Delegates from the Euro-Africa region of the Adventist Church reaffirmed that mission work remains the top priority of the church during last month’s annual year-end meetings. Among many agenda items they discussed an “Impact Evangelism Europe” initiative, church growth, and the humanitarian center in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Impact Evangelism Europe is a new umbrella program to coordinate all outreach projects and concepts according to age, church department, and country. “It’s important to concentrate outreach efforts in several cities simultaneously,” says Gabriel Maurer, ministerial association secretary for the region. “Then the church can discover the weak points of its mission.”

Leaders called the growth rate statistics for Euro-Africa “exciting reading matter.” Regional church secretary Carlos Puyol reported an annual growth rate of 3.59 percent, or a net increase of 19,015 new believers in the past year. Within the region, the church in Spain is growing at the fastest rate, 8.54 percent, followed by Mozambique, 5.13 percent, and Angola, 4.82 percent. Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania report a slight reduction in the number of their members.

Delegates also heard that the new medical research center at Kabul University in Afghanistan, run by Loma Linda University, was still standing despite the current war. Afghanistan is part of the Euro-Africa region, and plans are in place to enlarge the present facilities in Kabul into a wider humanitarian center (see ANN July 10 and September 25, 2001).

Nearly 100 delegates and guests from more than 30 countries participated in the annual meetings held in Jongny-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. Gerry Karst, a vice-president of the world church, and other leaders from the world church headquarters attended the meetings. The Euro-Africa Division, or church region, is comprised of 21 European countries, seven African countries and three Asiatic countries and has 548,495 church members.