Staff
Our mission
Adventist Community Services (ACS) has been established as a humanitarian relief and individual and community development ministry, to fulfill the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist® Church. ACS’s mission is to develop continuing leadership education, build collaborative partnerships, and expand the scope of community services.
How we serve
- Equip pastors and lay members with skills and knowledge to help their church and community through the following seven families of ministries: Disaster Response; Crisis Care — Spiritual and Emotional; Community Development/Urban Ministry; Elder Care Ministries; Hope for Humanity; Youth Empowered to Serve (YES!); and Tutoring/Mentoring Programs
- Provide Nonprofit Leadership Certification Program—A two-level leadership development program that equips pastors and lay leaders with the latest strategies and professional skills to successfully lead and focuses on three major components: Leadership, Nonprofit Management, and Social Dimension of Evangelism
- Adventist Urban Congress (AUC)—AUC provides opportunities to develop innovative leadership skills to effectively lead our churches to serve our communities in an ever-changing society
- International Institute of Christian Ministries (IICM) Community Services & Urban Ministries Certification Program
- Course Description: The IICM Community Services & Urban Ministries Certification Program provides a basic foundation and practical tools for equipping church members to be change agents in their communities. Jesus' method of facilitating physical, mental, and spiritual healing and restoration in the lives of the people around the church is emphasized. The 38-contact hour curriculum contains 19 modules that cover the biblical, philosophical, and logistical aspects of effective wholistic ministry. For more information, and a list and content of the modules, go to www.sabbathschoolpersonalministries.org/acs_iicm.
Resources
- E-reporting: A free Web database that will allow you to record community outreach activities and volunteer information
- Adventist Urban Congress DVD—Transforming the City
- Adventist Preaching DVD Volume #25—Sharing the Good News in the 21st Century
- ACS Ministry Manuals
- ACS International Institute of Christian Ministries Curriculum (IICM)
- Optional, helpful materials to purchase:
Understanding Your Community, by Monte Sahlin ($39.95 from www.adventsource.org)
Churches That Make a Difference:Reaching Your Community With Good News and Good Works, by Ronald J. Sider, Philip N. Olson & Heidi Rolland Unruh (Approximately $15.00 from www.amazon.com) - Engaging and easy to use Ministry Action Kits (such as the “Community Prayer and Blessing” program, and the “My Gift for Jesus” program
- Catalog of materials, videos, activities for churches to communicate ministries of compassion
- Special programs for small groups, women’s groups, youth, classrooms and schools, and business leaders
- Videos for churches and schools
- Annual Community Partnership Programs
Seminars
- ACS Reach Out Leadership Development Seminars: Six ACS ministry tracks (Disaster Response, Crisis Care—Spiritual and Emotional, Community Development/Urban Ministry, Elder Care Ministries, Youth Empowered to Serve (YES!), and Tutoring/Mentoring Programs) offered simultaneously over the weekend
- Nonprofit Leadership Certification Program (NLCP): A two level curriculum
- Adventist Urban Congress (AUC)