Adventists are committed to be a part of the solution in addressing the plight of neglected and abused children, said Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the Seventh-day Adventist world church in an address to members of the Brazilian Congress Sept. 2.
Adventists are committed to be a part of the solution in addressing the plight of neglected and abused children, said Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the Seventh-day Adventist world church in an address to members of the Brazilian Congress Sept. 2.
Paulsen, undertaking a 10-day pastoral visit to South America, referenced grim world statistics of child abuse, exploitation and neglect, and said that, “As a Christian community of more than 20 million followers around the world, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is committed to working with governments, humanitarian organizations, and others, to raise awareness of the problems of child abuse and neglect, and to be a part of the solution.”
He added, that, “As followers of Christ, we have no choice: we are compelled by the example of our Savior.”
Addressing a group of 170 Brazilian deputies and senators from the Parliamentary Front for the Defense of Child and Adolescent Rights, the Adventist leader commended the Brazilian nation for its “commitment to defending the rights of children and adolescents, and for the protections that have already been passed.”
“The rights of children—to receive love, protection, health care, and education—are not ‘favors’ bestowed by society which can be given or taken away at will,” Paulsen said.
“The right of a child to live in an environment in which she or he can grow and thrive is a God-given right,” he declared.
In 2001, the Seventh-day Adventist world church designated the fourth Saturday of every August as “Abuse Prevention Emphasis Day.” This campaign, called “Breaking the Silence,” has been enthusiastically promoted throughout the church in Brazil. This year the emphasis is on child abuse.
This is Paulsen’s first visit to northern Brazil. He began Aug. 28 in the Amazon region, and included the cities of Manaus, Belem, Recife and the regional headquarters of the church in Brasilia. In Manaus, the city known as the place where the Amazon River has its beginning, the world leader reflected on the exemplary growth of the church in South America and in Brazil in particular.
Addressing the employees of the local church headquarters, Paulsen commended the church for being “single-minded in the objective of God’s mission.”
“We, as a church, have no other reason of being except to be instruments in God’s mission. The church in South America is setting an example around the world,” he remarked.
Paulsen shared a conviction that “where the church is growing, every member of the church makes mission as their life.”
“When laity embraces mission, the church grows,” he repeated.
Such an embrace of mission was found in Recife on Sept. 1, when the North-East Brazilian region of the church formally launched their part in the Sow 1 Billion program at a rally involving church members, pastors and church leadership. The international church program aims to share 1,000 million invitations to study the Bible with people all around the world during the next 12 months.
In Manaus, Paulsen, accompanied by Ruy Nagel, president of the church’s South American region, participated in a mass baptism in one of the tributaries of the Amazon, where 12,000 Adventists witnessed a baptism of 700 people.
The church’s beginnings in the region date back to the 1930s with Jessie and Leo Halliwell, two medical missionaries from the United States who traversed the Amazon between Manaus and the city of Belem in a launch called Luzeiro I. Today, the city of Manaus has one Seventh-day Adventist for every 19 inhabitants. The Amazon region is one of the fastest growing parts of the world church with nearly half a million members. The baptized Adventist membership in Brazil is 1.2 million believers.
On Sept. 3 Paulsen will continue to Bolivia, Peru and Equador. It is expected, local church leaders say, that just as in Brazil, the church convocations will have standing room only.
