{"id":7453,"date":"2017-11-21T15:40:40","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T15:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/sitenews\/2017\/11\/21\/ted-year-end-meeting-focus-on-retention-unity-and-mission\/"},"modified":"2021-12-10T20:42:31","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T20:42:31","slug":"ted-year-end-meeting-focus-on-retention-unity-and-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/ted-year-end-meeting-focus-on-retention-unity-and-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"TED Year-End Meetings focus on Retention, Unity and Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

21 November 2017 | Be\u010di\u0107i, Montenegro [Victor Hulbert] Egl\u0117 Mili\u016bnien\u0117 is passionate about her faith. After twelve years overseas, she has just returned to her home country of Lithuania with her husband, Robertas and three children. Their purpose? To be a witness within their own community. Robertas is volunteering as a Bible worker while she teaches music, using it as a tool for sharing Jesus. Recently elected to the Lithuanian Conference Executive committee she is also one of 11 lay-representatives from across the Trans-European Division (TED) to sit on the TED Executive committee.<\/p>\n

\"Egle<\/a>Her first time at TED year-end meetings, she confessed to being a little nervous but, she said, \u201cIt was very interesting to hear all kinds of reports from different church departments.\u201d But this is not just passive listening and reporting. During the one week of meetings, 13-19 November, in Be\u010di\u0107i, Montenegro, Egl\u0117 found herself engaging with the results of various problems and opportunities, while contemplating on possible ways to improve her church’s spirituality and methods of evangelism. In particular, she found herself working very closely with the other lay-representatives, discussing the way forward for the TED and finally presenting three motions that they believe may benefit the discussion of unity in the world church.<\/p>\n

She also found opportunity to sing her own composition during the Sabbath vespers programme, and to encourage leaders to pray. \u201cIt was a very memorable experience and every day brought something new,\u201d she said, adding that \u201cI was expecting more time for prayer during our meetings. I wish that next year we could have more prayer time in the programme.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was not a criticism, but a welcome suggestion to be considered in addition to the specific times of prayer that had been set during the day, and the many informal prayer walks and spiritual discussions shared during early morning strolls along the stunningly beautiful Montenegrin coastline.<\/p>\n

Prayer often came in too, as delegates listened to, or watched video reports from across the 22 countries that make up the TED.<\/p>\n

Mission Reports<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"TED<\/a>Pastor Raafat Kamal, TED President, specifically encouraged Union presidents to share a story of mission and hope during their seven-minute reporting slots. The first, from the South-East European Union, brought tears to several eyes as Pastor \u0110or\u0111ija Trajkovski shared a video highlighting what ADRA and the local church in Belgrade is doing to support street children, along with families, from a local refugee asylum centre. ADRA runs a community social centre just 5km outside Belgrade city centre, providing a socially and psychologically stimulating environment, play areas for the children, and craft, language and counselling areas for families. They also run a transport service ensuring that refugee children can be assimilated into local schools.<\/p>\n