Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship (Romans 12:1, NIV).
One of the goals of the 2023 Institutional Workers’ Survey was to find out was about Adventist Church employees’ practices of personal spirituality. This topic will continue to be explored in future posts, but initially, responders were asked how much they agreed with the statement that they had “made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in my life today.” Of the teachers and lecturers, an average of 86% strongly agreed with the statement, and of non-educational employees, virtually the same, 85% strongly agreed.
When broken down by Division, 90% or more of the educational employees strongly agreed with the statement in seven Divisions: Inter-European Division, 90.9%; East-Central Africa Division, 91%; Southern Asia-Pacific Division, 92.5%; West-Central Africa Division, 93.2%; South American Division, 93.8%; South Pacific Division, 95.4%; and North American Division, 96.9%. Respondents who strongly disagreed generally accounted for less than 3.5%, apart from the Inter-American Division at 31.3%, while the Trans-European Division was an outlier with 10% of unsure responses.
Among non-educational employees, 90% or more agreed with the statement in five Divisions: East-Central Africa Division, 90.5%; Southern Asia Division, 92.3%; West-Central Africa Division, 95.2%; South Pacific Division, 95.3%; and North American Division, 98.3%. Again, the Inter-American Division had the highest percentage of responses to “strongly disagree,” at 26.1%.
Regarding the subject of total personal commitment to Christ, Ellen White wrote that “[w]e must have a single eye to God’s glory, a single and persistent purpose to leave self and the preferences of others out of the question…” (Letter 128, 1897). It would be good to see an increase in the percentage of Church workers who make a strong commitment to Jesus in their daily lives. This is not just good for them personally; it will also have a positive impact on God’s work.
Responses to the 2023 Institutional Workers’ Survey show that although there is clearly some work to be done, many Church institutions are full of employees who have thoroughly devoted their lives to Jesus Christ and “have a single eye to God’s glory.”
You can access the full report here.
Created in collaboration with the Institute of Church Ministry.
Published by ASTR on 07/28/2026
