Speaking to a gathering of nearly 3,000 members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Madrid, Spain, Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the Adventist world church, expressed condolences and solidarity with the nation on the day when Spain observed the first anniversary of the terrorist attack in Madrid, March 11. “We will remember. We will remember,” he said.

“These days are ... are symbols of a trauma,” he stated, referring to consequences of the attack, which killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 in Madrid. He extended words of sympathy to family members of those affected by the tragedy, among them Seventh-day Adventists, two of whom were killed with 14 others injured. (See ANN, March 14, 2004.)

“Terrorism has become a fashionable way to resolve conflicts between people. Many of us are uneasy about the future. We look around and ask: What does the future hold?” Paulsen said. “But we believe that while nations make plans for the future, God will unmake them. God knows and holds the future and He will choose when to end it,” he asserted.

“Events like the 11th of March [2004] in Madrid and the 11th of September [2001] in New York City are very traumatic moments. To me, they signify a bankruptcy of a system of not resolving differences between people. These terrorist acts are mindless, senseless acts of brutality. ... They reflect frustration of unresolved issues maybe in a different part of the world,” Paulsen said in an interview for the Spanish church’s magazine.

Paulsen also reiterated earlier statements that violence and war are “terrible solutions to human tensions and controversy. Whenever a war happens, to me, it is a statement of failure.”

He also offered a view of what should be the response of the Adventist community to issues in the troubling world of today: “We should be a voice of tolerance, understanding and hope, and in our voice create understanding rather than caricatures of unresolved matters,” Paulsen declared.

“We can say: It does not have to be this way. We are the children of God.”

The third biennial Madrid congress of Adventists met under the theme of “Transformed in Christ,” and brought together believers representing a 12,000-strong faith community worshipping in 114 congregations. The event featured local musical talent from numerous churches and Sagunto Adventist College. The proceedings were broadcast live on the Internet. Participating in the opening program of the convocation were representatives of the Religious Affairs Office, Ministry of Justice of Spain, representatives of Christian faith communities, and the national Bible Society. Pastor Ulrich Frikart, president of the church’s Euro-Africa region, accompanied Paulsen on his visit to Spain.

“This is a growing church. Last year we had a 9 percent increase in membership. Ours is a multi-cultural church with hundreds of immigrants joining us every year. Adventists from Romania are the single largest national group that has come to be a part of our faith community in recent years,” said Alberto Guaita, president of the Adventist Church in Spain. The dynamic growth of a church in a country with a rampant European secularism was seen in an ordination service of six ministers at a concluding event of the congress.

Recognizing the change in becoming a community formed by an influx of immigrants to the church in Spain, Paulsen remarked, “I commend you for the way you have integrated within the church. But I would say to those coming to Spain and those who live here: ‘Allow some room to adjust to live together. Be patient, open, cordial, accepting and loving. There is so much you have in common.’” He suggested “on-going consultations and planning so that this can be a sharing [process of integration], and it would result in mutuality of thinking.”

Frikart referred to the issues of integrating immigrant members of the church as “a challenge, but also an opportunity for enrichment.”

Addressing believers in Madrid, the world church president spoke about a responsibility of Christians for the community in which they live. “It’s a failure of a Christian not to care for the society. On your journey we should treat people with care and love.”

Adventists live in anticipation of the Lord’s coming, Paulsen said in his Sabbath sermon on March 12. “What is God expecting of the Adventist community?” he asked. “We must attend to our own spiritual lives, but we must also attend to the mission we, as a church, must carry out.”