Every Seventh-day Adventist -- worshipping from Albania to Zimbabwe -- is now in the company of 15,433,470 likeminded members of the global Protestant denomination, Adventist world church secretary Matthew A. Bediako told some 300 Annual Council delegates gathered at world church headquarters October 14.

More than 1 million of those members joined the Adventist Church between July 2006 and June 2007, making the year in review the fifth consecutive to net such a measurable response to the Gospel, the heart of the Adventist message, Bediako said.

Church officials estimate almost 3,000 people join the church daily, meaning there is now one Seventh-day Adventist Christian per 429 people around the globe.

The Adventist Church, Bediako said, has "never been in such a favourable position to witness for the good news." But, he added, "This should not lead us into an attitude of complacency and contentment. This is the time to be more alert and active than ever."

Since church officials called for extensive membership audits across each of the church's 13 world regions in 2000, the ensuing loss of more than 1 million members has tempered church growth -- for every 100 new members in 2006, the church lost 45, Bediako reported.

Reversing that disheartening five-year trend in membership retention, this year's rate of retention is a "healthy" 76 percent, Bediako said. For every 100 members who joined the church this year, 24, rather than 45, chose to leave -- a "remarkable change," he said. Once that gain-to-loss ratio is factored in, the Adventist Church netted 681,448 members this year.

That number "isn't shabby," said Bert Haloviak, director of the Adventist church's Office of Archives and Statistics. Haloviak further noted that this year's membership growth rate -- 4.62 percent -- is the highest since the 2002/03 year when the results of membership audits first showed up in the books.

Despite the steady growth and encouraging retention news, Bediako recommended caution. "We cannot sing the doxology until we eliminate from our [membership] charts the 'loss and missing' column," he told delegates.

Thorough membership reports, Bediako said, are nettlesome but necessary if the church intends to safeguard its integrity. He applauded church regions for their assiduous work in finishing church membership reports and urged those regions that have yet to turn in their reports to do so during 2008. "It is expected of us to be honest in reporting our membership," he said.

While some church members fear reviewing the books might sabotage church growth, Haloviak pointed out "seemingly optimistic" growth trends prove the opposite -- that membership audits actually stimulate member gains and generally strengthen the church.

(With news input from Adventist News Network/ANN)