ANR Release 15 February 2006 - 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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#72057 - 02/15/06 04:20 PM ANR Release 15 February 2006
Stan Jensen Carpe Diem!!! Registered: 09/15/06 Posts: 3945 Loc: 49.05° Lat- 122.3° Long	ANR Bulletin Adventist News Review Trans-European Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church 15 February 2006 In this issue: * Norway: Norwegian television campaign has audience of 750 * Finland: LDi conference in Finland makes a change in evangelism * South Sudan: Ordination after 20 years in the South Sudan Field * Finland: Jakobstad Adventist Church hosts health seminar * Egypt: New Egypt field President NORWEGIAN TELEVISION CAMPAIGN HAS AUDIENCE OF 750 ROYSE, NORWAY [ANR] - Nearly 750 people from Norway are watching a seminar series on the biblical prophecies of Daniel. The public campaign, entitled ?Babylonkoden? is being televised until the end of April and is based on the Seventh-day Adventist Norsk Bibelinstitutt?s correspondence course on the same topic. Pastor Reidar J. Kvinge has been filmed giving a thirty-minute presentation on each of the thirteen course chapters. These are followed by a broadcast of a discussion group talking about the relevant chapter. Viewers can choose to join live study groups, or to watch the one shown on satellite television and complete the course by correspondence. Over thirty study groups have been formed across Norway, but interest has also been expressed by the Adventist church in Sweden, and by an elder of the Pentecostal church in the Faeroe Islands. Of the 650 attending the organized study groups, and the 130 correspondence course participants, at least 300 are not members of the Adventist church. ?Babylonkoden has worked out beyond our expectations. It has inspired enthusiasm among our members and it has brought us into contact with people we did not know from before. It is also good for our own members in that they get a better understanding of the message of the book of Daniel. I would say that that the work in small groups has been especially successful,? comments Terje Bjerka, leader for the mission department of the Adventist Church in Norway. 51 days after going live, the Babylonkoden website, www.babylonkoden.no boasted 13,643 hits. Further evidence of its accessibility is that several people have registered online for the Babylonkoden course, and many people have sent in solutions to a ?wordoku? published on the site. Norway currently has a membership of just over 5,000, spread over 72 different churches and four companies. [Gunnar Jorgensen/ANR staff/ANR] LDI CONFERENCE IN FINLAND MAKES A CHANGE IN EVANGELISM TOIVONLINNA, FINLAND [ANR] - Eighty members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church across Finland attended a three day LIFEdevelopment.info (LDi) Conference in Toivonlinna, Finland from 27 - 29 January. The conference was held in response to the great interest of reaching unchurched postmoderns in the society. Leaders of 60 outreach small groups committed themselves to follow the discipleship path of LIFEdevelopment. Twenty nine groups already existed and thirty one are newly organized. According to European Social Survey, only 6% of the Finnish 5.3 million population goes to church regularly every week, even-though 87% of people would declare themselves as Christians. Rest of population is considered as un-churched or postmoderns. Dr Miroslav Pujic, a specialist in evangelism to postmodern people, and Janos Kovacs-Biro, the Small Group Ministries Director from Trans-European region of Seventh-day Adventists discussed the topics on communication barriers between Christians and the unchurched, the importance of understanding contemporary cultural values and nurturing relationships. The LDi Discipleship path was explained, and the group was shown practical methods of implementing the planned LIFEdevelopment Groups and Centres. ?Finally something that western urban people can relate to! I got baptized last summer and my friends and colleagues listen politely about my faith but find it hard to grasp the meaning of our religious slogans and expressions? says Taija Lehtinen, Senior Teacher, ?the new LIFEdevelopment material speaks directly to postmodern people in a way they understand and appreciate.? ?I think this training is absolutely necessary to anyone evangelizing in the postmodern world. To understand the thinking of these people is a must. I also think that the steps of setting up small groups are beneficial to all church leaders and members wishing to create a living church. My own intention is to start a year-long training on evangelizing based on Life Development training? says Keijo Halinen, Senior Executive Consultant of leadership development. In concluding the conference Atte Helminen, the president of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Finland states, ?life is more than just living, it is relating to people with the purpose to bring Christ in their lives.? Sixty outreach small groups will make the change in the way we do evangelism in Finland. The Finnish Union Conference has 5,700 members and 70 organized churches. [ANR staff/ANR] ORDINATION AFTER 20 YEARS IN THE SOUTH SUDAN FIELD ARUA, UGANDA [ANR] - Two Seventh-day Adventist pastors were ordained on the 28th of January after over twenty years of service each. Dr. Milan Bajic, chairman of the Religion Department of Middle East University in Lebanon, ordained Pastors Luka Moi and Carlos Sebit in the South Sudan Field Church in Arua, Uganda. Both candidates worked in war-torn South Sudan for two decades, supporting the growth of a first generation church. In a country in which evangelists travel on foot for days to reach their campaign locations, and most groups of Adventists are led by an unpaid convert, it is not surprising that only three men have been ordained in the past twenty-five years. Luka Moi is from the Madi Tribe of South Sudan. Two years after his baptism in 1981, Moi was called to move to Magwi to take over a newly organized church. In the first three years of his ministry, nine-hundred people were baptised into the Adventist church. As the Sudan People?s Liberation Army (SPLA) took over more of the county, Moi moved to the refugee settlement camp in Adjumani, Uganda, and there he continued to organize churches, serving in various capacities, for over a decade, but as a paid pastor for 20 churches in the camp from 2003. Due to an invasion by the Lord?s Resistance Army (LRA), these churches have now merged into twelve, as the people move to protected areas. Moi still feels that he is not educated enough to be an ordained minister, even though he has baptized over 2,700 people, and effectively runs many churches. Carlos' name ?Sebit? means Sabbath. He was converted in 1984, and in 1986 Sebit was asked to give Bible studies as part of an evangelistic campaign. After the meetings were over, he was elected to stay and support the new members. Sebit was then made the leader of the new church. In 1988, fighting closed all nearby roads, and Sebit continued to pastor while receiving no pay. Several times, Sebit walked for fourteen days to seek out a pastor to baptise his new converts. As his ministry continued, he started go on expeditions, walking hundreds of miles over two months and giving studies in un-reached areas. Sebit, too, felt unqualified for ordination although he attended the Bahr Naam for seminary in South Sudan for 2 years. Those in the South Sudan Field pray that God will continue to keep Pastors Moi and Sebit humble, effective ministers of the Gospel. [Darrel Muelhauser/ANR staff/ANR] JAKOBSTAD ADVENTIST CHURCH HOSTS HEALTH SEMINAR JAKOBSTED, FINLAND [ANR] - A new outreach programme has been initiated in the Jakobstad Seventh Day Adventist church in Finland. More than 150 people attended a public health seminar conducted by the Swedish Dr. Hans Löfgren. Dr Löfgren is a retired medical doctor from Hultafors Health Centre, who now gives lectures on physical, psychological, mental, and spiritual health. The local Adventist church is doing this as part of the Natural Church Development project started in January 2005. The church is known in the community for its health projects and has run a restaurant, Vegana, in the church building for over 15 years. Eighty-year-old John Sundvik, founder of the Vegana restaurant, is excited at the number of participants in the seminar series, and his vision is that the church can continue play a positive role in the wider community. Attendees had the opportunity to visit the accompanying exhibition, which included a health check, massage, and samples of vegetarian food. Dr. Hans Löfgren also gave health seminars at the local public schools. Jakobstad is a small town in northern Finland with 19,500 inhabitants, the majority of whom speak Swedish (56%). The Jakobstad Adventist church currently has 55 members. [Carsten Berglund/ANR] NEW EGYPT FIELD PRESIDENT CAIRO, EGYPT [ANR] - Samir Berbawy has been elected as the new President of the Egypt Field of Seventh-Day Adventists. He succeeds Dr. Kjell Aune, who was called to be President of the Middle East Union in November. Samir Berbawy is Egyptian by birth, and spent childhood years there and in Lebanon, before his family emigrated to the US. Samir was a teacher and school administrator for over 26 years in the Middle East and the United States. He has a solid background as local church elder and church educator, and has served in a wide variety of denominational and civic committees and roles. Since his arrival in Egypt in 2004, Samir Berbawy has been a member of the Egypt Field Executive Committee, a departmental leader and active in the leadership of both the Egypt Field educational institutions. Samir comes to the job of Field President with a solid knowledge of the issues, employees and members of the Egypt Field. His background and personality will ensure continuity and consistency in the Field leadership. ?I am confident that Samir Berbawy comes to the task with integrity, sound ideas, broad and solid experience, and a solid spiritual base,? remarks Dr Aune, former President of the Egypt Field. He continues, ?I wish Samir and Tanya Berbawy God?s blessings in their service in the thrilling country of Egypt.? According to Dr. Aune, the primary needs of the Egypt Field include ensuring a consistent, personal and warm leadership style, implementing sound administrative routines, a spiritual awakening, activating the membership, educating the pastors, and strengthening the schools. Samir Berbawy will be ordained for his church leadership role on the 18th of February and is already in the process of taking over the leadership of Egypt Field. The Egypt Field operates 25 churches, supporting a membership of 921.. [Alex Elmadjian /ANR staff/ANR] Editor?s note: "In the last issue of ANR, 8th February 2006, Rowan Atkinson's first name was misstated. The editors regret the error." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANR Staff: Miroslav Pujic, news director 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.
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