ANN, June 21, 2005 - unOFFICIAL ADVENTIST FORUM

Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do.
And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with
– even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department.
Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently. Romans 14.1: The Message

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#43990 - 06/22/05 04:23 AM ANN, June 21, 2005
Stan Jensen Carpe Diem!!! Registered: 09/15/06 Posts: 3480 Loc: 49.05° Lat- 122.3° Long	ANN Bulletin Adventist News Network Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters June 21, 2005 In This Issue: --------------------- * Business Sessions to Take a 'Creative' Approach to Pressing Challenges * South Pacific: Adventist Church Addresses HIV/AIDS Crisis * World Church: Book of Essays, Dinner, Honor Retiring Church Statesman * Netherlands: Church Members Save for Decades to Purchase Church Building * Yemen: ADRA Works to Stamp Out Polio * News Briefs --------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Business Sessions to Take a 'Creative' Approach to Pressing Challenges Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [Bettina Krause/ANN] ------------------------------------------------------- The upcoming world Session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, June 30 to July 9, will focus not just on business items, but will also creatively look at how to answer several pressing issues for the nearly 14 million-strong movement. These issues include: high rates of members leaving church fellowship; the challenge of reaching out to secular societies; the urgent need for dedicated leaders to serve a growing church; and the absence of a strong church presence in large -- and growing -- cities of the world. The business meeting, known as the "General Conference Session," brings together church members from around the world every five years, 2,000 of which vote on important issues facing the church in the coming five years. This is a rare opportunity, says Pastor Jan Paulsen, world church president. "The business agendas of sessions have come to be viewed as somewhat routine and predictable. But this time we are deliberately saying: 'Let's come together as representatives of our international family and creatively reflect on some significant issues--matters of critical importance for the health of our church, and our ability to engage more effectively in mission.'" Two agenda items -- Profiling Adventist Leadership and Challenges to Mission 2005 to 2010 -- will highlight these concerns. A series of five presentations and discussion periods will explore the essential qualities of Adventist leadership. Issues such as integrity, response to diversity, acting with responsibility, and ecclesiastical authority will be discussed against the background of extraordinary church growth, and the increasing need for high-quality, committed leaders. Five one-hour discussion periods will focus on the church and spiritual life, the church and society, the church and apostasy, the church and the cities, and the church and secularism. "Recent studies have identified these as areas of serious concern," says Pastor Michael Ryan, a world church vice president and director of the Office of Strategic Planning. "We have an extraordinary chance at this Session to prayerfully consider these challenges, and to gather input from world church leadership about how we can move forward in the next five years to address these concerns." For each topic there will be a brief presentation, but the largest portion of time will be reserved for comments and discussion by delegates. The discussion will be recorded, distributed, and will become part of the thinking and planning of church leaders as they come together for Annual Council, one of the church's two annual business meetings, later this year, says Ryan. "The time devoted to these presentations and discussions has just one purpose: to prepare and strengthen our church for the mission with which we have been entrusted," says Paulsen. "Until our Lord returns, this will always be our most pressing responsibility." ------------------------------------------------------- South Pacific: Adventist Church Addresses HIV/AIDS Crisis Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia .... [Nathan Brown/Record/ANN] ------------------------------------------------------- "HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea is no longer a problem, but a crisis," said Gad Koito, director of health ministries for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Papua New Guinea (PNG), quoting that nation's minister for health. "And as a church, we have started very late," Koito added. His comments were part of a report from the commission on HIV/AIDS established by the Adventist Church in the South Pacific region, delivered at the church executive committee's recent mid-year meeting. There are 12,000 HIV/AIDS cases reported in Papua New Guinea, but estimates suggest the real figure is between 50,000 and 60,000. As elsewhere in the world, young people are most affected by this emerging epidemic. Jonathan Duffy, director of Health Ministries for the church in the South Pacific region, echoed Koito's concern. "It's a huge issue. According to the World Health Organization, PNG has the fastest growing HIV/AIDS problem outside of Africa. "And it's not something just outside the church," continued Duffy. "Studies conducted in some Pacific communities have found Adventist young people are among the most sexually active in the community. The spread of AIDS is the same inside the church as outside the church." The church in Papua New Guinea has established its own commission on HIV/AIDS. "We have also asked each local [church organization] to establish an HIV/AIDS committee," Koito reported. "We are working to develop a strategic plan for the church to address AIDS in PNG." The commission's report calls for action in each of the local church regions across the South Pacific. "This is a sensitive issue, particularly cross-culturally," Duffy admitted. "But we must address this. We are planning to develop a Pacific summit on AIDS next year. The Adventist Church can take a lead role in this issue, raising awareness and developing strategies." "This is the top priority as a [church] health department," Duffy said. "We aim to mobilize church entities and all church departments to address this issue. At the moment, the focus is on training church leaders to be confident in leading HIV/AIDS prevention programs, in working with people living with HIV/AIDS, and giving hope to those who are suffering from this epidemic." The commission has not limited its focus to PNG, recognizing the threat hangs over many nations of the South Pacific. "In parts of our region, rates of sexual activity are higher than in Africa, [but] the epidemic is just starting to emerge here," said Duffy. He reported that other factors also affect the rate of transmission. The economic downturn in some countries has, for example, led to an increase in the sex trade. "The time for awareness is gone. By the time we reach a 3 percent infection rate, it is out of control -- and [in PNG] we are very close to that now," said Duffy. ------------------------------------------------------- World Church: Book of Essays, Dinner, Honor Retiring Church Statesman Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [ANN Staff] ------------------------------------------------------- Paying tribute to decades of interfaith effort, friends and leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and others gathered at the church's world headquarters June 16 to honor Dr. Bert B. Beach, director of inter-church relations for the movement. "Building Bridges of Faith and Freedom," a festschrift, or celebratory publication, honoring Dr. Beach was released at the dinner. It is believed to be the first such tribute published by a world church department. The book features essays on religious freedom and Dr. Beach's work in that area. Contributors include president of the United Nations' Human Rights Committee, Abdelfattah Amor; Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Vatican Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity; Rosa Maria Martinez de Codes, former vice director for religious affairs in Spain's Justice Ministry, and Lutheran World Federation official Rev. Sven Oppegaard, among others. "I've had a wonderful life," Dr. Beach, who will end his five decades of service to the world church this year, said in response to tributes from Pastor Jan Paulsen, world president of the Adventist Church, Dr. Denton Lotz, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, and others. "Bert B. Beach made a difference in the history of his church," Pastor Paulsen wrote in the book. "He pioneered interchurch relations. He helped his church to look beyond its own borders to the brother, the neighbor, the stranger who was also created by God." Beach, who began his church career as an educator, rose to the position of executive secretary of the Adventist church's Western European and West African regions, before embarking on a more than 20-year career as director of public affairs and religious liberty and, recently, director of inter-church relations. Under his aegis, the Adventist Church has held high-level consultations with the Lutheran World Federation, The Salvation Army and other communities. He was, for 32 years, secretary of the Conference of Secretaries of the Christian World Communions, an interfaith body uniting 2 billion Christians around the globe. "If today most of the Christian leaders recognized us as a Christian Church, it is the result of [Beach's] persistent and outstanding relations with other Christian leaders," added Dr. John Graz, public affairs and religious liberty director for the world church. ------------------------------------------------------- Netherlands: Church Members Save for Decades to Purchase Church Building Zeeland, Netherlands .... [ANN Staff] ------------------------------------------------------- After standing empty for two years a former Roman Catholic church in Zeeland Province, Netherlands will be transformed into a Seventh-day Adventist congregation's home. Before the June 15 purchase, the 100 members of the Adventist church in Zeeland were the only province that did not have their own building. "I consider this a true blessing for the church in this part of the country," says pastor Reinder Bruinsma, president of the Adventist Church in the Netherlands. "It will put the [local] church more clearly 'on the map' and will surely strengthen the sense of mission of the members in this province." Due to heavy membership losses the 70-year old church is just one of the latest Catholic churches to be closed and sold to other Christian denominations. Members of the Adventist church in Zeeland -- which has been around for 100 years -- have saved for decades to purchase their own house of worship, says Bruinsma. They raised about 40 percent of the amount needed for the purchase while the church's headquarters in Netherlands provided the rest. The congregation had been renting a space in a Mennonite Church and a Dutch Reformed Church. The new building was chosen for its solid construction, favorable location, and 250-seat capacity. With the church building comes a house, which will be adapted for children and youth work. While the selling parish took items that were specific to Catholic worship from the building, there will be other modifications such as removing the altar and constructing a new liturgical center and a baptismal font. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Netherlands now has more than 4,500 members. Church officials say that with the church there growing at a rate of two percent each year they will soon look at providing a number of additional church buildings. ------------------------------------------------------- Yemen: ADRA Works to Stamp Out Polio Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [ADRA/ANN Staff] ------------------------------------------------------- Nearly 80,000 children under the age of five in Yemen will never know the ruthlessness of polio thanks to a vaccination campaign led by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in that country. The disease, which mostly affects young children, invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This disease had virtually dropped out of existence since 1989 after an aggressive global effort to eradicate it. But an ongoing outbreak in Yemen since February which affected 179 children had that country's Ministry of Health asking ADRA for help. To stop the outbreak, ADRA led a national polio campaign from May 31 to June 2, and one in al-Jawf which ran until June 16. During the first three days of the campaign, ADRA organized 320 health workers and vaccinated 17,229 children in four districts, reaching more than 95 percent of the children in the target areas. Teams deployed by the Ministry of Public Health will go from house to house to complete the vaccinations. At the inaugural ceremony Mansour Ahmed Saif, governor of al-Jawf, praised ADRA for their efforts and offered his support for the campaign. He warned attendees that disturbing any projects would only delay health services from reaching various areas. "We have had great success in the campaign so far," commented Nagi Khalil, director of ADRA in Yemen. "I appreciate the coordination and the support of the local authorities and the Ministry of Health and the trust they have put in ADRA to conduct this important campaign." The U.S. $70,000 project, is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It is aimed at strengthening basic health services for residents of al-Jawf. ------------------------------------------------------- News Briefs Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [Compiled by ANN Staff] ------------------------------------------------------- Britain: Church President Says Religious Hatred Bill May Affect Religious Freedom A bill to outlaw 'Incitement to Religious Hatred' in Britain may affect freedom of speech among religions, says Cecil Perry, president of the Adventist Church in Britain. The bill was first introduced last summer by Britain's Home Office to prosecute "extremists who stir up hatred against people because of their religious beliefs or lack of religious beliefs." Perry acknowledged that while there is a "growing intolerance created by the terrible events of recent years. ... Laws made by civil governments to regulate religious and ideological behavior can be abused by those with an agenda aimed at restricting freedom of speech." He explained that the bill may censure how churches go about teaching their beliefs. "We should not draw any definitive conclusions on the implication of the bill until the parameters are explained fully in law or a test case brings further clarification," he cautioned. 3ABN Makes a Wish Come True Eight-year-old Sarah knows what she wants. When the little girl who is receiving treatments for a brain tumor, was contacted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, she knew just what to ask for. The foundation, which grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses, normally gets requests to go on an elaborate vacation or meet a famous celebrity. However, Sarah, a devout Seventh-day Adventist, wished to be on the Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN) children's program "Kids Time" and perform with the "Kids Time Singers." Three Angels Broadcasting Network, an independent Adventist broadcaster, helped to make Sarah's wish come true. Sarah recently taped the program which will be aired on 3ABN July 16th and on www.3abn.org. ------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 2005 by Adventist News Network. 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA 20904-6600 phone: (301) 680-6306. e-mail address: adventistnews@gc.adventist.org. ANN World News Bulletin is a review of news and information issued by the Communication department from the Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters and released as part of the service of Adventist News Network. It is made available primarily to religious news editors. Our news includes dispatches from the church's international offices and the world headquarters. Adventist News Network is a registered trademark of the General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. Reproduction Requirements: Reproduction of information in this article is encouraged. When reproducing this material, in full or in part, the words "Source: Adventist News Network" must appear under the headline or immediately following the article. The words "Source: Adventist News Network" must be given equal prominence to any other source that is also acknowledged. ANN Staff: Ray Dabrowski, director; Mark A. Kellner, assistant director for news; Wendi Rogers, editorial coordinator; Taashi Rowe, editorial assistant; Lynn Friday, administrative assistant.
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