ANR Bulletin No. 7 ? 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

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#45400 - 07/06/05 02:19 AM ANR Bulletin No. 7 ? GC Session 2005, St. Louis, USA
Stan Jensen Carpe Diem!!! Registered: 09/15/06 Posts: 3945 Loc: 49.05° Lat- 122.3° Long	ANR Bulletin No. 7 ? GC Session 2005, St. Louis, USA Adventist News Review Trans-European Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church Tuesday, 5 July 2005 INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF MISSION SOUTH PACIFIC DIVISION A Maori man in full traditional garb blew a conch shell in welcome to the delegates at the 58th business session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church at the beginning of the report from the church in the South Pacific. This is a region with its own particular uniqueness. Stretching from islands north of the equator down to the South Pole and from Christmas Island to French Polynesia and Pitcairn, and with a population of 31.5 million people, the region has more water than land, and more fish than people. But the people are interested in fishing, following Jesus' command to be fishers of men. In the "Year of Evangelism," 2004 was the year the South Pacific saw 14,000 people join the church bringing their membership to 378,291. [Victor Hulbert/ANN/ANR] EAST-CENTRAL AFRICA DIVISION The "East-Central Africa Division" is the newest of the Seventh-day Adventist church's thirteen world administrative regions. It has been operating autonomously since January 1, 2003, when it was formed out of the Eastern African and African-Indian Ocean regions. It was officially recognized June 30 by a vote of delegates at the start of the Adventist church's quinquennial business meetings in St Louis. The East-Central Africa region of the Adventist church comprises the countries of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda with a population of over 200 million. Within these countries the Adventist church is growing at a spectacular rate. Currently there are over two million baptised members in the region, with a further six million considering themselves Adventist, according to government census statistics. There have been 380,000 baptisms since January 2003. After an initial welcome from Geoffrey Mbwana, the church's leader in the area, the main report took the form of an expertly produced video. Some might have expected a boisterous and colourful production to come from this part of Africa but this was not the case. Instead a collection of personal and, at times, moving stories painted a balanced picture of a region of the world where, alongside prosperity, HIV is prevalent, displaced persons live in refugee camps, and the wounds of past wars are slow to heal. Satellite television has been a particularly effective tool for evangelism in the region. In 2004 television evangelist Mark Finley broadcast a series of programs from Rwanda. On the tenth anniversary of the genocide in that country he attracted a crowd of 35,000 at the opening evening in the city stadium. By the end of the campaign more than 11,000 people were baptized. [John Surridge/ANN/ANR] PRESENTATION ON LEADERSHIP In the third presentation on leadership, Ángel Manuel Rodríguez considered leaders and Church authority. He noted five challenges for church leaders in the exercise of authority, 1) ?the natural human tendency to corruption?, 2) balancing the needs of the local church with the global church, 3) the need for leaders to work according to consensus in the areas of message, mission and unity, 4) the challenge of local members attempting to usurp the authority of church leadership, 5) and the need to recognise the inclusive nature of global church recognising the need for leaders ?to listen attentively and sincerely? to diverse groups. Again, many delegates called for this document to be made widely available as there was a recognition that acceptance of church authority, and even abuse of church authority, is an issue that needs to be addressed. PRESENTATION ON CHALLENGES TO MISSION Looking at the third instalment in a series of presentations on Challenges to Mission 2005-2010, Mark Finley highlighted the issue of high apostasy rates within the church. In his opening remarks, Finley noted that before Jesus went to Heaven, his command was not to go and baptise, but to go and make disciples. During the last five years, the Church lost 1,397,608 people to apostasy, which is approximately one third of the total number of people that were baptised in the same period. Finley highlighted six reasons for apostasy, 1) conflict with the pastor or church member, 2) discouragement over personal problems, 3) lack of friends, 4) weak biblical faith, 5) the perception that the church is irrelevant to real needs, 6) lack of church buildings. Finley noted to the delegates that "When the church fails to nurture new converts, it fails in fulfilling the Great Commission." From 2005-2010, the Church is promoting a concept called ?Tell The World?. There are three broad strategies, 1) Win One -- where each member is encouraged to win one person to Christ; 2) Every Day With Jesus -- emphasising growth in daily personal devotions, and 3) Global Mission -- continuing the focus on un-entered areas including the 10/40 window and large cities. As part of these strategies, a programme to make ten of the most popular Ellen White writings available to all church members extremely cheaply was officially announced. Discussion on the introduction of a twenty-eighth fundamental belief continued for another day. It was voted back to the originating committee for further consideration on the terminology that was used that could offend certain religious groups in various parts of the world. The belief statement is expected to return for voting tomorrow morning (Wednesday). ELECTIONS General Field Secretaries: Gary D Krause, re-elected. Angel M Rodriguez, re-elected. Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries: Martin W Feldbush, re-elected.. Children?s Ministries: Linda Mei Lin Koh, re-elected.. Communication: Rajmund Dabrowski, re-elected.. Education: C Garland Dulan, re-elected.. Family Ministries: Ronald M Flowers, re-elected.. Family Ministries Associate: Karen M Flowere, re-elected.. Health Ministries: Allan R Handysides, re-elected.. Ministerial Association Secretary: James A Cress, re-elected.. Public Affairs & Religious Liberty: John Graz, re-elected.. Publishing: Howard F Faigao, elected.. Trust Services: Jeffrey K Wilson, re-elected.. Women?s Ministries: Heather-Dawn Small, re-elected.. Youth: Baraka G Muganda, re-elected.. BIBLE SCHOOL ENROLMENT SOARS IN SOUTH SUDAN When I visited the AWR booth in the exhibition hall I noticed a full size old Landrover and a hut and I asked Benjamin Schoun, AWR director why they were on the stand. He told me the following story that relates to the Trans-European region, ?This is one of our most recent exciting experiences? he said. ?On 1 May 2004 we began broadcasting in 4 languages in South Sudan and the surrounding area. When we planned to begin we had no studio in Sudan or in Arua, Uganda where the church has some facilities. So, showing ingenuity and a desire to get started as quickly as possible a Landrover was found that could be parked under a shade tree. By rolling up the windows we discovered it was a nice quiet place to do recording using a laptop computer and microphone. When the battery went low, the engine would be started to charge it up again and that worked quite well. Local music was needed, but we discovered that recording the young people groups out in the open does not work too well so we found a hut with a thatched roof and discovered that inside, with the thatch, the acoustics were very good for recording.? Schoun continues, ?In this last year we have received over 2,500 Bible School enrolment requests. That is amazing when you consider the target is South Sudan; a country that has been ravaged by civil war with many displaced people living in refugee camps. A postal system does not exist so in order to send an application they must give it to someone who is travelling in the direction they want it to go and just hope that it gets there! Others walk in to the studio to make a personal request. We are so thrilled for the immediate response from these people whose tragic circumstances and suffering leads them to feel their need for something better; a hope for their future.? Schoun concludes, ?This ministry in South Sudan has a great start and we are praising God for what has happened.? [Miroslav Pujic/ANR] GC SESSION PHOTO GALLERY If you wish to see photo?s of the session please visit the following site: http://news.adventist.org/specials/2005/gcsession/photogalleries.html [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.
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