as far as features go, MD is now complete!
2023 marks a change from building the tools we need to helping leaders use them, all the while improving them based on user feedback. Mid 2023 we will be unveiling the new elders training module where pastors can find templates for training their elders with key activities, resources, and experiences. We hope this will be a game-changer for the local church.
Another goal we have for 2023 is to see how easy we can make the system for self-proclaimed “dinosaurs” and “dummies”. So expect to see options for simple navigation to help you find what you are looking for.
Your feedback is welcomed and encouraged. MD is built BY local leaders, FOR local leaders – so please keep your suggestions coming. We will also do some intentional listening projects, addressing various features, to see what Ministers and Chaplains need. Available only via invitation from your Conference Ministerial Secretary.
Please send your feedback and suggestions to us at support@md.adventist.org.au
3. Discipleship CRM (yet to be named)
Remember Adhub? Designed to support members and leaders with discipleship journeys from first contact and before, through to baptism and beyond, adhub was designed and created to meet a vital need – helping the church disciple others in a way that made sure people didn’t fall through the cracks!
The concept was powerful, and the technology was being used effectively in a number of locations, but the project itself encountered several and varied challenges which ultimately overcame its progress – much to the disappointment of those who had designed it, and those who were using it.. So… we are currently working on a new solution that overcomes those same challenges! Late in 2022, a project charter was mapped out together with the AUC, and together we are now building version 2 – using cheaper and more agile technology. Once built and tested, the plan is to first trial and prove the concept in the South New South Wales Conference (thanks team!), before reviewing the next steps. Those next steps will either be to further strengthen the project as built, rebuild it for higher capacity and wider rollout, or retire the project if it’s not proving fruitful.
For more information on this project, or to send us your naming suggestion, reach out to us at support@md.adventist.org.au.
4. Hope Virtual Assistant
In 2022 we discovered the Hope Virtual Assistant/ Robot Project which was designed in Brazil and is being used to great effect to provide Bible studies on social media chat platforms via “Hope” – a virtual assistant who offers a range of Bible studies to any student who sends her a message with the words ‘Bible study”.
In South America, she is known as the most active evangelist in the Division – studying with over 20,000 students per month. In the past 3 years she has helped many thousands of students complete 2 complete study courses. Of these, over 12,500 have accepted the invitation to connect with a local pastor or church family. The team in Brazil know of at least 1,200 of these who went on to be baptised and join the local church.
Here in SPD, we are working collaboratively with Adventist Media and a local team to oversee Hope’s work in PNG, with plans to expand to other parts of the Division as interest in the project spreads.
Want to know more about this project? Let us know at support@md.adventist.org.au
5. MDLite – Local Ministry Leadership, Progression, Administration
In 2022 we built a partnership with the TPUM and the Fijian Mission to pilot a project modeled on the idea of a simplified version of MD on a mobile device. The project will help with many other aims, updating database and reporting systems, boosting our ability to resource and develop pastors in the Pacific, further supporting the journey from being a Mission outpost to a Conference mission base.
MDLite leverages existing systems within the MD portal, making it cost-effective and hopefully widely applicable to parts of the world where mobile is a better platform for leadership development, and its offline mode means that it is ideal for regions where data access isn’t always available. Back in the day, the church in Australia and New Zealand would often send containers of books to the island fields. In future, our leaders there will have direct access to the same articles and resources via MDLite – delivered via mobile device!
MDLite features the Auxano Library, REAP cycle, simplified Ministry Reports, Internships, Profile and Preferences.