How old is too old? In the Euro-Africa region of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, it seems the age is at least 101.
How old is too old? In the Euro-Africa region of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, it seems the age is at least 101. Ellen White influenced a man from Transylvania, who had traveled to the United States as a young lad. He never made a decision and returned home. However, late in life, the seed that was sown came to life and at age 101 he made a choice to be baptized.
With a story like this it is not surprising that the EAD report began with a lively contemporary musical duet climaxing in the theme “Jesus is King”
As regional church president Ulrich Frikart introduced the leadership team and delegates he gave thanks to God for those who have contributed to the church growth in EAD over the last five years.
This is a very diverse territory of 561,356,000 made up of countries both in Eastern and Western Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It has a rich diversity of culture and religious identity. Thus the challenge to reach out to communities that are predominantly Catholic such as Spain, Portugal and the Vatican, but also more protestant countries such as Germany and Switzerland or the predominantly Orthodox Romania and Bulgaria. In addition there are the Muslim regions of Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa and the increasing secularism of Western Europe
The church here is made up of 190,000 members. The report graphically demonstrated that Church Growth is significantly exceeding population growth. But while statistics are interesting, it is the individual stories that touch the heart. Stories like that of Janka Noskova, a pediatrician from Slovakia. She was raised a Catholic but stopped attending church due to the influence of her communist father. One day she read about the healthy vegetarian lifestyle. She attended a lecture on vegetarian diet for children and ended up getting involved in the lecturing. After many years she ended back in church via the influence of the healthy Adventist lifestyle. In the Slovakian culture evangelism is a slow process but Janka finds she is making a difference with her health work.
Health ministry is making a difference across the region. In Turkey 300 visitors attended stop smoking clinics in cultural centers, a further 1,000 in army and navy bases and 5,000 students have also heard the seminars in public schools.
Health clubs and exhibitions have been very popular in Turkey but also in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria, Rumania, and Portugal. These have succeeded in attracting 22,000 people from many backgrounds. They work well for secular people as well as Muslims. An added advantage is that the Health Fairs involve the church members and so help revitalise the church. From these fairs around 950 people have continued follow-up at health clubs. The relationships they build up with church members here move them towards church membership.
Health is part of the solution but contextualised radio programs are also making an impact with the large Muslim community. Programs can be downloaded from the Internet as well as being heard on shortwave radio via Adventist World Radio.
TV and satellite are also being used. Satellite Evangelistic Campaigns have been produced locally in Germany, France, Italy, Portugal and Romania. Two of the satellite campaigns have been specifically made for young people.
The region has joined the rest of the world church with involvement in the “Sow one billion” leaflet distribution program. About 17 million “Take Jesus” cards have been distributed in the German speaking areas alone.
During 2004 over 500 lay-members experienced the joy of public evangelism. This resulted in some 700 people making plans for baptism. This has added to the 5 percent growth rate across the region.
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency, ADRA, has demonstrated the humanitarian side of the church with programs like the active feeding programme for school children in North Korea, development programs in Afghanistan, Tsunami relief efforts and other projects.
The presentation concluded with Rainer Wanitschek of the South Bavarian Conference sharing the moving miracle of a major “Walk Through the Bible” exhibition in a major shopping mall. Despite initial resistance from church members who felt that people should come to the church rather than the church going to the people the program moved. There were last minute blocks, and miracles of prayer and support from the Lutheran Church but the exhibition opened on October 2, 2003. This was a first for Germany and touched the lives of 50,000 people. The exhibition included face painting, puppets, and interactive computer displays, and a Bible Labyrinth. A lot of Muslim people came in grateful that they could discover about the Bible in a shopping mall as there is no way they would have come into a church. Wanitschek was moved near to tears as he testified of this fantastic witness.
As the delegates from Euro-Africa handed out a gift to the other delegates in the hall it was impossible to do anything but praise God for the miracles he is performing in people’s lives. As Frikart stated at the beginning, this is a story that needs to touch the heart.