02 October 2012 Belgrade, Serbia [Marija Trajkovska, tedNEWS] The Department for Family Ministries in the South-East European Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SEEUC) dedicated the second week in September to the family and marriage renewal and enrichment. Thus a number of seminars were held throughout the SEEUC in the period from 07-15 September 2012.
Clair Sanches-Shutte, the Trans-European Division (TED) Family Ministries Director, and John Sanches, TED Special Consultant, who is a pastor and psychologist with rich experience and practice, held the seminars starting in Skopje, Macedonia. They began on Friday, 07 September with the topic ‘First Things First’, which emphasised the importance of family unity and the consequences of wrong choices as seen in the life of Samson (Judges 13-16). They reminded both children and parents of how vital it is to have confidence in God’s promises and remain faithful to Him in every moment and aspect of life.
Two interactive workshops were held on Saturday. The first, ‘Faith Begins at Home’ emphasised the importance of the presence of fathers and the positive influence that they can have on the development of their children’s characters and faith; and, secondly, ‘Family Time’ indicating the significance of the quality time spent together within the family. This was clearly demonstrated as all family members present at the workshop participated in a special activity of building symbols of their family unit out of sugar cubes and icing sugar. This short but fun activity showed that the majority of participants craved for such time spent together.
On Sunday, a whole-day seminar was held for married couples who gathered from within the Macedonian Mission territory. A topic always relevant topic, ‘Marriage Conflicts and Management’, which was followed by a survey carried out among the couples present on ‘Her and His Emotional needs’. The survey not only helped the couples to see the strong and weak points of their married life, but it also raised issues that were dealt with during the time of marriage and family counselling in the afternoon.
Throughout the following week, evening presentations on the importance of family unity and mutual understanding; and, most importantly, family dedication to God, were held in local churches in Zrenjanin, Zemun, New Belgrade, Belgrade, the Belgrade Theological Seminary and Novi Sad, where the last seminar was held on 15 September.
All the seminar participants expressed their deep appreciation for the efforts put in to restoring and reforming family life in the SEEUC and promised to become ‘the light and the salt’ in their local churches, promoting family values and bringing family members closer to God and each other. Realising that their families are the greatest treasure entrusted to them by God, they promised not to neglect their duty to keep their family safe and well both for now and for the whole of eternity.
To find out more about the work of the Adventist church in the South-East European region, please click here. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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