TED News Bulletin
Trans-European Division of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church

09 June 2010


In this issue:
-------------------------
* Netherlands: A Historic Day for the Dutch Adventist Church
* Poland: Polish People Rally to 'enditnow'
* Ireland: KID Training Comes to Ireland
* Lebanon: "Adventist World" Goes Arabic
* Poland: Flood Victims Receive Relief
* Lebanon: Leadership Conference Equips and Empowers
-------------------------

A HISTORIC DAY FOR THE DUTCH ADVENTIST CHURCH...[Wim Altink/TED News
Staff/TED News)

Zoetermeer, Netherlands - Sabbath 5th June was a historic day for the
Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Netherlands when 84 people
accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and were baptised.

This year's theme at the Antillean Explosion, formerly know as the
Antillean Rally, was 'United until He comes', an event conducted by
Pastor Cherrel Francisca, Staff Coordinator for the Antillean church
plants in the Netherlands Union. The aim of this event was to
emphasize unity and togetherness.

In preparations for the Antillean Explosion four evangelistic
campaigns were held simultaneously in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delft and
Tilburg. The aim was to focus on Jesus as our Saviour, and to promote
cooperation and unity among believers. After two weeks of campaigns,
the Antillean communities were invited to come together to attend a
special fellowship programme.

An invigorating programme filled the day including praise and worship
time, interviews with the lay preachers, video clips on unity, an
interview with the evangelist, group interaction and a presentation
of the vision on respect and unity by the President of the NUC,
Pastor Wim Altink. Later that day, 84 persons were added to the
Adventist church by baptism.

"Together with members, lay-evangelists and ministers, we can do much
for Christ in an inspired [mindset] of cooperation, within the
diversity God has given to His Church. We praise God for his
leadership", concluded Pastor Francisa.

Through this special service and the recent baptismal services in the
Ghanaian churches in Amsterdam, Almere and Eindhoven, the membership
of the Adventist church in the Netherlands has passed the 5000 mark.


POLISH PEOPLE RALLY TO 'ENDITNOW'...[Marek Rakowski/TED News
Staff/TED News]

Warsaw, Poland - The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Poland already
collected 2413 signatures for the 'enditnow' campaign, and this does
not include electronic signatures received on the Polish Union
website. Pastor Marek Rakowski, PUC Secretary, Family Ministry
Director and Coordinator of the 'enditnow' project in Poland, said
that for the Adventist church in Poland this campaign was important
as it drew attention to a problem which has been until now considered
a taboo topic.

The 'enditnow' campaign was first promoted amongst pastors who were
trained to run this programme locally. On the official church website
a special link was created where all information and materials was
made available. 10,000 pledge cards were printed and detailed
information was sent out to local churches. A six-metre banner was
prepared and transported to different places in the three conferences
of the Union.

The campaign was run during youth gatherings and church services,
accompanied by sermons or seminars on the topic of family abuse.
Seminars were also held in non-Adventist circles. Students in public
schools signed the petition. The 'enditnow' banner was also raised at
various venues, in the streets and in supermarkets where it caught
people's attention. In one city, during three hours only, 600
signatures were collected and 200 copies of "The Signs of the Times"
were handed out to people.

Pastors and church members, in cooperation with social organisations,
are presently being trained to be able to offer their help to
individuals who need counselling and support,

'enditnow' is a global campaign to raise awareness and advocate for
the end of violence against women and girls globally. It aims to
mobilise Seventh-day Adventists around the world and invites other
community groups to join in to resolve this worldwide issue.


KID TRAINING COMES TO IRELAND...[Judith Martin/TED News Staff/TED
News]

Banbridge, Ireland was the venue for the British Union Conference's
(BUC) first Kids In Discipleship (KID) training held outside England.
On 20-23 May four churches from North and South of Ireland came
together at Banbridge church for this three-day training.

In 2008, a group had come from Londonderry to the KID training held
in England and evidently did such a good job of spreading the word to
other churches that Irish Mission President, Pastor David Neal, asked
BUC Children's Ministries director, Heather Haworth, and Anne-May
Wollan, Trans-European Division Children's Ministries director, to
organise this session.

The commitment of all the participants was clear from the
beginning. They were enthusiastic and ready to find out as much as
they could about this new ministry. They expressed appreciation for
the dual nature of the course - both the theory and the practice.

The participants came expecting to learn a lot, but the reality
exceeded their expectations: they were impressed with the depth and
spirituality of the course which they found to be an 'inspirational,
vibrant, practical and spiritual experience'. There was also the
conviction that it would bring the church closer together.

One particularly important consideration was the statistics from
Valuegenesis survey, on the number of young people who leave the
church - about 50% - which made participants realise the urgency of
doing something about it if they were to retain them. The KID
ministry with its emphasis on Vision, Discipleship, Ministry and
Mission aims to meet this need.

The course was aimed to help develop skills in relating to children
and also build relationships with each other in the small group
discussions and the different activities. The purpose was to
encourage children's personal relationship with God. 

One participant, Ellen found it a stimulating experience.'I thought
I'd gain a lot to help with Sabbath School. I was impressed. It was
more than I expected - it was serious yet we had fun. The fun was
that we were able to put it into practice. I enjoyed the
role-play. The best thing about the course was that we got the
reasons why this ministry is so important. It is also life-changing'.

Another attendee said, 'It was hard work but worth it. It has been a
life-transformation experience which I want to share. I think I won't
be the same again.'

One trainer commented, 'We were inspired and moved by the reaction of
our groups, joined in the fun of the team challenges and the
activities in the small group studies for kids, and the skits they
devised to take the message back to their churches.'

Perhaps the response of Pastor Tony O'Rouke, sums it up: 'I came, I
saw, I heard, and I found the child in myself. I now long to take
this wonderful ministry to my local church and see God change the
lives of the young people, so we can all be in that beautiful City of
Gold.'


"ADVENTIST WORLD" GOES ARABIC...[Kjell Aune/TED News]

Beirut, Lebanon - Pastor Kjell Aune, President of the Middle East
Union of Seventh-day Adventists, reported on the opening of the first
'Adventist World' magazine in Arabic.

The website, which is not fully complete yet, is planned to run for
one year on a trial basis to see the take up of this new internet
news venture. This online version, translated by Amgad Nageh, will
help connect Arabic-speaking people to relevant news and articles.
This is in addition to the Arabic television channel that is due to
begin broadcasting later this month.

The 'Adventist World' magazine can be accessed on:
http://arabic.adventistworld.org or: www.adventistworld.org

"Adventist World" is a world-wide Adventist magazine of news and
other articles.


FLOOD VICTIMS RECEIVE RELIEF...[TED Staff/TED News]

Poland - the Polish Adventist Church Christian Charity Services and
the Adventist Development and Relief Agency teams are supporting
relief efforts to assist people affected by the worst flood in
centuries that has brought havoc to some parts of Poland.

Heavy rain has caused damage estimated at more than US$3.5 billion
forcing the evacuation of thousands of people from their homes along
the Vistula river, which flows from the southern Tatra mountains into
the Baltic. Many of those affected could not believe the scale of the
flooding, and remained in their partially flooded houses. The
situation worsened in many regions as people refused to leave their
homes for fear that their abandoned property would be looted.

As part of an initial response, the Christian Charity Services and
ADRA emergency response teams, in collaboration with volunteers,
reached Sandomierz and Tarnobrzeg in time and distributed clothes and
hygiene kits to at least 1200 affected people.

ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries
providing sustainable community development and disaster relief
without regard to political or religious association, age, gender,
race or ethnicity.


LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST UNION...(Clement
Arkangelo/TED News Staff/TED News)

Beirut, Lebanon - 30 leaders from different fields as well as the MEU
departmental directors and institutional leaders attended the
Leadership Conference in Beirut.

Arthur F. Blinci, the Vice President of Adventist Risk Management
(ARM), guided the leaders through issues of managing and minimising
risks. He emphasized that risk management is good stewardship. Karnik
Doukmeizian, Head of the Legal Department at the General Conference
of the Seventh-day Adventist, provided training on issues relating to
Church structure and governance. He also dealt with various legal
issues that impact the Church.

Pat Swan, Associate Secretary of the Trans-European Division,
provided training in Human Resources issues. MEU President Kjell Aune
presented the topic, "The Leader as an Example". This challenged the Leaders to look at themselves and reflect on how they are leading". Finally, Pastor Tibor Szilvasi, the
Executive Secretary of MEU, dealt with the topic of "E-mail
Etiquette".

The Leadership Conference was a period of jolting and refreshing,
equipping and empowering the leaders for successful leadership.

__________________________________________________________________
TED News Staff:
Paul Clee, News Director and Editor
Heidi Kamal Kendel, Editorial Assistant
119 St Peter's Street, St Albans, Herts.,
AL1 3EY, England
Website: www.ted-adventist.org

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