ANR Bulletin No. 5 ? GC Session 2005, St. Louis, USA

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

You are not logged in. [Log In] unOFFICIAL WORLDWIDE ADVENTIST FORUM » Forums » Adventist News » TED & BUC News » ANR Bulletin No. 5 ? GC Session 2005, St. Louis, USA

Topic Options

Rate This Topic

#45274 - 07/04/05 03:48 AM ANR Bulletin No. 5 ? GC Session 2005, St. Louis, USA
Stan Jensen Carpe Diem!!! Registered: 09/15/06 Posts: 3938 Loc: 49.05° Lat- 122.3° Long	ANR Bulletin No. 5 ? GC Session 2005, St. Louis, USA Adventist News Review Trans-European Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Sunday, 3 July 2005 SABBATH EVENING CONCERT & DEVOTIONAL Following another excellent musical programme which included among other items a mime group and hand bell ringers, the Sabbath evening devotional was presented by Pricille Akissi Metonou whose thoughts centred around every member being ?Transformed for Witnessing?. Metonou indicated that a witness for Christ gives testimony of a relationship; a witness is one who has heard of and seen Jesus in action; a witness is one whose life has been changed by Jesus. Our greatest witness is our behaviour. Our lives may be the only book the world reads! INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF MISSION ? TRANS-EUROPEAN DIVISION The first in a series of presentations by each of the 13 divisions of the world church entitled ?International Festival of Mission? was presented by the Trans-European Division (TED) on Sabbath evening. The Trans-European region made up of 36 countries from the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia is diverse in people and beliefs and covers an area from Svalbard in the north to South Sudan and Greenland in the west to Pakistan in the East. The TED?s theme for the past five years has been ?Growing Together? as one in Christ. In an area with a population of 588 million people this presents many challenges when 62% of that population is Muslim and in Europe 79% is secular, considering religion to be outdated. Despite the difficulties the 100,000 Seventh-day Adventists in the Trans-European region are rising to the challenge of keeping the flame of living Christianity burning. According to the region's leader, Bertil Wiklander, they have actually managed to achieve 12 percent growth over the last five years. This growth has taken place, at least to some extent, through methods that might be considered radical in other parts of the world. One of these methods called "LIFEdevelopment" is more of a process than a programme says Cecil Perry, leader of the church in Britain. The unchurched postmodern people of Europe do not respond well to a direct presentation of the gospel and LIFEdevelopment provides them with a gentle, non-threatening introduction to Christianity. It encourages existing members to bridge genuine friendships with secular people, allowing them to belong to church communities before they have become believers. Asked about the reaction to this new form of evangelism Perry responded, "We are re-orientating the minds of our members. They are now thinking outside of their own flock." Adapting the biblical parable he continued, "Our members are becoming aware that we have one in the flock for every 99 that is outside in the secular community, and we must go out and reach them." Perhaps surprisingly the same methods being used by Adventists to reach secular people in the Trans-European region are also being used to reach Muslims and Jews. The challenge here is to share the message of Christianity in a way that does not cause offence as, particularly in the case of Muslims, a change of faith may involve individuals risking their lives. Ways must be found of communicating Christ to these people while continuing to respect their culture and traditions. Concluding the report Wiklander acknowledged the challenges faced by the church members in the Trans-European region and urged the audience to continue to pray for them. [John Surridge/ANN/ANR Staff/ANR] INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF MISSION ? NORTH AMERICAN DIVISION The North American Division has grown over the last five years by 153,000 new converts. This brought their total membership to over 1 million by the end of 2004. Pastor Don Schneider, president, attributed much of this increase to the foundation that was laid by the pioneers of the Adventist Church together with the major role of Adventist Media Ministries including: ?It is Written?, ?Amazing Facts?, ?Voice of Prophecy?, ?Breath of Life?, ?Faith for Today? to name but few. The report presented by Schneider combined video and musical messages by the Heritage Singers. Schneider said, "The pioneers gave everything to spread the Adventist message," Now, "I want to give everything I have to the Lord Jesus Christ. In our reports you have seen about people coming to Jesus, we want to give everything we have to bring more people to Jesus." GENERAL VICE PRESIDENTS VOTED For the first time ever, a woman was elected as a general vice president of the General Conference, without being questioned from the floor. Dr Ella Simmons is currently provost/vice president for academic administration at La Sierra University. In her first comment, she noted "this is truly an historic moment for our Church". One newly elected vice-president is, Pardon Mwansa, currently president of the Southern Africa-India Ocean Division. Mark Finley was voted into a new position of vice-president for global evangelism. Re-elected general vice presidents included Lowell Cooper, King-yi Eugene Hsu, Gerry Karst, Armando Miranda, Mike Ryan, and Ted Wilson. TED PRESIDENT RE-ELECTED Dr Bertil Wiklander was today, 3 July, re-elected as president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division (TED). After his re-election Wiklander said especially for ANR, ?My vision for TED is to experience further steady growth; to reach people for Christ. Also that we as Adventists experience the excellent quality of life discovered through a relationship with Jesus Christ.? Commenting on Wiklander?s re-election, Reinder Bruinsma, president of the Netherlands said, ?He has served with distinction. I am very pleased to see him back in the office to lead the church for the next 5 years.? Nevenka Cop, delegate from Croatia stated, ?He is a man with experience and new ideas which are relevant for today.? Alex Elmadjian, delegate from Cyprus said, ?I am very happy to see continuity.? Brian Davidson, delegate from England affirmed, ?He is a man who has a vision and an open office to listen to the voice of the people within the Division.? Egerton Francis, president, North England Conference stated, ?He is a very approachable Christian leader who understands the issues and complexities of the Division.? WORLD DIVISION PRESIDENTS VOTED East-Central Africa (ECD) ? Geoffrey G. Mbwana Euro-Africa (EUD) ? Ulrich W. Frikart Euro-Asia (ESD) ? Artur A. Stele Inter-American (IAD) ? Israel Leito North American (NAD) ? Don C. Schneider Northern Asia-Pacific (NSD) ? Jairyong Lee South American (SAD) ? Ruy H. Nagel South Pacific (SPD) ? Laurie J. Evans Southern Africa-Indian Ocean (SID) ? Paul Ratsara Southern Asia (SUD) ? D. Ronald Watts Southern Asia-Pacific (SSD) ? Alberto C. Gulfan Trans-European (TED) ? Bertil A. Wiklander West-Central Africa (WAD) ? Luka T. Daniel PROFILING LEADERSHIP: CHARACTER AND PERSONALITY OF ADVENTIST LEADERSHIP In the first of a series of five papers and discussion sessions profiling Adventist Leadership, Jan Paulsen made an excellent presentation on leadership issues. Covering a range of issues, he commented that as perhaps only 12% of Adventists in 2020 will have been members in 2000, we urgently need to ?consider how we pass on identity and values from one generation of believers to the next.? Paulsen also noted, ?What is critical, however, is to have a clear identification of what constitutes the core personality, the spiritual 'DNA', of Seventh-day Adventism?, and stressed the important qualities of Adventist leadership, of ?humility, integrity, and vision?. In conclusion he emphasised the importance of mission. ?Mission is the environment in which the church comes alive. Leaders who cannot, or will not, see this should not carry a leadership assignment. Let me be clear: Mission is THE primary reason for our being a church.? In the discussion that followed, the position of youth in leadership was again raised from the floor, with Paulsen again responding with a plea for youth to be given a chance by the Church. However, Janos Kovacs-biro (TED) noted that perhaps ?that should be modelled by the General Conference.? The possibility of the role of woman in leadership positions was also noted in the last point of discussion. In view of the later decision to vote a woman as vice-president, this issue has very soon been addressed in part. [ANR Team/ANR] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANR Team: Miroslav Pujic, news director/writer, Beverly Coysten, editor/writer, Gavin Anthony, news writer. ANR, 119 St Peter's Street, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3EY, England E-mail: anr@ted-adventist.org Website: www.ted-adventist.org ANR (Adventist News Review) is a news and information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division. You are free to re-print any portion of the bulletin without need for special permission. However, we kindly request that you identify ANR whenever you publish these materials.
Top