21 November 2011 St Albans, England [Miroslav Pujic, tedNEWS] Eighty-nine delegates from the thirteen Unions and three attached Fields, which constitute the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European region (TED), met from 13 – 16 November in Becici, Montenegro. The theme of the year-end executive committee meetings was “Revived by His Word: think differently … think possibilities.”
Dr Bertil Wiklander, President of the Trans-European Division, says, “Due to the realignment voted by the General Conference our meeting was carefully planned to refocus the mission of the church in Europe. The spiritual tone of the meetings, with prayer that flowed through the business sessions, beautiful music, excellent devotionals, and a wonderful group of committed Adventists made this meeting a delight to chair for me personally.”
General Vice President Pastor Artur Stele and Under-Treasurer Tom Evans attended the meetings as representatives from the Adventist World Church Headquarters, and to provide counsel.
In his keynote address Dr Wiklander used the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a model for “Being Renewed by His Word: thinking differently … thinking possibilities”. “Being a Seventh-day Adventist is fundamentally a matter of longing for God”, he said, “and this longing finds its fulfilment in the vision of Revelation 21:1-5”. The little church family established in May 1863, was able to grow and spread itself to all countries in the world because they began to think differently and discover new possibilities. He pointed to neglected truths in the Word of God that may empower the church for God’s mission. His final appeal was: “Be renewed by his Word! Think differently and think possibilities! If we believe that ‘for God all things are possible’ we can be optimists because he is on our side! Then our eyes will be opened and we will see the opportunities for God’s mission in Europe today! This is the task God is giving us now!”
During four intensive days, the Committee listened to reports and the plans from administration and departmental directors, discussed numerous policy changes, processed various items of business, and discussed current and future major initiatives.
Reports
In a very significant and challenging report, Dr Wiklander outlined where the Division is and where it is going. Through the realignment voted by the General Conference, he said, “we are giving away our three mission fields – Israel, the Middle East and Pakistan – and we are reduced by about 35,000 members. This means that we become a genuinely European division”. He then outlined in detail what this means. He noted that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has never had so many members in Europe as it has now and that the Church is in a significantly better position than the pioneers in the church on May 20 1863, when the Church was first organised. Presenting a survey of the strengths and recent successes of the “New TED”, he then described the European people groups as recipients of the gospel and how they may be reached, while carefully noting the challenges that need to be overcome. He concluded with an impressive review of the mission plan of the TED for Europe and made an appeal: “Before us is a fantastic opportunity: We are about to experience how the mission of God meets man without God, as Seventh-day Adventist Christianity penetrates contemporary Europe! We need to think differently, outside of the box. We need to think possibilities, that is, to see that the crisis our societies face is not just a challenge but an opportunity, in which we can experience miraculous interventions in partnership with God!”
Audrey Andersson, TED Executive Secretary, presented the division’s statistical report showing membership growth of 2,616 in the past year. “We give thanks to God for the growth in the past year. This figure only reflects those who have taken the step of baptism and it does not give any indication of the numbers attending every week”, said Andersson. An additional statistic was introduced to help get a clearer picture of attendance. Churches will be asked to count attendance on the second and seventh Sabbath every quarter from January 2012.
“An area where we can improve is retaining members. Currently for every 100 we baptize 27 leave the church. Looking after members is as important as soul winning,” concluded Andersson.
Jóhann E. Jóhannsson, TED Treasurer, reported about the financial situation and the plans for the next year saying that “tithes and offerings in local currencies have been relatively stable during the last year, despite the financial crisis in many countries within our territory, especially in Europe. Some of our unions and fields have experienced moderate increases, while in others tithes and offerings have decreased, and drastically so in some countries. The increase in the tithe sharing to the Division is so far this year 3.57% in Pounds Sterling. We give praise to the Lord for our members’ faithfulness during these financially challenging times.
Due to the economic challenges in the United Kingdom in general there will be no increases in salaries and allowances for Church workers within the UK area in 2012. This will also be the case in some of our other unions and fields, Jóhannsson reported.
Jóhannsson assured the members of committee that the realignment of the Division’s mission territories, the Middle-East Union, the Pakistan Union and the Israel Field will not significantly affect the Division’s finances. It is anticipated that the reduction in appropriations from the General Conference will be equivalent to the appropriations currently passed on from the TED to these territories. The Division has a balanced budget for 2012, which takes into account the territorial realignments.
Newbold College continues to face financial challenges mainly due to reduced student numbers. There are various reasons for this drop in enrolment including external factors that are beyond our control, such as the new strict immigration regulations for non-EU students wanting to study in the United Kingdom. “During the first half of 2011 significant cuts were made in the staffing numbers and other expenses at the College”, commented Jóhannsson and concluded “There are, however, limits to how much costs can be cut. The focus now needs to be on new programmes and higher student numbers and there seem to be signs of improvements in these areas for the future”.
“Christians in Europe have reached 360 people groups out of a total of 644,” reported Pastor Raafat Kamal, TED Adventist Mission Office director, and continued “The 284 groups that remain are the challenge. In the year 2011 we operated 154 Global Mission projects involving $1,687,469. In addition to these we had number of evangelistic initiatives which gave us a total of $2,987,469 that we spent to support the mission in the local church across the division. For the period of fifteen years (1996-2011) the TED has spent over $29.5 millions contributing to over 60,000 accessions for the advancement of the Kingdom,” concluded Kamal.
Reports from individual Unions and Fields indicated the full commitment of the leaders, in mission outreach and evangelism. At the same time all of them recognised the challenges faced in postmodernism, secularism, materialism, traditionalism and a resistance to Christian beliefs. Each report pointed out the special role of the church, namely that the church is more than a social club, more than a group of men and women with common interests. Rather, it represents God’s activity in the world and man’s response to that activity with thanks and willing obedience.
The Executive Committee also voted new assignments: Clair Sanches-Schutte director for Family Ministries and Stephen Cooper director for Health Ministries.
Evangelism
In the past two years the TED granted support to creative outreach approaches within its territories. Pastor Janos Kovacs-Biro, TED Evangelism director, reported on the number of projects.
In Latvia “Baby School” project started two years ago. The idea of this approach is to work in the local community to provide educational programmes for families and training in early childhood education. Currently this doesn’t exist in Latvia. Through this initiative we have seen a positive difference in the community. Our co-operation with social services has given social risk families the opportunity to attend baby school classes, special worship services organised for families with children, outdoor excursions involving all participants.
“Messy Church” in England is another initiative for children that have an aim to reach out in the community and build families of faith through crafts/worship/food and fellowship. Programmes run once a month on Sabbath afternoons for two and half hours. Over 50% of the attendees are community members with two to three new families coming every month. They aim to build on this very successful programme.
In Budapest, Hungary, “MentO (He Saves) – Mentaloffice “aims to create a mental health centre with Christian therapists. It offers the opportunity to organise seminars in mental health and healthy lifestyle. Many postmodern people living in Hungary suffer from serious mental problems. We invite them to the MentO office for personal counselling. The Mental Office also went out to the Sziget Festival one of the biggest Rock Festivals in Europe. They spent 10 days there, working 12 hours a day, mostly at night, where they offered counselling. They had more then 1.500 conversations.
In Reykjavik, Iceland, the “Summer on the Sea Ministry “aims to encourage people to enjoy fellowship through Bible reading/music and prayer whilst sailing. About 250 participants enjoyed the spiritual journey along with the sailing. They continue keeping in touch with those who joined this adventure inviting them to the Bible in 3D project which will start in February 2012 (see below).
New Initiatives
Dr Miroslav Pujic, TED Communication, Media and Publishing director introduced The Great Hope Project, which was enthusiastically supported by the committee. This initiative aims to engage members and pastors in witnessing to make people disciples of Jesus Christ. “The purpose of this initiative is to bring Hope into every home for today and for the future and to present the love and ultimate victory of God in the battle of good and evil” said Dr Pujic. He continued: “We want to connect with non-Adventist family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues at work in order to share with them the teachings of Jesus Christ and to invite them to follow Him.” There are numerous resources which will provide support for this initiative such as: website, magazine, The Great Controversy book, animation and movie based on the theme of the great controversy, a message book Experiencing the Joy including DVD and curriculum. The goal is to distribute 2 million pieces of literature and to engage 80% of active members in giving Bible studies.
Pastor Janos Kovacs-Biro, TED Evangelism director, introduced two new initiatives:
Bible in 3D – is a pilot project to reach postmodern people of Europe. Postmoderns love stories, they would like to experience the supernatural and they would like to see values of life upheld. For this reason we are setting up an exhibition in Harpa – the most famous building in Iceland – where we will present the story of the Bible (the story of Redemption) in nine sections. It will start with a culturally relevant approach reminding the Icelandic people that the survival of their nation and language is based on reading the Bible story during the evening family time. After entering into the booths with professional guides (pastors), the people will walk through the story of Great Controversy – from Creation to Restoration. This gives people the chance to grasp the story of redemption within about 90 minutes. In every booth visitors will receive information on that section of the story and a leaflet extracted from a relevant Ellen G. White book related to that section of the story. At the end of the tour visitors will receive an invitation for the evening programme. During the nine evenings we will highlight the main Christian values, addressing relevant social issues with the help of professionals, presenting excellent music organised by the director of the Opera in Reykjavik, and Biblical answers to the most compelling spiritual needs in the many crises Iceland finds itself in – helping people to live with confidence in God.
Jesus7 – is a pilot project for reaching nominal Christians in Europe where people have a vague understanding of some Bible stories, but do not understand their implications. Jesus7 is based on the approach used in Health Expos. The series will last seven days and each day one story from Jesus’ life is presented in a hall. People will be able to come, visit and ask questions from professionals who have visited Israel and explored the sites included in the series. During the evenings people will be invited to attend the presentations on the life of Jesus. During the Jesus7 series about the two thirds of Hungary will be covered with banners and advertisements beside the motorway. The twenty six pastors and districts involved are praying and working together to reach their countrymen to see Jesus in a new light. They are taking the council of Ellen White seriously: “Give them evidence that you are a Christian, you are desiring peace, and that you love their souls. Let them see that you are conscientious. Thus you will gain their confidence; and there will be time enough for doctrines. Let the heart be won, the soil prepared, and then sow the seed, presenting in love the trust as it is in Jesus.” (Gospel Workers, p. 120).
Dr Michael Hamilton, TED Sabbath School and BCS director explained that 2012 is the Year of the Bible Correspondence School (BCS) for the Trans-European Division. “The aim is to invite each member of the church in TED to become involved in the work of the BCS in their respective country by prayerfully inviting friends, relatives and neighbours to become engaged in the study of the Bible by enrolling for a course. A special Bible Course on the life of Apostle Paul has been written to commemorate the Olympic year, 2012. This course, along with others will be available on the LIFEconnect website and all are invited to participate. Church members should ‘Never Miss an Opportunity to Pass it On’, concluded Dr Hamilton.
The TED places a huge emphasis on cities within its territory. With the help of existing approaches like public evangelism, church planting, community services and with new and creative approaches such as the pilot projects presented above, and by the Great Hope Project we would like to establish centres of influence in every big city of Europe within the TED following the advice of the Spirit of Prophecy to “. . . establish in all our cities small plants which shall be centers of influence…” (EGW Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, p. 115.)
New Strategy: think differently … think possibilities
The TED has begun to develop a new strategy for mission in Europe based on the concept of thinking differently … thinking possibilities. It is organised around the three concepts of the Tell-the-World initiative of the World Church, but these are defined with a view to the religious needs of postmodern and secular Europeans:
REACH UP – talk to God, worship God, experience God
REACH OUT – understand people, meet their needs, make disciples
REACH ACROSS – revitalise, nurture, and empower communities of believers
Dr Wiklander pointed out that a community focus is going to be very important in the work of the new TED and he described how the Church can positively impact society. Twenty-one specific actions and measurable targets have already been developed for the plan which will be reviewed and finalised in the next few months.
“I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit among us,” agrees Artur Stele. “The attitude of the executive committee members is excellent. I learned a lot from my brothers and sisters in the TED. I know that this part of the world is very difficult for the preaching of the Gospel, but also I know that now we are sowing the seed for a great harvest through the work of the Holy Spirit. I praise God for the talents, great vision and commitment of the TED people to the Lord”, concluded Stele.
Conclusion
In his final remarks Dr Wiklander asked his audience to “look at our pioneers and compare what they had on May 20, 1863, when our church was organised:
• 125 churches (new TED: 1,168)
• 3,500 baptised members (new TED: 82,000)
• 1:373,143 ratio of members to world population (SDA: 1:407; new TED: 1:2,470)
• $8,000 annual giving (new TED annual tithe $57,243,132; annual offerings $3,208,739)
• 30 employees (new TED: 603 pastors)
• No institutions (new TED: Newbold and other union institutions)
He then added: “God can do the same through us as he did with the young Seventh-day Adventist Church, if we long for him as they did. He wants to use us as his agents of change, not because he needs us, but because we need him – being used as channels of his grace to others brings us closer to God than by any other means possible. Moreover, God is a God of fellowship and community and receiving the gospel through a fellow human being (us) builds community where God is able to reveal his grace in a fuller way than anywhere else in this world – he wants to make us ‘the repository of the riches of the grace of Christ’ so that ‘through the church will eventually be made manifest the final and full display of the love of God’ (Acts of the Apostles, 9).”
With effect from 1 January 2012 the Trans-European Division Executive Committee will be made up of church administrators, departmental directors, pastors and lay people representing each of the eleven Unions and three Fields of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 22 countries in Europe. [tedNEWS]
If you would like to see more photographs from the TED executive meetings, please click here.
To learn more about the Trans-European Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, please visit our websites:
www.ted-adventist.org – www.lifeconnect.info – www.tedmedia.org – www.essenceofworship.org – www.lifedevelopment.info
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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