"The meeting demonstrates the unity that holds Adventists together despite ethnic, political, and cultural borders," said Bertil Wiklander
Seventh-day Adventist pastors from across the former Yugoslavia met together for the first time in nine years for two days of professional training and Christian fellowship. The event, held October 19 to 21 in Sarajevo, brought together 140 pastors including Bosnians, Croats, Kosovar-Albanians, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbs, Slovenians, and Hungarians from Vojvodina. For nearly a decade, war and ethnic conflict in the region had prevented gatherings of this kind.
“This meeting makes an important statement to the world around us,” says Bertil Wiklander, one of the initiators of the meeting and president of the Adventist Church in the administrative region known as the Trans-European Division (TED). “It demonstrates the unity that holds Adventists together despite ethnic, political, and cultural borders. The spirit of fellowship and Christian love during these meetings was something extraordinary. It has re-invigorated our faith and commitment to our Lord.”
Speakers noted that the unity of the Adventist community in Sarajevo—which includes people with Muslim, Croat, and Serbian backgrounds—had been a powerful witness of spiritual unity in a place torn apart by conflicts. “This meeting is a significant reminder of that spiritual unity,” said Rade Nikulic, a pioneer leader in the Sarajevo Adventist congregation.
The meeting included two days of teaching and training in leadership and personal relationships, presented by Wiklander and Miroslav Pujic, TED communication director. Participants decided to make the meeting a regular event. The next meeting is scheduled to take place at Marusevec, an Adventist college in Croatia, in the autumn of 2001.