30 June 2020 | St Albans, UK [Victor Hulbert]
Three building projects across Europe aim to become Centres of Influence as a result of your generosity this last quarter. Your 13th Sabbath offerings will help build a Church Centre of Influence in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, develop another centre that is already a fledgling project in Norway, and allow a church plant to develop in an increasingly popular but secular suburb of Belgrade, Serbia.
Watch the video of the projects in Cyprus and Norway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7FME_eXu3k
New Belgrade
The church plant in New Belgrade, a suburb of Serbia’s capital city is thriving – but suffers from one difficulty: It is impossible to rent a property. The congregation, established in 1993, first met in a rented cinema but now has to share premises with another Adventist congregation outside of its catchment area.
In order to establish a presence in this up-and-coming suburb, the only solution is to purchase or build a church. At the moment they have to worship outside of the local area but want a church that can provide community outreach and develop programmes that can touch lives locally.
Nicosia
Adventists in Nicosia have longed for a church they can call their own for many years. They actually own a strategically placed plot of land near the city centre but lack the funds to develop it. Three congregations currently meet in rented premises, with the Greek-speaking, Bulgarian and English-speaking congregations serving diverse communities. Owning their own building in a prime location would help them to develop a substantially more significant presence.
Sortland
The big challenge in Sortland, Norway, is loneliness. A once thriving Adventist church there has shrunk – as have other churches in the city – and a survey by committed Pastor Kenneth Bergland and local members determined that isolation is an issue for both the elderly and for teenagers. They plan to change that.
TED Treasurer Nenad Jepuranović reflects on the long Adventist tradition of a sacrificial offering every 13th Sabbath to assist mission. “Mission is in our DNA and these three projects are all significant to help reach out in these three very different countries,” Jepuranović states. “We are slightly nervous that Covid-19 may have affected the level of giving, but we nevertheless look forward to seeing these projects become a reality. We appreciate the generosity of church members around the world.”
Sabbath School offerings have assisted in mission since the early days of Adventism. The regular weekly offerings can be seen as the backbone of mission – supporting projects from large mission schools to small clinics. However, 13th Sabbath has always been particularly special as the offering goes to support new projects.
Thank you for that support.
For more information about Adventist mission, visit the website: www.adventistmission.org
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, editor; Deana Stojković, associate editor
119 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3EY, England
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ted.adventist.org
tedNEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division. Readers are free to republish or share this article with appropriate credit including an active hyperlink to the original article.
