ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
January 18, 2005

In This Issue:
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* Tsunami Update: ADRA Expands Relief Work
* Netherlands: Groningen Outreach Brings In Unchurched
* HIV/AIDS Pandemic Spreads, Church in Africa Aims to Help
* Britain: Adventists Join in Protest of 'Blasphemous' TV Show
* News Briefs
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Tsunami Update: ADRA Expands Relief Work
St. Albans, England, United Kingdom .... [ANR/ANN Staff]
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Three weeks after the Asia tsunami disaster, the death toll is now
estimated at more than 159,000, a figure that is expected to rise to
over 189,000, with some 24,000 still missing. Some 2.2 million people
have been displaced while over 1 million others are believed to be
homeless. These figures are also expected to increase.

Relief efforts remain critical. Some populations in remote areas in
Banda Aceh Province in Indonesia are difficult to reach and treating
injuries from the tsunami and earthquake is still a concern. In India,
the Maldives and Sri Lanka, reconstruction efforts have started
alongside relief efforts. No disease outbreaks have yet been reported.


Isolated cases of measles in Aceh prompted an immunization campaign and
access to safe water and sanitation are critical concerns. An effort is
underway to support countries in rebuilding public health
infrastructure, while guiding and coordinating public health efforts
among national authorities, other U.N. organizations, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), and the civil and military sector.

In Indonesia, a command center has been established in Medan. In
neighboring Sumatra province, where the Seventh-day Adventist Church
has a hospital, where ADRA activities are being coordinated for that
region. ADRA medical teams have been very active for the last two
weeks. Two clinics have been established in the Northern coastal region
of Aceh Province. A 16-member medical team opened a clinic at the
Sibreh Public Health Centre in Sibreh (9 miles or 15 kilometers outside
of Banda Aceh); a second clinic has just been opened in Lhokseumawe
(250 miles or 400 km from Medan) where there are 8,000 internally
displaced persons (IDPs). ADRA-Spain is sending a container of supplies
into Banda Aceh in conjunction with Medan Adventist Hospital.

In Meulaboh, ADRA continues to maintain a presence and is coordinating
relief efforts with other agencies. They have been able to facilitate
the distribution of food and provide shelter. Equipment has arrived
that will treat acute respiratory infections and damaged lungs, and
ADRA has distributed anti-typhoid and anti-malaria injections and
tetanus treatments for about 600 people.

ADRA Indonesia met with the Meulaboh Education Department and is
working on a "Memorandum of Understanding" regarding repair and
reopening schools, as well as hiring two teachers to help facilitate
the process. UNICEF has asked ADRA to be the lead agency in the repair
and refurbishing of schools -- junior high and senior high -- and to
help coordinate the donated supplies, logistics and liaisons with
education officials and NGO's in Meulaboh.

In Sri Lanka, two field offices have been set up -- one in Tangalle and
another in Balapitiya. A medical team, consisting of two doctors, a
nurse, and a social worker from ADRA Hungary, is in the Eastern region
of Kalmunai and will be there for the next 10 days. A fogger project
started there has disinfected three temples and a school. With more
fogging and protective equipment that has just arrived, ADRA will start
training the Sri Lankan military to continue with this important health
work.
ADRA is partnering with the humanitarian organization Heart to Heart
International, which is providing water purification units that are due
to arrive this week. Medical aid distribution is ongoing and
helicopters are being used to airlift in supplies. ADRA will distribute
food and non-food items (NFIs) to IDPs in 17 camps.

In India, ADRA has begun a response in the Andaman Islands to set up
shelters for 200 families and health education for children and IDPs in
the Pondicherry and Karaikel region. A project to deliver NFIs and
health education to IDP camps on the Andaman Islands will begin next
week. In Andrah Pradesh ADRA will assess the needs of fishing villages
and see what types of nets and boats are needed. A medical team of two
doctors, three nurses, and two psychologists will provide services to
at least 60,000 people. ADRA is also planning to address immediate
medical requirements including vaccinations and the chlorination of
wells.

In Thailand, ADRA is working in partnership with the Phuket Mission
Hospital in the development of additional interventions for the
long-term support of tsunami victims. These interventions will focus
predominantly on the physical and psychological needs of those
affected.

Residents on the islands of Phrathong and Surin were evacuated to the
mainland and are being housed in tents while a water system is
installed. Assistance is being planned to reinstall all water systems,
pump out the wells and help kick-start their livelihood of fishing.
ADRA will also assist with the reconstruction of the Kamala District
School on a different site.


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Netherlands: Groningen Outreach Brings In Unchurched
Groningen, Netherlands .... [Mark A. Kellner/ANN]
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A different style of public outreach has brought in dozens of visitors,
including many who do not regularly attend any church, to special
Seventh-day Adventist services in Holland's largest Northern city.

The approach so far has been to avoid mass media advertising -- some
young people from the church gave out small pastries and an invitation
in the center of town -- and, instead, to concentrate on having members
invite friends, neighbors, colleagues and family members.


Rob de Raad, pastors the Groningen Adventist congregation and is the
district coordinator. He says the meetings, begun in November 2004, are
the culmination of a two-year effort to help his congregation of
slightly less than 200 implement an evangelistic outreach.


"What I've noticed in this country is that our approach to evangelism
has been to convince people of the truth of Adventism, and convince
them on the basis of the Bible that Adventism is a more true
understanding of Christianity," de Raad said in a telephone interview.
"The fact is only a minority of people in Holland go to church and are
affected by that approach."

Formerly the executive secretary of the Adventist Church in the
Netherlands, de Raad, son of a church evangelist, has always had an
interest in outreach. He has been in Groningen for two years, during
which he worked with the congregation to establish small group Bible
studies and prepare members for outreach. Such preparation was
necessary, he believes, because a now-secular Holland -- where only 10
percent of the nation's 16 million citizens attend any church -- also
view religion as a taboo subject.

"There is a feeling that anything that has to do with religion is
private," de Raad said. People find it very difficult to talk about
religion with their friends and neighbors. ... What I've been trying to
show them is that if we don't approach people around us, then who will?
They are important in the eyes of God, and we are important in reaching
them."

He added, "Most of us who are in the church are here because a family
member or friend brought them into contact with the church for the
first time."

The services, held at 4 p.m. on a Sabbath, or Saturday, afternoon, are
a bit less formal than traditional worship assemblies, to be more
inviting for newcomers.

"We have music, video, PowerPoint presentations, a talk that's relevant
-- that's the way that we try to approach it," de Raad said. "If people
show interest, we can bring them into small groups and into several
courses that help them develop faith and get to know the Christian
faith better."

De Raad said the meetings "seem to be successful" thus far, and church
members are confident in inviting others to the services. Some of his
congregants had not seen non-members come into the church for years.

According to Pastor Reinder Bruinsma, president of the Adventist Church
in the Netherlands, de Raad's moves are timely.

"The [church] administration strongly supports this initiative as well
as other innovative approaches to witness. We know that traditional
evangelism will no longer work among the Dutch indigenous people,"
Bruinsma told ANN. "We are happy to see the mood of discouragement,
which has seriously hampered outreach for quite some time, gradually
being replaced by a new sense that it is still possible to reach people
with the gospel."

Nearly 4,500 Seventh-day Adventist church members worship weekly in 50
congregations in the Netherlands.


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HIV/AIDS Pandemic Spreads, Church in Africa Aims to Help
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [Wendi Rogers/ANN]
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The numbers are going up every minute -- literally -- for the roster of
people contracting HIV/AIDS. Globally, 11 people contract HIV every
minute and, every minute, six die from AIDS.

Nearly 40 million worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS, according to the
Adventist Development and Relief Agency's (ADRA) 2004 DVD "The Face of
AIDS," and health experts believe it is likely to surpass the bubonic
plague, the deadliest-ever pandemic, within the next 10 years.

ADRA's statistics also estimate that by 2010, 25 percent of the world's
adult population will have contracted HIV. If that trend continues,
half of the world will be infected by 2025. Currently, 70 percent of
all HIV cases are in Sub-Saharan Africa, but the disease is spreading
all over the globe, including developed countries. Some 143 million
children under the age of 17 in developing countries have been orphaned
because of AIDS.

Few can escape this pandemic. The disease acutely affects Seventh-day
Adventists in Africa. With some 16,000 churches and 4.5 million church
members across the continent, pastors there are facing a tough
situation.

"We baptize members and bury them two years later," says Geoffrey
Mbwana, president of the church in the East-Central Africa region. "If
this doesn't change, the church will stay young."

Because of the disease's widespread nature, Adventists are addressing a
problem that, in the past, has been ignored because of the stigmatizing
nature of HIV/AIDS.

"In most of our churches there is still silence and denial about
HIV/AIDS promoted by fear and ignorance," says Dr. Oscar Giordano,
executive director of the Adventist HIV/AIDS International Ministry
office (AAIM) in Johannesburg, South Africa. Fearing stigmatization and
discrimination, "our members do not dare to publicly disclose their
status. The majority of our church members living with HIV and AIDS
suffer and die secretly."

AAIM, a joint project of the church's world headquarters, the church in
Africa, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), and Loma
Linda University and Medical Center, officially opened one year ago.
Dr. Giordano and his wife, Eugenia Giordano, a medical doctor who also
holds a master's of public health degree, and is the associate director
of AAIM, have spent the past 12 months assessing the situation both
within and outside the church, establishing pilot programs, collecting
data, training church leadership, and organizing an action plan.

Getting each church member involved is a goal, Giordano says, and each
Adventist church becomes a support center for the community through
support groups organized by members willing to help in the HIV/AIDS
crisis.

"My dream for the church is that in places such as Africa, every church
should have a ... community support group for persons living with
HIV/AIDS or affected by HIV/AIDS," says Dr. Allan Handysides, health
ministries director for the world church.

"Many of our members want to do something to help but they just do not
know how," Giordano explains. "We have great hope that through the
comprehensive and integrated action plan our church members will be
empowered to go into action within and outside the church and to
reflect Jesus' love."

The five-phase action plan is a result of the experiences of several
pilot programs in countries all over Africa, Giordano says. The five
phases of the action plan include: 1) Church leadership sensitization
at all church levels; 2) training of pastors and elders, with a strong
emphasis on HIV/AIDS counseling and community action; 3) to go public
on HIV/AIDS issues, speaking openly at churches, breaking the denial
and silence, and to include HIV/AIDS segments in all church activities;
4) appointment and training of support group leaders; and 5)church
mobilization to assist and care for the infected and affected. The
action plan also includes programs and activities for educational and
medical institutions.

This action plan is based on Jesus' method of approaching and
interacting with people in need, Giordano explains.

To commemorate World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, 2004, AAIM went to Swaziland,
Giordano says. With 38.6 percent of the population infected with HIV or
AIDS, Swaziland ranks number one in the world for the disease. "On that
day AAIM's action plan reached the fifth phase in Swaziland with the
training of 45 support group leaders," he says.

During 2004, church leadership in Africa went through HIV/AIDS
sensitivity training, Giordano says. "A field-by-field,
church-by-church, and member-by-member approach is necessary to really
make a difference in fighting HIV/AIDS in our communities within and
outside the church. Good relationships and connectedness with our
children and youth -- at home, church and schools -- are very important
in the prevention of risky behaviors that lead to HIV infection."

"Knowledge does not necessarily promote behavior change. Knowledge is
only the first step," says Debbie Herold, technical advisor for
reproductive health for ADRA International. "Positive, mentoring
relationships, and taking time leads to a willingness to listen and
work toward behavior change."

ADRA has been involved in many countries on a variety of intervention
areas regarding HIV/AIDS, Herold says. "We are still fighting the
battle of education and increasing knowledge on how AIDS truly is and
is not spread, as well as working with communities to identify the best
and most effective ways to address behavior change."

She adds, "Consider the following: HIV/AIDS leads to poverty; poverty
leads to hunger and illness; hunger and illness lead to attempts to
acquire food and/or money; attempts to acquire food and/or money can
lead to unhealthy behaviors; unhealthy behaviors can lead to HIV/AIDS.
On that continuum, you could start at any point and end up with
HIV/AIDS. ... ADRA focuses on the person as a whole. It also focuses on
whole communities. We meet and work with people where they are."

Promoting close relationships with young people in churches is another
way of attacking the disease, the Giordanos add. There's a need to call
them by name and show interest.

"In order to keep the youth in the church, we need to change our
attitude. They need non-judgmental [attitudes]. They are afraid the
moment they disclose, people will point fingers," he says.

The Adventist Church has been active in fighting HIV/AIDS since the
pandemic was publicly recognized. "However, all these activities [that
the church has done] represent fragmented efforts which do not follow a
master plan on HIV/AIDS for the whole church in the continent,"
Giordano says. "As a consequence of this, we find today many [local
church regions] in Africa which are desperately [calling] for help in
respect to this pandemic."

Still, Mbwana adds, "A number of people we baptized are already
infected. They see hope in our message. We have to have no stigmatizing
of people with AIDS; let them know that Jesus embraces them with His
love."

"Jesus' method is the key element of AAIM's action plan," Giordano
adds. "We firmly believe that this is the best approach to HIV and
AIDS. Let's remember that 'love never fails.'"


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Britain: Adventists Join in Protest of 'Blasphemous' TV Show
Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom .... [ANN Staff]
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Britain's 24,000 Seventh-day Adventists were among many in this nation
of 60 million who saw little humor in a recent television portrayal of
a controversy between Christ and Satan.

Instead, they saw blasphemy.

A British Broadcasting Corporation telecast of "Jerry Springer -- The
Opera," taken from a hit musical stage play in London's West End,
reportedly featured an obscenity-laden "shouting match" between a
diaper-wearing actor portraying Jesus Christ and another portraying
Satan. Such imagery, and language, didn't sit well with many of
Britain's Christians, including Adventists.

"Many of our members are disappointed that the BBC seems to be lowering
its standards with respect to foul language and, arguably, blasphemy,"
Pastor Cecil Perry, president of the Adventist Church in Britain, wrote
in a letter to the BBC. "Some of our leaders and ministers would have
liked us to write to all of our members to ask them to complain
individually to the BBC. However, we have resisted this approach as we
do not want to give the program more publicity than it deserves."

"The program was blasphemous and deeply offending to Christians at
large," John Surridge, communication director for the Seventh-day
Adventist Church in Britain, wrote in a complaint letter. He added
that if the Islamic prophet Mohammed had been mocked in a similar way
Muslims would have been deeply offended.

Along with protests from Adventist church leaders and members, 50,000
evangelical Christians demonstrated outside BBC offices across Britain,
according to Christian Today, a local news service.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has long promoted religious tolerance
and understanding among peoples. It founded the International Religious
Liberty Association, IRLA, which, for more than 100 years, has worked
around the world to promote freedom of belief and respect among
peoples.


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News Briefs
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [ANN Staff]
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Romania Recognizes Religious Freedom Leader

Romania's national leaders recognized Dr. John Graz, director of Public
Affairs and Religious Liberty for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, for
his contribution to "the consolidation of peace and social harmony" in
that country. Graz has also been recognized for contributing to "the
promotion of human rights and the fundamental freedoms," said President
Ion Iliescu of Romania.

Iliescu and Prime Minister Adrian Nastase signed the National Medal
"For Merit" with the rank of Commander award. This award "represents
the recognition of the International Religious Liberty Association
(IRLA) and of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, for the contributions
to the development of peace and social harmony, especially religious
rights and freedoms," said Viorel Dima, general secretary of the
Conscience and Liberty Association.

In 1893, the Adventist Church established the IRLA, a non-sectarian
organization, to promote and defend religious freedom for all people.

Canada: Adventists Call for Prayer on Marriage Issue

Oshawa, Ontario, Canada...[Barry Bussey/ANN Staff]..."Our community
needs to seek God's guidance on the issue of marriage," says Pastor Dan
Jackson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada.
Jackson is calling on all Seventh-day Adventist churches across Canada
to have a special day of prayer on Sabbath, Jan. 29. "Canada is about
to make a monumental decision on our cultural framework by redefining
marriage to include any two persons," he said. This is a social
experiment with unforeseen consequences that will affect our children
and our collective future."

Jackson noted that the church is sympathetic to the basic human rights
of all. However he expressed concern about the recent court decisions
to modify the designation of marriage to include same-sex
relationships. The upcoming Parliamentary vote will legislate a new
sexual ethic and alter the national moral code. "There is also concern
over the recent decisions in British Columbia and Manitoba that has
told its civil marriage commissioners that they must solemnize same-sex
marriages or lose their licenses to marry even if it violates their
consciences," said Jackson.

"I believe that with the redefinition of marriage, the church will come
under increasing pressure to either cooperate with the law of the land
or to maintain its belief in and loyalty to the directions of God as
found in the Holy Scriptures. It is the role of the church to remind
our country that our nation was built on the faith and discipline of
our forefathers."

More than 52,000 church members worship in 329 Seventh-day Adventist
congregations in Canada, which has a population of 31 million.

Philippines: Graduate School Gets High Marks

Cavite, Philippines [ANN Staff] ... The Adventist International
Institute of Advanced Studies, AIIAS, has been given a "superior"
ranking for its business education programs and a "very good" grade for
teacher education by the Philippines Commission on Higher Education,
according to Dr. Graeme H. Perry, dean of the AIIAS School of Graduate
Studies. According to the commission's regional director, Dr. Isabel F.
Inlayo, "very few institutions" in the area received the superior
ranking.

AIIAS, which will celebrate its 48th anniversary this year, descends
from several graduate programs, primarily in the area of religion, that
were first offered on the campus of Philippine Union College, now the
Adventist University of the Philippines. These programs were organized
into a Theological Seminary and led to the expansion of graduate
programs into other areas, such as public health. In 1987, the programs
were combined under the AIIAS name, with the school becoming a unit of
the Seventh-day Adventist Church's world headquarters.
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ANN World News Bulletin is a review of news and information issued by
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ANN Staff: Ray Dabrowski, director; Mark A. Kellner, assistant director
for news; Wendi Rogers, editorial coordinator; Taashi Rowe, editorial
assistant; Lynn Friday, administrative assistant.

French translation by Claude Fivel, Portuguese translation by Azenilto
Brito, Spanish translation by Marcos Paseggi, Italian translation by
Vincenzo Annunziata and Lina Ferrara