Albania:  Pastoral Training Centers on Evangelism, Bible Studies

Tirana, Albania ......[Leigh Rice/ANN] Six pastors and two Global Mission pioneers in Tirana and Durres, Albania, put into practice what they learned following a weeklong intensive training program on developing structure in evangelistic presentations and Bible studies, and on the Biblical role of the pastor in the church.  The Feb. 21 to 25 program was led by Rex Edwards, vice president of Griggs University, the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s distance learning institution.

The program was part of an Evangelism Field School sponsored by the Ministerial Department of the church’s Trans-European region. Attendance at the four evangelistic program venues in Tirana, which included restaurants, cafes and church facilities, and one in Durres totaled approximately 150. These programs are slated to continue in Elbasan and Korca in late March.

Indonesia: ADRA Completes Assessments of Damaged, Destroyed Schools

Sumatra, Indonesia ... [Kirsten Øster-Lundqvist/ANN] ... The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has completed assessments of schools damaged and destroyed by the Dec. 26, 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia’s Aceh Barat region, on the Northwest coast of Sumatra. Ninety percent of evaluated schools need either major repair or total reconstruction. With a mandate from UNICEF, and memorandum of understanding with the government, ADRA took a lead role in the education sector, focusing on coordinating cleaning of the district’s schools. After the initial cleaning, ADRA conducted structural assessments on more than 60 schools, encompassing over 250 buildings. The findings showed that one to two buildings at a minimum of 25 schools need total reconstruction, and a further 20 schools require major renovation.

Jamaica: Symposium Addresses Spectrum of Human Rights

Mandeville, Jamaica ...  [ANN Staff] Suppressing religious freedom, a fundamental human right, can lead to violence and societal damage, said Jonathan Gallagher, United Nations liaison for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. “One of the most frequent destabilizing factors in society continues to be the abuse of religious rights,” he noted.

Gallagher spoke at a symposium on “Human Rights and the Administration of Justice,” sponsored by the Jamaican Ministry of Justice and Northern Caribbean University (NCU), held on the NCU Campus in Mandeville, Jamaica, Feb. 22 to 23. 

The two-day forum, themed “Justice, Truth and Accountability,” brought together experts, decision-makers, students, teachers and personnel from national and international agencies —government and non-government—who work, or have an interest, in the administration of justice.

Maarit Kohonen, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said governments devoted to protecting all human rights should establish “human rights information systems at national levels [that] create a culture of accountability and in turn will engender the application of justice.”