20 November 2024 | Budva, Montenegro [Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]
Around 280 Seventh-day Adventist communication, personal ministries, publishing, and media ministry professionals, along with church leaders from 42 countries, gathered for the opening of the annual Global Adventist Internet Network (GAiN) Europe event in Budva, Montenegro, on November 15.
Attendees, who serve in Adventist radio, TV, digital, and publishing ministries across dozens of European countries, met to learn about trends, discuss strategies, and focus on collaborative efforts to share Jesus more effectively.
From the outset, leaders reminded attendees that the event, under the theme “Connected: Deeper and Wider,” was focused on witnessing and mission-oriented initiatives. “We are here for the sake of communicating the gospel,” David Neal, communication director of the Trans-European Division and one of the main organisers of the event, said. “Our goal is to learn how to communicate in order to share Jesus better.”
Hope Media Europe director Klaus Popa agreed, also emphasising the collaborative nature of the initiative. “From the very beginning, GAiN was about connecting,” he acknowledged. “But then, we quickly began to be more strategic about what we do. We quickly realised that collaborating and working together would bring all of us further than walking alone.”
Working Across Ministries and Departments
This synergy arises not only from reaching out to other communication departments for cross-media initiatives but also from connecting with other ministries and departments of the Adventist Church.
Popa reminded attendees how, for the first time in 2023, regional communication leaders invited personal ministries leaders to meet with GAiN. Now, in 2024, they are including youth ministries leaders and young creatives as well. All of this, he said, is accompanied by a clear spiritual component. “We believe that if we are spiritually connected, it provides the foundation for working professionally together.”
Paulo Macedo, Inter-European Division communication director and another of the main organisers, agreed, calling on attendees to own the mission goal of the communication enterprise.
“Let’s not make this just an event,” Macedo said. He urged every attendee to “stop waiting for institutions to do the work, or for ministries to do the work, and instead focus on the people you want to reach.”
In a special greeting, Billy Biaggi, a general vice president of the General Conference assigned as an advisor to communication, called on Adventist communicators to focus on the witnessing facet of their work. Referencing Isaiah 60:1 — “Arise, shine; for your light has come!” — Biaggi encouraged Adventist communicators to reach out to dispel the darkness of this world with the light of the gospel. “If you let your light shine, ‘the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you,’” he said.
Grace, Grace, and more Grace!
In his keynote message, Tor Tjeransen, communication director of the Norwegian Union Conference, prompted attendees to use their lives as a living testimony to reach others.
“We want people to experience the joy of living a life filled with purpose and meaning,” Tjeransen said. However, he acknowledged, “None of us think that in order to do that, we need better studios, newer cameras, the latest in AI technology — that’s not the most important. The most important thing to communicate Christ is who we are,” he emphasised, “because if our lives do not match our message, our message will fall absolutely flat.” He quoted Adventist Church co-founder Ellen White, who, in her book The Ministry of Healing, wrote, “The strongest argument in favour of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian” (p. 470).
Tjeransen shared various experiences from his own journey, where he experienced “God’s grace in action.” He then asked Adventist communicators to acknowledge God’s grace in their lives and extend that grace to others. “We are the most powerful argument for Christ because we are connected to His grace,” Tjeransen said. “This is what GAiN is all about. We are here to hone our skills to communicate the grace of God by becoming a person who is true, honest, and authentic … connected to God, to one another, and to the community, by God’s grace.”
