The addition of 10 nations to the European Union on May 1, which formally took place in Dublin ceremonies, sent encouraging signals to Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders in Europe. The new member states are the Greek portion of Cyprus, the Czech Republi
The addition of 10 nations to the European Union on May 1, which formally took place in Dublin ceremonies, sent encouraging signals to Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders in Europe. The new member states are the Greek portion of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia; the Adventist Church is active in each of these countries.
“Generally, the recent expansion seems to have more of a symbolic significance, at least in the immediate perspective, in that it will remind people in the relevant seven countries that they belong to Europe and are a political entity with modern Europe,” said Bertil Wiklander, president of the Adventist Church in the Trans-European region, which includes Cyprus, the Baltic States, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia. “This could impact the future of religious liberty positively, in that the countries would be stimulated to accept pluralism and tolerance.”
Adds Ulrich Frikart, president of the Euro-African region, “To us, [the EU has] existed for many years. It did not influence the church in central Europe; for the east, it’s a tremendous motivation, they feel part of Europe now.”
One consequence, Pastor Frikart noted, was that the Adventist church regions in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which five years ago had contemplated even greater separation, are now talking about even closer cooperation, combining publishing houses and ADRA offices.
At an early May meeting of church leaders in the two nations, Frikart said, “I detected a greater feeling of unity,” which expressed itself in “immediate” discussions about merging some operations.
“The sense of unity was very much underlined during this session,” Frikart added. “Five years ago, there were discussions to separate; all this is over. This is very beneficial for the church.”
Effects of the greater unification will be felt not only by the decision making bodies of the church, but greatly will effect the way the church uses new opportunities for its mission. “Joining the European Union gives us a great chance for mission growth. Communication will be easier between local congregations, as well as access to new evangelistic resources,” said Zbigniew Makarewicz, pastor of the Central Church in Warsaw, Poland, in an interview with ANN.
“We can expect a greater migration of people, and thus an opportunity to witness to diverse nations, languages and cultures,” he said.
Already now, Makarewicz said, his local congregation has three language groups effectively established and functioning: Russian, Ukrainian and English. “There will be more to come,” he added. He warns, however, that easier exchanges with the affluent Western nations may provide some downsides, including such problems as secularization, greater reliance on material things and moral relativism. “It will all become a probe for our faith,” Makarewicz commented.
Political leaders of the EU, which now represents 435 million citizens under a common banner, echoed those thoughts of integration and solidarity when the expansion of the European Union was formalized.
“Today we welcome into the EU family 10 new member countries and 75 million new EU citizens,” said Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, in remarks on May 1. “Five decades after our great project of European integration began, the divisions of the Cold War are gone once and for all and we live in a united Europe. ... Today, the peoples of Europe are celebrating EU enlargement in a series of cultural events from the west coast of Ireland to the eastern border of Poland, and from Valletta [Malta] in the south to the northernmost tip of Finland.”
As the May 1 unification celebrations unfolded in Dublin and in the 10 capitals of the new member-countries of the European Community, Adventist church members found themselves in their churches for their regular weekly Sabbath worship. In Warsaw, the congregation experienced an additional obstacle of having to negotiate the security zone established by the government in connection with the European Economic Summit taking place just prior to the May 1 events. “You had to have a permit to be in one of the secured zones that were to protect the city from potential demonstrations of antiglobalists,” said Jan Kot, a television journalist and active member of the local Adventist Church in Warsaw.
He commented that the church did not issue any official statements in connection with Poland’s joining the EU, but church members in his congregation were as “representative of the views and opinions as the whole country.” However, Kot said, there were many comments that expressed a certain consciousness of being perhaps observers of something bigger than the mere fact of unifying 25 countries.
Kot also commented that such a view perhaps “informs us of being witnesses to a certain sign of the times.” He added that the emphasis on “Christian roots of Europe,” so prominent in the public commentaries, had a particular significance for Adventists who reside in the nation where its most famous religious figure is Pope John Paul II, who was born in Wadowice.
Kot added that the unification could bring “much good for us being aware of the varied untapped contemporary means and methods” offered by the new unified Europe to “accelerate the mission of the church.”
The practical implications of integrating 10 more countries into the EU could benefit church operations and communion as well. Having a common, unrestricted currency means it will be easier to move funds among nations; citizens of the EU will have fewer hassles in visits to other member states and, in many cases, in moving for work and study needs.
“For the church in the [Trans-European region] and in these countries in particular, we anticipate that travel and visas will become easier,” Wiklander told ANN. “As they eventually enter into the common European currency, the Euro, we expect that financial transfers between the [regional headquarters] and the affected [countries] will become more stable.”
Already, said Valdis Zilgalvis, president of the church in the Baltic region, movement has become easier.
“I went from Latvia to Lithuania on May 2, 2004,” Zilgalvis wrote in an e-mail. “I was surprised that on the border there were not cars parked. There was a policeman who checked passports and then we could go. It was a nice surprise.”
Amidst such celebrations, however, Wiklander admitted there were some concerns about the lasting effects of EU expansion. Among the issues the Church will need to confront, he said, are whether young church members will emigrate to other EU states to find work or education, which could lead to a reduction in membership; whether prices and costs in the newly integrated countries will rise, so that our members will have increased financial challenges; and whether new jobs will be offered at home to the large number of unemployed young people in these countries. If the latter happens, that could boost tithe income.
But with prosperity could come other challenges, Wiklander added: “the expansion could also stimulate a more ‘consumerist’ attitude to life, which we know tends to affect our members’ life style and values, leading to a greater preoccupation with mundane matters and this world, rather than a spiritual life style where witnessing has a central role.”
According to Frikart, there is also a need for the Adventist Church to be vigilant about the EU’s enforcement of religious freedom.
“I believe that religious freedom is something which will be, of course, promoted throughout the EU,” he said, noting that more-established churches in some of the new countries may resist such moves.
“This is why we are thinking of creating a more visible presence for the Adventist Church in the European Parliament,” Frikart added. “We have to find a structure to be present—as we are in New York and Geneva at the United Nations—we now have to be present in Brussels and Strasbourg,” which are the capitals of the EU and its parliamentary seat.