ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
September 20, 2005

In This Issue:
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* Christians Call for Partnership Against Poverty
* Romania: State, Church Leaders Meet on Religious Liberty
* World Issues: Giving Peace a Chance in a World of Strife
* World Issues: Global Poverty, A View From the Trenches
* North America: Technology Use Tracks Adventist Innovations, Report
Finds
* Middle East: Church Regional Office to Return to Lebanon Next Year
* Also In The News
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Christians Call for Partnership Against Poverty
Washington, D.C., United States .... [ANN Staff]
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Churches and governments must pursue partnerships to eradicate extreme
poverty if the Millennium Declaration of 2000 is to meet its 2015
deadline, faith leaders who met at a two-day summit at the Washington
National Cathedral, said in a communiqué.

Religious leaders from a wide range of denominations crafted and signed
the communiqué outlining steps for governments and churches to take in
building a global movement to help the poor.

On Sept. 13, the document was presented to United Nations officials in
New York on the eve of the world body's 60th anniversary by a
delegation representing the creators of the communiqué.

"This is an urgent call and one that responds to the cry of the least
among us -- the voiceless," said Pastor Rajmund Dabrowski,
communication director of the Seventh-day Adventist world church, and a
participant in the consultation. "It's a cry for justice to be done,
and for equitable redistribution and accountability for the wealth the
world has. As Christians, we know this cry, but we also know that much
more must be done and that intentions must turn into actions.

"Managing the world in which we live, a world of so many needs, is what
Christians can contribute through their faith and actions," he said.

"In the context of the abysmal presence of poverty as a Christian I am
compelled to consider generosity, solidarity and human justice and
place it at the forefront of my Christian witness and presence,
wherever I live. The Christian's response to a world of needs is driven
by the gospel commission. Our response to God's call is a response to
partner with Him," Dabrowski added.

The call for action against poverty came from a "Consultation of
Religious Leaders on Global Poverty." The two-day session, Sept. 11 to
12, was sponsored by the Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation,
a new initiative of the Cathedral College of Washington National
Cathedral, which is part of the Episcopal Church U.S.A. Among the 36
participants of the consultation was the former Archbishop of
Canterbury, George Leonard Carey, as well as other leaders of world
Christian communions.

The consultation, which came about as an initiative of South Africa's
Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongonkulu W.H. Ndungane, opened with a
series of worship services and lectures in the Cathedral nave,
including an address by Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth
Institute at Columbia University and special advisor to U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and a reflection by the former U.S.
Secretary of State, Madeleine K. Albright. The participants also met
with Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank.

"At the urgent call of church leaders in the Southern hemisphere, we
came together at Washington National Cathedral as Christian leaders
from diverse traditions and places, both rich and poor, South and
North, united in a common concern for those of us living in poverty. We
see their faces; we hear their voices; they are a part of us, and we
are a part of them," the communiqué states.

"We believe that our communities of faith, representing millions of
people and sponsoring numerous human-development initiatives, can
provide new models for advancing a global movement against poverty,"
the communiqué adds. "The churches have a vast network of institutions,
trusted relationships with millions of people, and access to countless
local communities, all rich resources for development."

The communiqué calls for global governments to make several steps aimed
at implementing the "Millennium Development Goals" promulgated by the
United Nations. Governments, the document said, should work at creating
just societies; build partnerships with "churches and religious
organizations so that the poor become protagonists in their own
destinies" "cancel the remaining debt of all nations struggling with
extreme poverty" "dramatically" increase development assistance; make
"the world's trade systems fair and just for developing countries and
peoples" and "protect innocent populations, reduce the flow of arms,
and support peace building" as a means of reducing poverty.

Significantly, the communiqué also asks for "accountability and
transparency" in global development and antipoverty programs:
"Corruption and a lack of transparency and accountability rob the poor
of significant resources and pose an obstacle to development in many
countries," the document says. "We know that nations and international
institutions have undertaken anti-corruption initiatives; we commend
these and urge that far greater resources be devoted to their
implementation."

In his comments to the media, Archbishop Ndungane said plans are being
developed to establish, in cooperation with faith communities,
non-governmental organizations and other groups, an independent,
African-based monitoring system to assist with the issues of
transparency in the recipient countries.

Dabrowski said, "As a church we can cite many examples of our own
involvement with alleviating the dire needs of the planet, whether
through the work of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, or the
work of education and healthcare. And there is an infrastructure -- it
includes local congregations, education and health centers -- to deal
with many of the issues identified by the Millennium Development Goals,
and global poverty in particular.

"The partnership aspect, as identified in the communiqué, puts
Adventists, along with other faith communities in a position of doing a
better job in working together in the arena of common needs, being
practical, as well as being more effective delivering help and hope.
Christian churches are required to be accountable for the way we should
share our abundance with the needy. What is also required [is] that the
churches become more effective in communicating about the issues, and
do so far and wide," Dabrowski added.

Among the concluding statements of the "Call to Partnership" communiqué
is a call for faith communities to actively participate across a broad
spectrum in development work: "As Christian leaders we challenge our
own churches to pursue partnerships with governments, international
organizations, civil society, and across confessional lines," the
communiqué says.


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Romania: State, Church Leaders Meet on Religious Liberty
Bucharest, Romania .... [IRLA/ANN Staff]
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As Romania considers religious freedom laws that would affect the lives
of its 22 million citizens, leaders of various Orthodox and Protestant
churches, government representatives and overseas participants came
together Sept. 12 to 13 for a seminar on "Religious Liberty in the
Romanian and European Context."

The sessions were organized by the Ministry of Culture and Religious
Affairs, State Secretariat for Religious Affairs and the National
Association for the Defense of Religious Liberty, "Conscience and
Liberty," and attracted scholars, non-governmental organization
representatives and media.

Adrian Iorgulescu, Minister of Culture and Religious Affairs,
emphasized the special importance of this event to both the churches
and the state. Patriarch Teoctist of the Orthodox Romanian Church
echoed his sentiments, saying liberty is one of the most important
gifts that God gave man. Religious liberty is the chief freedom, he
said.

In the first session of the symposium, entitled "The Legal Statute of
the Churches and Religious Organizations," Bishop Daniel, Metropolitan
of Moldavia and Bucovina, highlighted the contribution the church
brings to social life, which the state recognizes through the draft of
the Law on Religion that was submitted to Parliament for discussion.

Metropolitan Daniel, who made a special contribution to the draft on
the proposed Law of Religion, stressed partnership between state and
religious groups.

The Metropolitan also discussed the issue of limited autonomy for
religious groups, noting the Orthodox Romanian Church, as a result of
confiscation of its properties, has come to depend on the financial
contribution of the state.

"Romania stands at a crossroads," said Dr. W. Cole Durham Jr., a law
professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, United States,
and a consulting expert to the Organization on Security and Cooperation
in Europe, or OSCE. He said the proposed religious law is good because
it offers religious liberty, but could bear improvement to what he
called a "multi-tiered" system of religious organizations that gives
some groups more prominence than others.

Dr. Durham urged Romania to not only comply with international
standards regarding church-state relations, but to exceed these.

At a second session, Dr. John Graz, secretary-general of the
International Religious Liberty Association, or IRLA, spoke about the
necessity of dialogue and its importance in inter-church relations and
with non-Christians.

Dr. Rik Torfs, a member of the European Consortium for State-Church
Research, and a canon law professor at the Catholic University in
Louvain, Belgium, spoke of possible "hidden consequences" when
religious groups gain equal privileges, specifically the creation of a
countercultural climate between religions and the state. Equality is
increasingly important and there is a renewed concern for religion,
even a very strong interest, he said. He noted the difficulty faced
when religions make claims that might disparage those of other groups.
This may cause states not to intervene, he explained.

Official neutrality on religion doesn't mean indifference toward
religious life. State neutrality means the state can't be used by a
certain religion, Adrian Lemeni, state secretary for Religious Affairs
said. To publicly reject religious life would mean to say that it
doesn't have value.

"This was an important congress and a very successful one in a country
where legislation on religious freedom is still pending," Dr. Graz told
ANN in an interview. "Having the minister of religious affairs, the
patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and other religious leaders
in attendance was a very good sign about the progress of religious
freedom in Romania."


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World Issues: Giving Peace a Chance in a World of Strife
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [Wendi Rogers/ANN]
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In an often brutal world, one in which wars abound and chaos is
everywhere, peace may be hard to find. But Seventh-day Adventists have
a duty to promote peace, says Doug Morgan who, along with Ronald
Osborn, began the Adventist Peace Fellowship (APF) in 2002, a society
that exists to raise awareness of peacemaking.

The organization's purpose is to "raise awareness and educate
Adventists about the centrality of peacemaking," says Morgan, chair of
the History and Political Studies department at Columbia Union College
in Takoma Park, Maryland. APF also helps connect Adventists with
advocacy campaigns and groups that are taking action for peace.

"Sometimes people associate peace [with] passivism," Morgan says. "You
think of passivity, withdrawals, staying away from conflict, whereas
peacemaking is more of an active concept that includes nonviolence,
noncombatancy."

Why the need for such an organization? Osborn, an independent
contractor with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) says
that early Adventists were strong on the issue of noncombatancy and
would not have been willing to serve in combatant positions in the
military. "I think now that's not the case at all," he says.

While the church discourages combatant service, it allows for freedom
of conscience. A statement voted during the Spring Meeting of the
Executive Committee of the Seventh-day Adventist Church on April 18,
2002 in Silver Spring, Maryland, renewed the church's commitment to
peace:

"We call upon Christian churches and leaders to exercise a ministry of
reconciliation and act as ambassadors of goodwill, openness, and
forgiveness. (See 2 Cor. 5:17-19.) This will always be a difficult,
sensitive task. While trying to avoid the many political pitfalls along
the way, we must nevertheless proclaim liberty in the land -- liberty
from persecution, discrimination, abject poverty, and other forms of
injustice. It is a Christian responsibility to endeavor to provide
protection for those who are in danger of being violated, exploited,
and terrorized."

With more than 6,000 Adventist schools, colleges and universities
worldwide, Osborn would like to see the church institute peacemaking in
its education curriculum, "teaching children about the church's
historical commitment and linking its heritage with Christ's
teachings."

Peace education is essential to ending war, Lourdes
Morales-Gudmundsson, with Adventist Women for Peace, echoed in an ANN
article, April 26, 2005. "It should be taught on every level of the
education system as a serious and central topic of study and practice.
... If we do not put time and money into that, we are just going to end
up killing each other and feeling that that's alright."

In a recently released book by APF called "The Peacemaking Remnant," a
collection of essays and historical documents, Morgan writes in the
preface: "Making shalom (peace) -- well-being and wholeness for the
human community that includes but goes beyond nonviolence -- runs like
a mighty stream through all of the particular truths that the
Seventh-day Adventist movement has been called to proclaim."

Osborn speaks about the upcoming International Day of Peace, Sept. 21,
first established in 1981 by a resolution of the United Nations General
Assembly and strengthened in 2001 to be a day of nonviolence and
cease-fire. "The Adventist Church has a vibrant tradition of witnessing
for peace and principles of nonviolence. Our challenge today is to
reclaim that history, not just as a pious ideal one day out of the
year, but as lying right at the heart of what it means to be followers
of Jesus in a violent world."

There might be a danger, he says, in looking at the International Day
of Peace and "compartmentalizing commitment to peace and wearing a
button or something on the day. What does that mean for how people
think and act year-round?"

More information about the Adventist Peace Fellowship can be found at
www.adventistpeace.org.


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World Issues: Global Poverty, A View From the Trenches
New York, New York, United States .... [ANN Staff]
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They are in the trenches every day feeding, clothing, teaching,
empowering and fighting diseases. They are the ones that the world's
governments and world bodies depend on to carry out plans that help
make the world a better place. They are nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs). More than 4,000 of them met in New York for three days starting
Sept. 7 to examine goals set by heads of state at the United Nations
five years ago to improve life for every human being.

"The issues they discussed are the very same issues that we as a church
are addressing," said meeting attendee Heather-Dawn Small, director of
Women's Ministries for the Seventh-day Adventist World Church. "We want
to eliminate poverty, abuse, improve health and education globally,
particularly among women."

These issues were at the center of a September 2000 U.N. meeting of
some 189 states. Participants gave themselves 15 years to eradicate and
reduce some of the world's ills.

The objectives, called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), set out to:
eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary
education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child
mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other
diseases; ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global
partnership for development. In the closing statement of the Millennium
declaration, governments pledged to "spare no effort to make the United
Nations a more effective instrument for pursing all of these
priorities."

The recent meeting was the 58th Annual Department of Public
Information/Nongovernmental Organizations and came a week before the
2005 World Summit where world governments were expected to revisit the
progress made in implementing the MDGs. With the topic "Our Challenge:
Voices for Peace, Partnerships and Renewal," the meeting gave NGOs an
opportunity to look at these goals from their experience working in the
trenches.

Workshops and plenary sessions centered around the challenge of
partnerships, implementing the MDGs with a focus on human development,
and eradicating poverty on a realistic timeline. One particular session
focused on how the United Nations and NGOs can form more effective
partnerships. When examining the progress of the MDGs, participants
pointed out that progress was varied and nonexistent in some places.

One concern was that the MDGs were not being uniformly met because NGOs
were not as involved in planning, said Small.

"NGOs are a crucial part of this plan," she added, "because we
[churches and other private organizations] work directly with the
people."

Meetings like this conference was a wonderful opportunity to meet
potential partners and share resources to better the world, Small said.


"The challenge is how do we as a world church bridge the gap between
evangelism and the needs of the people we are trying to evangelize? One
solution is to partner with other NGOs outside the church, and work
together to meet the needs of the people we want to share the gospel
with," she explained.

The meeting concluded with attendees putting together a document that
outlined ways that NGOs can help governments achieve the Millennium
Development Goals. It was presented to world leaders at the 2005 World
Summit, which was held Sept. 14 to 16.


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North America: Technology Use Tracks Adventist Innovations, Report
Finds
Ventura, California, United States .... [ANN Staff]
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America's churches are adopting technology in ways that echo years-long
efforts by Seventh-day Adventist congregations, a report by the Barna
Group, a research firm based in Ventura, California, United States,
finds.

Although the Barna study did not directly compare other Protestant
congregations with Adventist ones, the Barna findings track innovations
used in Adventist churches for at least the past 10 years, such as
satellite broadcast downlinks and an active Internet presence for
congregations.

According to Barna, receiving communications via satellite broadcast
has had the smallest growth of any of the technologies studied in the
research, rising from a 7 percent of the Protestant church market in
2000 to just 8 percent last year. Growth has been more significant in
the Northeast and, unexpectedly, most restrained in the
technology-savvy West. The size of the church is related to the
likelihood of including this tool in the technology arsenal: only 3
percent of small churches have a satellite dish, compared to 10 percent
of mid-sized churches and 17 percent of large congregations.

By contrast, the Adventist Church's North American region estimates
that at least 2,700 and perhaps as many as 3,000 of approximately 5,000
congregations have satellite dishes, or between 54 percent and 60
percent of all congregations. Additionally, Adventist churches around
the world have used satellite technology to bring church programming to
their communities at relatively low costs, as illustrated by the work
of Enoch Mogusu in Kiisi, Kenya. (See ANN, May 13, 2003.)

Barna also reported an increase among Protestant congregations in the
use of individual Web sites; liquid-crystal display, or LCD, projectors
as a part of the worship service to display hymn and Bible verses,
announcements, as well as sermon talking points; and "e-mail blasts" to
inform congregations of weekly activities. Such technologies have been
in long use by Adventist congregations, with the world church itself
having marked more than 10 years on the Internet with the
www.adventist.org Web site. Three Angels' Global Networking, or TAGnet,
is a lay ministry cooperating with the Adventist Church that has also
been operational for 10 years, offering hundreds of Adventist
congregations Web sites and e-mail services (see ANN, Oct. 5, 2004).

Speaking of the overall results of his study, George Barna noted that
the wider acceptance of these technologies has triggered other ministry
trends, such as multi-campus churches: "During the next half of this
decade," he commented, "we expect increased broadband access,
podcasting, and ubiquitous adoption of handheld mobile computing
devices by consumers to further alter the way churches conduct
ministry."

Already, several Adventist congregations and ministries have adopted
podcasting as a way to bring their message to the public, including The
Place Adventist Fellowship in Newbury Park, California; La Sierra
University Church; Amazing Facts' "Bible Answers Live" program and The
Voice of Prophecy's daily radio broadcasts.

Earlier Adventist church technology outreaches have included the
Adventist Forum on CompuServe data service, the placing of weekly
Sabbath School Bible lessons online, and Web sites for the church
paper, Adventist Review, as well as Adventist News Network.

"Any church that is committed to taking the gospel to the world has to
take the Internet seriously," said Mark Finley, vice president of
evangelism for the Adventist world church. "With millions of new users
logging on every week, the potential of the Internet as a vehicle to
share God's last day message is overwhelming. I'm excited about what
God is doing in the church today, to use every avenue to tell the story
of Jesus."

John T.J. Banks, associate communication director for the world
Adventist church, noted that innovations in technology are not a new
phenomenon for the movement.

"Among Christian churches in Australia," Banks said, "the Seventh-day
Adventist Church was one of the first to embrace digital technology for
video production and editing. We have always tried to utilize the most
cost-effective technology available to fulfill the church's mission."

"No other American-based denomination has turned so fully to modern
communications technology, including the use of the Internet," wrote
Paul K. Conkin, a distinguished professor of history at Vanderbilt
University, in his 1997 book, "American Originals: Homemade Varieties
of Christianity."

--This article was based in part on research supplied by The Barna
Group, Ventura, California.


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Middle East: Church Regional Office to Return to Lebanon Next Year
Beirut, Lebanon .... [Alex Elmadjian/ANN]
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In a notable decision, the executive committee of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church in the Middle East Region has voted to move its
headquarters from Cyprus to Lebanon, as soon as practical in 2006. The
move will reverse a step taken 22 years earlier, shifting the regional
office from what was then a war-torn nation to the Mediterranean
island.

The decision came on the concluding day of their mid-year meetings,
which was held on the campus of the newly renovated, church-owned
Middle East University in Beirut. (See ANN, June 7, 2005)

The committee spent most of the day on Sept. 18 discussing issues
surrounding the move. Financial implications and cost factors of
relocation, political stability in the aftermath of former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination in February and the subsequent
Syrian withdrawal, and being able to carry out the mission of the
church freely, were some of the topics considered by the church
leaders.

"We have seen and know how God will lead in His work here in the Middle
East. I can't help but believe this is His work and He is in control,"
says Pastor Michael Porter, president of the Adventist Church in the
region.

The administrative headquarters of the church in the Middle East
supervises church and humanitarian activities within the 14 countries
of the region, representing some 14,500 members. It was evacuated from
Lebanon to Cyprus in 1984 during the long-running Lebanese civil war,
which severely disrupted church activities and made travel to reach
members outside the country nearly impossible.

In the relatively peaceful years that have followed, there has been
growing sentiment that the time is now right for the headquarters to
return to Lebanon where the church still owns significant property on
Sabtieh Hill in Beirut.

"Enormous amounts of work will be involved in repairing and renovating
the war-damaged or neglected housing as well as suitable office space
in Beirut, not to mention the work here in Cyprus; packing up and
moving an entire office and the families involved," says Pastor Porter.
"However, the administrative staff is ready to respond to the
opportunities which have been presented. I invite your prayers on
behalf of us all as we move forward in His service."


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Also In The News
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [Compiled by ANN Staff]
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* Walla Walla College, a Seventh-day Adventist university in Walla
Walla, Washington, is offering a limited number of tuition-free spaces
to students in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama displaced by
Hurricane Katrina. Late enrollment for the autumn quarter is available
until Oct. 7. Displaced students interested in attending WWC are
encouraged to call Victor Brown or Heather Krause at 509-527-2327 or
800-541-8900. More information about WWC is available at www.wwc.edu.

*The Voice of Prophecy (VOP), the oldest Seventh-day Adventist
broadcast outreach, has embraced one of the newest technologies: last
week, the VOP began "podcasting" its daily 15-minute radio shows. The
broadcasts can be downloaded using the Apple Computer software "iTunes"
or through "feed://vop.com/rss/index.xml" according to Ken Wade,
program director for the ministry.
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