From April 11–16, 2023, the joint EUD/TED Family Ministries Leadership Training (FMLT) took place on the Friedensau Adventist University campus. In a three-year cycle of six days each, family ministry leaders, pastors, and interested laypeople are trained on topics about family and relationships. They are provided with information and materials to enable them to conduct family seminars independently and respond more effectively to the needs of families in their areas.
This year was about family and ethics, Christian education, sexuality, and intergenerational worship. A whole weekend was dedicated to the theme "Let's talk about sex." In addition to the European speakers, Torben Bergland, associate director of Health Ministries for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, joined the event.
The Program
The event started Friday evening with three “Sparks Talks” (each 15 minutes) from Daniel Duda, president of the Trans-European Division (TED), Prof. Andreas Bochmann (Friedensau University), and Karen Holford, TED Family Ministries director, under the topic “What is so amazing about sex?”
Sabbath morning started with a devotion by Holford about Tamar and Judah. The study groups dealt with different stories about sex in the Bible (for example, Abraham, Hagar, and Sarai, Tamar and Amnon, etc.) and what to learn from those stories for today.
Afterwards, Daniel Duda, president of the TED, presented his sermon "God, sex, the Bible, and us." In addition to short presentations, the topic was also explored in depth in various workshops.
On Sabbath afternoon, there were three more Spark Talks: “Dignity” by Helgi Johnsson, from Island, “Consent” by Ansku Jaakkola, a female pastor in Sweden, and “Shame-free Relationships” by Holford.
Mary Jo Sandholm talked about “Current Issues in Sexuality,” and Torben Bergland continued with “Attachment & Sexuality” on Sunday morning. The “Let’s talk about Sex” (LTAS) weekend conference concluded with Q&A time and workshops in the afternoon.
Comments and Future Events
All the participants from the EUD and TED stated that it was long overdue to have such a topic for these kinds of events. “Talking about sexuality is often hindered by the issue, because the former generations did not talk about sex and made it such an untouchable topic,” commented Rainer Wanitschek, EUD Family Ministries director. “At the latest, we will have the topic about sex again, when we continue with our three-year cycle of FMLT [Family Ministries Leadership Training].”
In the second year of training (2024), the topics will be “Family and Society,” “Family and Evangelism,” “Human Development,” and “Making the Sabbath Special.” Then, in the third year (2025), the topics will be “Interpersonal Communication,” “Strengthening Marriages,” “Biblical Foundations for Work with/for Families,” and “Sabbath and Family Spirituality.”
The article was written in collaboration with Andrea Cramer and Rainer Wanitschek
The original version of this story was posted on the Inter-European Division website.
