16 February 2015 | St Albans, United Kingdom [Adrian Peck, tedNEWS] Organisations frequently talk of the need to be learning entities, consultative and open to constructive criticism and feedback, but few in reality follow through these assertions. Putting this into practice the Trans-European Division (TED) gathered 79 ‘front strikers’ in St Albans, United Kingdom, from 9-13 February to function as a think-tank, addressing the key issues and challenges that face, and will continue to face, the TED over the next five years.
Comprising an eclectic mix of lay-workers, pastors, administrators and professionals from across the TED, with support from the General Conference (GC) and sister Divisions, the five main areas addressed were: general existential considerations, Mission, Youth, Media and Family. Many of the participants were people who are involved in mission ‘where the rubber meets the road’. No topic or ‘elephant-in-the-room’ was off limits. A spirit of trust pervaded the meetings, along with an implicit permission to consider change and to think outside the box, resulting in an environment that challenged and energised participants.
Pavle Trajkovski, from Serbia, proposed that: ‘youth need to be involved in all aspects of church life’, but also challenged the need for expensive and glamorous events, suggesting that all that is sometimes needed is ‘a simple phone call or a meeting over a cup of tea’.
Sometimes, a week-long meeting can be a soul-sapping venture. However, for these meetings the most often-used word was ‘excited’. As Sophia Peart, a UK post-graduate student at Newbold put it, “the synergy during this think-tank has been inspirational”.
As the process moves forward in a spirit of prayer and asking the Lord for his guidance and leading, we would also ask for your prayers, so that the Church in Europe will experience the renewal and regeneration we long for. [tedNEWS]
[Group photo taken by Dragana S.D.G.]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, 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.
You are free to re-print any portion of the bulletin without need for special permission. However, we kindly request that you identify tedNEWS whenever you publish these materials.
