More church buildings are becoming host sites to serve an increasing viewership.
The inauguration of three new Adventist TV host churches in late March and early April 2019 in the districts of Renca, La Cisterna, and Nueva Esperanza, in Santiago, Chile, has already affected hundreds of people, local church leaders said. The expansion is part of a larger initiative to create wider impact through Adventist television.
“Enlarging the pool of host churches is an initiative carried out by the Bible School department of the Adventist Nuevo Tiempo network,” leaders said. “The Bible School department is in charge of responding to any person who attends a Seventh-day Adventist church as a result of watching Adventist TV or listening to Adventist radio stations, and shows interest in studying the Bible.”
Members of La Renca Seventh-day Adventist Church in Chile on the day their church became a Nuevo Tiempo host church. [Photo: South American Division News]
Three young members of La Cisterna Seventh-day Adventist Church, a church that recently became a Nuevo Tiempo TV network host church. [Photo: South American Division News]
Church members across the region are buying into the Adventist Church’s initiative.
“It is a great mission we have, something that will help us remember that we are a family,” said La Cisterna Seventh-day Adventist Church member Zulimar Albornoz. “We are a family not only for our brethren but also for those who happen to come to our doors.”
Leaders said that this interest in welcoming the audience of Nuevo Tiempo television, showering them with kindness and love, shows what Christianity is all about. “It reveals Christians in search of true friendships that might last for eternity,” they said. “In a world where media outlets are part of people’s lives, the Seventh-day Adventist network can reach many, so that they can find hope through the work of our host churches.”
Nuevo Tiempo Chile director Tomás Parra agreed.
“Nuevo Tiempo allows us to reach people through the airwaves and internet,” he said. “But more important, our goal is to reach people’s hearts with the gospel of hope, which is found in the good news about Jesus.”
How to Achieve the Goal
Nuevo Tiempo Chile’s Bible School director, Rodrigo Quintanilla, shared some strategies that he said will help promote Nuevo Tiempo nationwide through its host churches.
“This year we want to work together with local churches, adding the Nuevo Tiempo logo on the church building façades,” he explained. “It is our goal to work with local mission-minded couples, Sabbath School classes, and local welcoming ministries.”
Santiago Southern Region Bible School director Andrés Dinamarca expects that very soon more churches will be able to join the project.
“Our dream is to launch twenty new host churches,” Dinamarca said. “We know many people are watching and listening to our programs, but they are wondering where to find the church behind them.”
Dinamarca then shared the vision of the TV ministry’s leaders.
“Imagine what could happen when people arrive at our churches and find a welcoming ministry ready to embrace them and love them,” he said. “Imagine finding a place where people treat you in such a special way that you want to go back.”
The original version of this story was posted on the South American Division Spanish-language news site.
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