TED News Bulletin
Trans-European Division of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church

17 December 2008


In this issue:
-------------------------
* Pakistan: Evangelism on the Move in Pakistan
* Cyprus: A Ministry for Our Time
* England: Gap Year Farewell
* Serbia: Adventist Church in Serbia Requests Protection
* Netherlands: New ADRA Director in the Netherlands
* England: TED News Update
-------------------------

EVANGELISM ON THE MOVE IN PAKISTAN...[Janos Kovacs-Biro/TED News
Staff/TED News]

Karachi/Farooqabad, Pakistan – Pastor Janos Kovacs-Biro, Director for
Evangelism in the Trans-European Division, travelled to Pakistan for
two weeks in December, to hold seminars. The main emphasis of his
visit was on reaching the cities of Pakistan with the Good News.

Eager to learn various principles and practices to aid their work,
leaders, pastors and Gospel workers of the Adventist Church in
Pakistan, about 60 persons in total, attended the seminars held in
Karachi and Farooqabad. The programme included lectures as well as
practical sessions aimed to teach, guide and inspire. By the close of
the seminars, the participants had learned the basic principles of
how to run an evangelistic series.

Leaders and workers have selected six cities in the north and five
cities in the south where they will put their skills into practice in
2009. They need all the prayer support our readers can provide!
 
During the weekend Pastor Kovacs-Biro and Pastor Younis Noor, leader
of the Adventist Church in Pakistan, dedicated four new church
buildings which will serve as community centres, and places of
worship and fellowship.


A MINISTRY FOR OUR TIME...[MEU News/TED News Staff/TED News]

Nicosia, Cyprus - “It is amazing.” “I am inspired beyond words.” “I
couldn’t hold back the tears.” These comments were heard at the Kids
in Discipleship (KID) training seminar on the sunny island of Cyprus,
the first such training to be offered in the Middle East Region of
the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Participants attended from Cyprus,
Lebanon, Kuwait and Dubai.

“Excitement grew as each team learned how to begin the KID ministry
in their home churches,” says Valerie Fidelia, KID coordinator for
Cyprus and one of the main instructors.

The weekend of 7-9 November was packed full of spiritual learning led
by Anne-May Wollan, Children’s Ministries director for the
Trans-European region of the Adventist Church, and Aranka Bajic, her
counterpart in the Middle East. More instruction and mentoring was
offered by Nancy Mansour and Valerie Fidelia, who help to run the
ongoing KID ministry in the Capital, Nicosia.

For many, the highlight of the training was Friday night when the
families of Nicosia Church came for their regular KID session. “The
live demonstration of little children gleefully searching the
scriptures and discussing spiritual lessons with their parents and
mentors made a powerful impact on all those present,” says Valerie.

Others bemoaned the fact that this ministry was not available when
their children were young. “So sad KID comes after our family is
grown,” said one participant.  “It is a ministry for our time,”
declared Akhan Awungashi from the Kuwait church.

KID is based on the Deuteronomy principle found in Chapter 6 and
verses 4-7. The first three verses are addressed to parents – we are
to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and strength, and then, we
are to introduce our children to that same Lord, and teach them to
love him too. “The principle is that discipleship begins at home,”
says Valerie. “In God’s plan, parents are to be the primary
disciplers of their children, having first become disciples
themselves. Teaching in church schools, Sabbath schools, sermons,
etc, should all be secondary to the teaching that takes place in the
home,” she asserts.

For more information: http://www.ted-adventist.org/resources/cm.htm


GAP YEAR FAREWELL...[Helen Pearson/TED News Staff/TED News]

Binfield, England - At the last college assembly of 2008, Gap Year
students received a supportive send-off as they left Newbold after a
term of preparation for six-month volunteer placements. All three are
going to places far from their own homes.

The two Finnish students, Lahja Heinänen and Emilia Rouhe are going
to very different parts of the world. From the beginning of 2009,
Lahja, will spend six months teaching English at the Language
Institute in Almaty in Kazakhstan. Although Lahja already has
experience of living abroad, in the United States, studying in
Argentina, and working in Kenya where she did a 10-month volunteer
placement, she is both nervous and excited about the Kazakhstan
challenge. Emilia Rouhe is planning to travel to Thailand to teach
elementary school in Bangkok next year. Already a qualified teacher,
she wants to be able to gain more practical experience in teaching
during her time overseas.

From January 2009, Sun Ju Lee, whose ambition is to be a teacher,
will take a step towards that goal by becoming a teacher’s assistant
at Newbold Primary School next to the College. Sun Ju comes from
South Korea and has been challenged by the opportunity to experience
a western style of education at Newbold College.

'These three young women all have a spirit of service and they have
made a positive contribution to the life of the College,' says Henrik
Jorgensen, Director of the Gap Year. 'We have no doubt that they will
make a contribution to the places where they work and that they
themselves will be enriched as they experience new challenges in
unfamiliar parts of the world.'
Newbold’s Gap Year offers students a unique opportunity to examine
various aspects of culture and religion, attend individually-tailored
self-development training, and study subjects like Cultural
Anthropology, International Development, and Mission and Volunteerism
for one semester before taking up a six-month volunteer position.

For more information and pictures go to www.newbold.ac.uk


ADVENTIST CHURCH IN SERBIA REQUESTS PROTECTION...[ANN/TED News]

Belgrade, Serbia - Criminals broke windows, scrawled threats on walls
and destroyed private property at five Seventh-day Adventist churches
in Serbia last month, prompting church leaders in the region to
appeal to the international community for help.

The latest acts of violence came after a year of escalating crimes
against Adventists in Serbia, according to a statement released by
church leaders in the South-East European region.

"We acquainted the ... authorities with these happenings, and because
incidents like these are happening repeatedly, we decided that the
measures taken are not efficient nor they are providing protection
and safety to the church members and assets," president for the
Adventist Church in South-East Europe Miodrag Zivanovic said in the
appeal sent out Friday.

Zivanovic said the Serbian government has not taken steps to protect
the Adventist Church against crime and violence, and local law
enforcement has not tried to capture and punish the perpetrators.

"Serbia has been through difficult times for years. Some extremists
believe they need a scapegoat, which they find in religious
minorities," said John Graz, director for the world church's
department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty. "We are expecting
the government of Serbia to respond to these aggressions, [and to]
demonstrate to the world that it stands for religious freedom."

Copies of the appeal were sent to the Serbian government, the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of
Europe, the embassies for the United States, Germany and Australia,
the Center for Development of Civil Society, and the Adventist world
church headquarters.

Vandalism began in January 2008 when churches in the towns of Sivac,
Kula and Kragujevac were sprayed with graffiti threats, the appeal
said. In October, the windows of the Adventist church in Kragujevac
were shattered, followed by breaking and entering at local church
headquarters in Belgrade in November. The Belgrade vandals were
caught on security camera as they damaged cars in the parking lot.

No arrests have been made at the time of the appeal..


NEW ADRA DIRECTOR IN THE NETHERLANDS...[Wim Altink/TED News Staff/TED
News] 

Huis ter Heide, Netherlands – On 27 November the Board of Adventist
Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Netherlands appointed Geert J.M.
Hendriks as its new Director, effective 1 February 2009. 

At the time of his appointment, Mr Hendriks was working as an Account
Manager at a major Dutch telecom company, and he was the Treasurer of
the ADRA Netherlands Board.
 
Since Hans Ponte stepped down from his position as Director of ADRA
Netherlands, following an appointment from the Inter-American
Division to become the President of the Aruba Mission, the Board of
ADRA Netherlands has made extensive efforts to find his successor.
"We have full confidence in Mr Hendriks, and if we all commit
ourselves to the work of ADRA, our mission will be successful" says
Board Chair, Herman Jillings.
 
Wim Altink, President of the Netherlands Union of Seventh-day
Adventists said: "We look forward to work together with Geert
Hendriks, who has proven on many occasions to have a committed heart
for serving the church. He is fully equipped for his new challenge.
We welcome him!"


TED NEWS UPDATE...[Paul R. Clee]

St Albans, England – Throughout the past year TED News has tried to
report what has happened in the last year in our territory. Covering
the stories in the many countries of the Trans-European region is not
always easy, especially when we do not understand the language! We
are so grateful to the people who regularly send us material; we do
appreciate the time you take to send that e-mail report, and
accompanying pictures. We can only print what we receive, and follow
up on stories that we hear about. Very sadly, we may have missed some
important events because we have not heard about them.

We would appreciate your help: if you hear of something happening in
your area, please send us a short article about it; and whenever
possible, sharp, clear pictures. We dream one day of being able to
put pictures with our stories, but until then, they can be seen with
the article on our web site.

As this year comes to an end, we would like to wish you all a blessed
Christmas time; and a New Year filled with God’s blessing.

________________________________________________________________
TED News Staff:
Paul Clee, News Director and Editor
Heidi Kamal Kendel, Editorial Assistant
Trans-European Division
119 St Peter's Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire
AL1 3EY, England
Website: www.ted-adventist.org..

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