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here are many non-Adventist nonprofit institutions throughout the world. Here’s a look at one young Adventist serving God as he works “outside” the church. Two other young adults will be featured in additional sidebars on the next page.

PETRAS BAHADUR lives and works in London, England, and currently serves at two nonprofit organizations—for both he conducts seminars for young community development workers and prospective leaders, and helps young people to become useful to their communities by empowering them to help others within their communities. Petras says, “Some of the young people are qualified and educated but don’t have a job. By creating a positive attitude in them and by encouraging them to participate in a community project, we literally change their entire perspective about who they are and what they can do.”

Petras is well qualified for his work: he has a postgraduate Diploma of Community Development from the Institute of Community and Development Studies in the U.K., an M.B.A. from De La Salle University in the Philippines, and a B.S. from the Adventist University of the Philippines. Petras is currently pursuing an M.A. in community development at the University of Westminster, U.K.

Formerly the chair of the business department at the Pakistan Adventist Seminary in Pakistan, Petras now has goals that include finishing his master’s degree in order to develop appropriate links to work more effectively in his community. Petras, who says that he’s always had the desire to be an evangelist, made a career change in 1998 that would encompass the practical side of evangelism. “I decided to ‘do’ instead of ‘talk,’” comments Petras. “Evangelists talk about ‘being kind to your neighbor’; in community development work we are practically kind to our neighbor without talking about it. Evangelists talk about ‘helping the poor’; we find the poor and help them.”

Petras sees his entire faith—the essence of what Christianity is all about—in community development as lives are transformed through the work in the locale. He takes his mandate from Matthew 25:34-36, 40: “Then, I, the King, shall say to those at my right, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, into the Kingdom prepared for you from the founding of the world. For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me water; I was a stranger and you invited me into your homes; naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison and you visited me.’ And I, the King, will tell them, ‘When you did these to my brothers you were doing it to me’” (TLB).

“The opportunities are immense, but the entry is sometimes difficult,” says Petras. “However, one easy access into opportunities within NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] is to begin to do volunteer work in them. Once you do that, then other opportunities would be easy to access. One piece of advice to the young people intending to work with NGOs: when you work for the NGOs, don’t just look at the benefits you can have personally but think of the lives that would be transformed because of your input. Our response to poverty is a crucial test of the reality of our faith. It is impossible to really know Jesus and be indifferent to the plight of the poor.”

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