“Building Bridges of Understanding” was the theme of a weeklong international conference on Adventist-Muslim relations, which brought 180 participants from more than 70 countries to Paphos, Cyprus, Feb. 23 to March 2.

According to Peter Roennfeldt, organizer of the conference and Global Mission coordinator of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European region, the meeting was envisioned to “cultivate understanding and sensitivity to the heart needs of Muslim communities.”

“There are people God has plans for in His kingdom that haven’t heard the message yet,” added Michael L. Ryan, director of the Adventist Church’s Global Mission initiative.” He said that a conference such as this, which involved participation from the world church, “serves as a catalyst to draw leadership to the subject. Lots of people heard new things for the first time” about communicating the gospel message.

The Cyprus conference worked toward the objectives to sensitize leaders, workers and laity of the church to issues in Adventist-Muslim relations. Jerald Whitehouse, director of the Global Center for Adventist-Muslim Relations at the Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters, said that achieving such an objective “is particularly important in the context of current events. This will be of great help in assisting our people to be a stronger influence for peace, tolerance, understanding, respect and reconciliation.”

In his introductory remarks, Bertil Wiklander, president of the Adventist Church in the Trans-European region, said: “Our attitudes and actions must reflect our commitment to the brotherhood of all human beings. God has created all people.”

The conference program included 53 workshops and plenary sessions facilitated by lecturers with different cultural and denominational backgrounds from across the world.

According to organizers, the fact that more than 70 countries were represented in the Building Bridges of Understanding Conference attests to the increasing interest, concern and desire to become involved in Adventist-Muslim relations by a wide range of individuals and levels of the church. It is estimated that there are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world.