The Church in Europe challenged to 'Go Beyond Normal'

25 November 2013 | Be?i?i, Montenegro [Kärt Vahtramäe, tedNEWS] The Trans-European Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (TED) organised a conference entitled ‘Go Beyond Normal: Making God Known in Europe’ which took place in Be?i?i, Montenegro from 12-14 November 2013. The purpose of the conference was to start a journey for the participants to deepen their understanding about the mindset of people in Europe, talk about experiences in the community and plan to be part of the movement to ‘Making God Known in Europe’.

What united this diverse group of 140 church leaders and members was their desire to find effective ways for sharing the Great Hope in a predominantly postmodern Europe.

Over three days, twelve presenters introduced the challenges and opportunities arising from the changes that have taken place in our society during the last half century. The talks touched upon three general categories – culture, essence and praxis – as they described, contextualised and explained the characteristics and history of postmodernism; explored the phenomenon from a theological perspective; and emphasised some essential elements of practical sharing in a postmodern environment. Each talk was followed by general discussion around tables, the results of which were recorded and gathered in order to form a statement of currently relevant emphases. (To read the statement, please click here.) In addition to that, the participants listened to many practitioners sharing their experiences, enjoyed worshipping and praying together and experienced the journey of vibrant faith in the Discipleship Maze.

Pastor Ted Wilson, president of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church, who attended the conference with his wife Nancy, emphasised the need to creatively focus on specific things that will help reach people in the contemporary culture: “This conference helped to orient people to some of the challenges that you face when dealing with people who don’t even have a reference point for the Bible.” He pointed out how important it is for the church ‘to engage people in conversation and fellowship and, ultimately, to bring them into contact with the Bible’. In summarising the main message of the conference, Wilson said, “People need to do something! Get out there and do something to share Jesus’ love in your life with somebody else.”

Pastor Wayne Krause, church planter and pastor of Central Coast Community Church in Australia, highlighted the need to slow down and listen to people before we share our story. He also said that the TED has become a pioneer in the field: “In the years to come – when the rest of the world is facing a similar situation to what Europe is facing now – people will come to you and want to know what solutions you found.”

“What I’m taking away from this conference is that there is hope for the Adventist church to change its approach to reach this generation,” commented Pastor Michael Simpson from the UK. “It was  an excellent conference on the topic of postmoderism and evangelism. I can go back to my conference and tell them we are not alone. There are other people thinking the same and fighting the same battle for postmodernism and reaching out to the community.”

The youngest participant – Melvin Kok, 21 – came from the Netherlands and is an active ‘postmodern Adventist’ hoping to become a pastor. “It is great to see that the mindset in the church is really changing,” he said and admitted that the conference encouraged him to do some more self-reflection in his model of leadership.

Pastor Bertil Wiklander, President of the TED, commented, “Our purpose with this conference was a two-fold one: firstly, to look back at the history of postmodernism and make a critical evaluation, and, secondly, to learn about its characteristics, its patterns and values, so that we understand how to connect with people who are influenced by this mind-set and be more successful in reaching them for Jesus Christ. I am very grateful to those who planned and executed the conference so well, and I am confident that this conference achieved this dual objective and that participants returned home inspired by a new vision to ‘Go Beyond Normal in Making God Known in Europe’,” concluded Wiklander.

As the participants return to their churches and apply what they have learned to their ministries, the organisers of the conference are already shaping visions and making plans for the next conference – one that will take a step further and move from providing information to practical equipping.

For more educational resources about ministry to postmoderns, please visit www.ministrytopostmoderns.com  and www.lifedevelopment.info.

To see more photos from the conference, please click here. [tedNEWS]

tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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