{"id":395,"date":"2014-08-29T09:46:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T09:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/sitenews\/2014\/08\/29\/the-message-and-ministry-of-reconciliation\/"},"modified":"2014-08-29T09:46:40","modified_gmt":"2014-08-29T09:46:40","slug":"the-message-and-ministry-of-reconciliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/the-message-and-ministry-of-reconciliation\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Message and Ministry of Reconciliation\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Presented by\u00a0Lowell Cooper<\/em>
24 August 2012, Roga\u0161ka Slatina, Slovenia\u00a0[Kirsten Oster Lundqvist<\/span>,\u00a0ted<\/em>NEWS]<\/span>\u00a0\u201cIt is a refreshing experience to be here\u201d was the opening line of today\u2019s worship by Lowell Cooper.\u00a0 If he was referring the weather it was still cool, before temperature levels reached 34\u00b0C. Inside the tent the day had begun with prayer by Mariusz Adamczyk in polish, who thanked the Lord for salvation assurance, and asked for the day to be blessed so that we could concentrate.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Geert Tap and the worship team again led the congregation in meaningful, inspirational praise and worship. This drew not only the congregation closer to God, but some passersby as well. Several pastors feel that there could be more of this praise and worship, and among them was Pastor Rosemary Lethbridge, who observed that the team balanced their range of styles and song choices in a skilful manner.<\/p>\n

Lowell Cooper spoke on reconciliation as \u2018message and mission\u2019, focusing on 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 that includes these words: \u201cGod who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>In this passage Cooper said we find the grand central theme of scripture, the message<\/strong>, mission<\/strong> and method <\/strong>of reconciliation by God.<\/p>\n

According to Cooper, the God who is revealed in scripture is personal, purposeful and goal-oriented. We see Him engaged in mission. \u201cAnd we do well to remember that the mission is not ours,\u201d continued Cooper, \u201cbut Gods.\u201d \u201cMission was not made for the church, the church was made for mission!\u201d<\/em> Reconciliation is the mission of God. He was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.<\/p>\n

\"\"The text, Cooper pointed out, \u201cdoes not say reconciling the church, nor the nation of Israel, it says reconciling the world to God. We must not think that God is only interested in his covenant people,\u201d<\/em> continued Cooper, \u201cGods mission is to restore all that is true in this world, and that should be our mission too\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cooper then continued to talk about the importance of being grace-oriented. The message of reconciliation is that Gods grace has released us from the burden of our past. The grace that releases us is not finished with us, it not only lifts us out of sin\u2019s filth \u2013 it also recruits us to be ministers of this grace ourselves. Our relationships are changed, and it binds us with stronger ties than guilt and duty, for we are bound to the Giver of grace and called to make Him known.<\/p>\n

Addressing the theme of making God known in Europe, Cooper pointed out that \u201cas Adventists, we are called to make God known, not draw attention to our lifestyle or doctrines. People who are looking at behaviour are not looking at God. To make God known and glorify Him we must live in such a way that reveals Him \u2013 that is the mission of believers.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cPeople in Europe today are interested in spirituality,\u201d <\/em>encouraged Cooper, \u201cthe world does not reject Jesus, but it fails to see in Christians something that is better\u201d.\u00a0<\/em> At the same time \u201cwe must be careful,\u201d <\/em>stated Cooper, \u201cthat revival and reformation is not about returning to a former version of Adventism. Reformation and revival should not be form-driven. It destroys itself by becoming inward looking. Rather, revival and reformation should be about a new level of reflecting Jesus to the world. Nothing less will work.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Tor Tjeransen from Norway closed the worship with prayer for reconciliation amidst the brokenness and hurt around us; in the political landscape of Syria; and between countries and nations that don\u2019t get along. He prayed that we would reflect on the pain that drives people away because of hate and bitterness.\u00a0 He prayed for healing, forgiveness and grace. Then he prayed for the cause of women\u2019s ordination as his intercession drew to a close. [ted<\/em>NEWS]<\/p>\n

\n

ted<\/em>NEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor; Dragana Selakovic-Duval; Frederic Duval & Tor Tjeransen, photographers
119 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3EY, England
E-mail: tednews@ted-adventist.org
Website: www.ted-adventist.org<\/p>\n

ted<\/em>NEWS 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 ted<\/em>NEWS whenever you publish these materials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Presented by\u00a0Lowell Cooper<\/em>
24 August 2012, Roga\u0161ka Slatina, Slovenia\u00a0[Kirsten Oster Lundqvist<\/span>,\u00a0ted<\/em>NEWS]<\/span>\u00a0\u201cIt is a refreshing experience to be here\u201d was the opening line of today\u2019s worship by Lowell Cooper.\u00a0 If he was referring the weather it was still cool, before temperature levels reached 34\u00b0C. Inside the tent the day had begun with prayer by Mariusz Adamczyk in polish, who thanked the Lord for salvation assurance, and asked for the day to be blessed so that we could concentrate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1577],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-organisational-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}