Jewish & Palestian Adventists
Pray Together in Israel

astor Richard Elofer, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Israel, voices his concern over the violence between the Jews and Palestinians which has claimed lives on both sides, and which threatens to destroy the peace efforts.

"We are very concerned with what is happening," says Elofer. "We want to see peace in this country and we want the negotiation process to continue and result in a satisfactory conclusion for all people."

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has been present in Israel for over 70 years and consists of 17 congregations with over 1,000 members. Church members, including Jews and Palestinians, together with others of different backgrounds, came together to pray last weekend over the crisis.

"From Friday sunset until sunset on Monday we had a 24-hour day prayer watch over the crisis which coincided with the Jewish festival Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement--the time when the Jews pray for forgiveness," reports Elofer.

"We prayed for peace in our country.  We are not involved in the political issues and activities but as a church we are very much concerned that people live in peace, reconciled and focusing on the values which the Bible presents and whose principles we use as a base of our faith.

“We pray for the protection of all people in Israel.  We cannot justify violence and conflict which is taking place in our country. We invite all of you, our friends, to think about us and make time to pray for the people of Israel," concludes Elofer.


Violence Puts Indonesian
Church Under Siege
Religious violence in Indonesia, which has created a mass of refugees in the region since January 1999, is again worsening, says Pastor Reinhold Kesaulya, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in east Indonesia.

Kesaulya cites action by Muslim militants as well as the failure of local and national officials to stop the sectarian violence as the main causes of the rapidly deteriorating situation, which has left an estimated 3,000 Christians dead and thousands more homeless.

Kesaulya reports that at least 15 Adventists have been killed in the violence and 12 churches have been burned, along with 55 homes of church members. "[Adventists] can no longer stay in their villages," says Kesaulya. "They have to go to stay in the jungle" or try to leave the region for the safer province of Manado.

Almost every aspect of the Adventist Church work in the region is under siege, says Kesaulya. Fighting near Maluku Academy in Ambon, which until recently was considered a safe haven, has forced the school to close and teachers and students have fled, he says.

"Only the members that live quite near their church are able to come to services," says Kesaulya, and due to safety concerns, "no meetings can be held in the evenings." He adds that the church's publishing department has been decimated by the fact that colporteurs, or book-sellers, can no longer visit houses to sell books.

The safety of church workers and members can no longer be guaranteed in Ambon or Central Sulawesi, says Kesaulya, and many pastors have been relocated. He says some pastors and leaders are staying to minister to the remaining church members. 

Street fighting and night attacks on Christian homes  continues, while sniper fire in the streets has become another security problem in recent months. "No one knows where these people are getting their weapons," says Kesaulya, who notes that the number of machine guns being used is increasing.

Kesaulya says that church leaders are trying to keep the churches running as normally as possible under the circumstances. But finances are stretched with virtually no tithe or offerings coming in from the troubled regions. There is also the added financial strain of evacuating church workers and providing basic food and shelter for some 1,000 Adventist refugees who have congregated near the church headquarters in Manado, Sulawesi Utara. Manado is "about the only area left untouched" by the violence, says Kesaulya.

Looking ahead, Kesaulya believes the long-term resettlement of refugees is one of the most pressing problems facing church leaders.

John Graz, General Conference public affairs and religious liberty director, has written to Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid asking the government to renew its efforts to bring "peace and harmony for the good of all citizens, no matter what their religion." –-Adventist News Network


South Africa Evangelistic
Series Brings Baptisms
“Pentecost 2000: Life Abundant and Free,” the largest Adventist evangelistic series conducted by the South Africa Union, ended September 24.

The three-week outreach meetings were conducted by Pastor Leslie Pollard of Loma Linda University. Nightly attendance ranged from 4,000 to 5,000. A 300-voice choir composed of members from 20 churches sang  each evening. 

Over the course of the meetings more than 500 persons were baptized. These new members were organized into eight new churches in Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage. A week after the meetings closed several hundred more people indicated their desire to be baptized and a new baptismal date was set for December 2.

The nightly messages were uplinked to 18 countries across Africa by the Adventist Global Communication Network. The signal also reach India, and parts of Europe and Asia. In the Southern African Union alone 181 churches participated in the meetings and several hundred more congregations participated across Africa.    The Adventist Review will print a feature story on these meetings in an upcoming issue.


AUC Grant to Aid Minority Student Nurses
The United States Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Atlantic Union College in South Lancaster, Massachusetts, a $611,577 grant to train academically and economically disadvantaged minority students nurses, reports Philanthropic Services to Institutions, based in the North America Division.

According to the Philanthropic Dollar, “the grant is to help meet the government’s national objective of increasing the diversity and quality of health care work force in compliance with the department’s Healthy People 2000 program.”