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Jose Cortes, Jr., North American Division Ministerial Association associate director, had much more to say on community engagement! Read on for additional inspiration.
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“Community engagement is not only important, it is vital to our mission. If you have a great mission and no one to share the message with, what’s the point of having a message? We earn our right to the public square by engaging with our communities. Otherwise, we’re totally irrelevant.”

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“A dump truck comes in with a load, unloads, and then goes away; at times, I feel that is what we do. We come in with our message, do our part, and leave. [Instead,] be willing to experience people’s struggles and joys as you mingle with them and get to know them. Helping people [through their journey] amplifies our Adventist message.”

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“As we get to know each other better, and people begin to realize that we care for them, eventually the time will come to share our distinct message. We must realize that we cannot begin with the ‘distinctives’ when we first meet people. Our priority is to meet people’s needs. That’s what Jesus did. He spent time with them [and] treated them as someone who wanted their good. Only when He gained their confidence is when He shared the ‘distinctives’ and said ‘Follow Me.’ ”

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“Many of us grew up in a tradition to only mingle with people like us because if you mingle with [them], we may become like them. If our faith is so weak that exposure to people who are not of our faith puts our faith in jeopardy, then our faith is not worth having. . . . People are most important. If people are going through something and my church cannot meet their needs, but there is an organization that can, we should partner with that organization. Why reinvent the wheel? If an organization is doing something amazing, why not support that organization and offer to work together so people can be blessed? At times we need to burst the bubble so we can be real people in a real world.”