Ulrich Frikart, President

During the 1995 General Conference session in Utrecht the delegates of the Euro-Africa Division (EUD) identified, in the survey conducted by the General Conference, two top priorities for the next five years. Both of them relate to the fundamental mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church: training lay members for missionary outreach, and investing financial resources in missionary outreach.

The following report gives information about the fulfillment of this mission during the past five years.

But first of all, let us briefly look at some factors that had an impact on the vision and the strategy of our churches.

Complexity of the EUD in a Global World
When we look at our division, we are struck by the diversity of the nations and peoples that make up its churches and shape its mission.

The EUD consists of six union conferences, two union missions, and five unions of churches. Its territory covers 31 countries spread over Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, representing different religious majorities.

The Vatican, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, and several smaller areas are predominantly Roman Catholic. Germany and Switzerland are partly Protestant, while the churches in Romania and Bulgaria face major Orthodox populations. In addition, we have work in Muslim North Africa, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, as well as in Angola and Mozambique.

Despite this diversity, our division is united in the common goal of bringing the good news of Jesus Christ and His soon return to every people and family within our territory. Ever since M. B. Czechowski and J. N. Andrews set foot on this continent, mission has been our reason for existence. But in recent decades the countries in Western Europe have struggled with slow growth.

Today the total population in this area is 584,314,000 inhabitants, with only 516,613 Seventh-day Adventists.

EUD booth hostess Conchita Bagenas talks with Ernst and Ann Gissler from Ontario, Canada.

These 31 countries range from secular Western Europe, where the Adventist Church originated on this continent, to the Eastern European countries, with the largest concentration of European Adventists; and the Islamic nations in Northern Africa, with the countries of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia as well as Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iran. Farther south, Mozambique, Angola, and the islands of São Tomé and Principe are the countries with the highest number of baptisms.

In order to reach this immensely diversified population, the EUD is currently publishing materials in 22 main languages.

Sharing the gospel in many of these countries represents a big challenge, not only because of their cultural diversity and language barriers. The growing indifference toward religion in the secularized countries of Western Europe, the social unrest in some African countries, and the strictly fundamentalist societies of the Muslim countries add heavy burdens that, without God's help, could prove unsurmountable obstacles to preaching the gospel.

But with God on our side, everything is possible.

Let us take a closer look at several areas.

Europe
Germany, with only one main language, has more than 11 ethnic groups and eight main religions.

In Switzerland, there are three official languages: French, German, and Italian. But besides these, the population speaks several others. There are 57 Adventist churches, divided into two conferences.

Belgium, a small country nestled between France, Germany, and the Netherlands, has significant parts of its population that speak the three languages of its neighbors. Ninety percent of the population are Catholics, and Protestants are outnumbered by atheists by 7 percent.

Romania, a former Communist country, has seven ethnic groups and seven different main religions. Romania trains Hungarian-speaking pastors; publishes Hungarian books, five editions of Sabbath school study guides in Hungarian, and a Hungarian version of the monthly Adventist Herald. There are more Hungarian-speaking Adventists in Romania than in the whole Hungarian Union Conference. These difficulties have not stopped or even slowed down Adventism. With hundreds of baptisms each year, this union has 70,978 church members.

Ten percent of Bulgaria's population is Turkish, 85.7 percent of the people are Orthodox, while the other major religion is Islam. The Adventist Church has some 93 churches in this country and 6,683 members.

Africa
Rapid growth in Mozambique and Angola has continued, with 3,200 baptisms during the first quarter of 1998. These two African countries highlight the diversity of our division.

The official language in Angola is Portuguese. Adventism is spreading in this country with its more than 11 ethnic groups. Likewise, Mozambique has more than nine ethnic-linguistic groups.

Angola, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Principe have among them 1,496 churches, with 316,778 members, which is 66 percent of the total for our division.

The Trans-Mediterranean Territories
In the Trans-Mediterranean Territories, we have four churches, with 89 members, in a population of 226,400,000. This is the biggest challenge for the Euro-Africa Division. For political reasons, the church is not allowed to function in many of these countries.

In the A.D. 50s the apostle Paul created the Christian communities of Europe in Turkey. Today, almost 2,000 years later, Turkey is once again opening to Christianity. The Euro-Africa Division has two ordained ministers in Turkey, with one church and 19 members. For each Adventist there are about 3.5 million non-Adventists.

Through the work of ADRA, the Adventist name is becoming known, which opens up pathways for the church to become officially established.

The work of ADRA throughout the division is phenomenal. One has only to recall the massive earthquake in Turkey and the political crises in Bosnia, Kosovo, Croatia, and Macedonia.

AWR's Contribution
Adventist World Radio (AWR), for its part, has continued its strong support for the radio ministry in the Euro-Africa Division since its first broadcasts from Portugal in 1971.

Shortwave broadcasts in Arabic continue to be very successful, generating thousands of responses each year. AWR broadcasts 10 hours in Arabic for the Arabic world of the Middle East and North Africa each day. Programs in Farsi, Romanian, Bulgarian, Italian, and German are also aired on shortwave.

The new digital radio satellite network initiated by AWR for Europe is an important venture linking together local Adventist radio stations in mission and providing greater exposure of the church in the field of modern media.

The Institute of Christian Ministries

EUD delegates caucus in a Thursday evening session.

The International Institute of Christian Ministries (IICM) is a lay-training system that allows each union to develop its own programs and to achieve its own objectives. It is a very professional training at volunteer level, covering six curricular alternatives that represent the main needs for the training of our church members. Areas of concentration include courses in local church leadership, personal evangelism, public evangelism, and adult, children's, and youth education.

This concept, consisting of training our members to train other members, has been adopted by our division to achieve the goal indicated by Ellen White: namely, to have a training center for Christian workers in each church. This system started last year with the following strategic plan: establishing at least one training center in each union during the year 1999; at least one training center in each conference during the year 2000; at least one training center for 10 churches during 2001; at least one for three churches or groups of small congregations during 2002; and one in each church or small group of congregations by 2003.

By adopting this ambitious training program, we hope to fulfill our goal to have at least 25 percent of our lay members involved in active soul-winning programs.

Global Mission and Hands Across the World Projects
The Global Mission program plays a big role within the EUD. From 1995 through 1999, an amount of about US$3.4 million was spent in this area, with the support of the General Conference. The following list shows our major projects.

Bulgaria: Evangelistic campaigns in various cities, especially among Gypsies.

Germany: Work among different people groups, mainly in Berlin and Hamburg (Ghanaians, Koreans, Russians, Tamils, etc.).

Italy: Work among Ghananian people.

Malta Island: Work in unentered territory. A church has been established.

Portugal: Work among Gypsies and African people groups. One Gypsy and one African church have been established.

"Hands Across the World" is a program that has been of great help to several countries within the EUD to establish churches and to construct church buildings. The program has been very effective in Angola and Mozambique. Five churches have also been built in Romania, and a bigger one in Sofia, Bulgaria. This program will help give newly baptized members the needed home for their church services.

Satellite Evangelism
Another miracle is the welcome development of satellite evangelism. We were inspired by the vision of North American leaders, and 500 churches, particularly in Romania, participated in NET '96. For the NET '98 campaign more than 1,300 churches participated, representing the Unions of Eastern and Western Europe, Angola, and Mozambique.

In 1999 Bucharest was the broadcasting center for the ACTS 2000 campaign with Mark Finley. Using the broadcasting facilities, we conducted a stewardship seminar. During six days Ben Maxson addressed live from Bucharest hundreds of pastors and thousands of church members gathered in 391 downlink sites throughout the division territory. The German unions have produced their own satellite campaign, broadcast from the Marienhoehe church, Darmstadt. The speaker, Hans Gerhardt, a teacher at the Friedensau Theological Seminary, enthused the church members and visitors from more than 500 churches of several countries of our division.

The statistical report on baptisms for the period before and after NET '98 gives us a gleam of hope for our European unions. At the end of the first three quarters of 1998, we had 19,120 baptisms, 15,063 of which were in Angola and Mozambique, and 4,057 in our European unions. During the first three quarters of 1999, we had 22,368 baptisms, 15,993 of which were in Angola and Mozambique, and 6,375 in our European unions. Why these 3,248 baptisms more than during the same period of the previous year? There is only one explanation: NET '98 with Dwight Nelson. The fruits of that campaign were gathered during the first three quarters of 1999. Praise the Lord for it!

Let me report two stories, two miracles, among many others, resulting from satellite evangelism. Martin was a Lutheran pastor. Yet, for many years, he and his wife, Valika, had been striving to understand the biblical truths better. They visited every church in Bratislava, but the Seventh-day Adventist church was not on their list. They did not know it existed. When an Adventist colporteur visited them, they started to study the book of Daniel, and discovered that they had finally found the church they had longed to belong to. They attended Dwight Nelson's meetings during NET '98, and at the end of the campaign Martin and Valika were baptized. Today Martin is an Adventist colporteur, and he and his wife are sharing the joy of reaching many people with the message that transformed their lives.

In Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, a minister of another denomination has been baptized through NET '98, and now his whole congregation (more than 130 members plus children and youth) has been handed over to the Adventist church to care for, and they are all attending the baptismal class. Conclusion

Sharing the gospel in the Euro-Africa Division territory is a tremendous challenge. To fulfill it, we must face secularism, Islam, war, and the scars of Communism. But we have nothing to fear. God is with us. He started this work, and He will have the last word.

As we enter the twenty-first century, I have a threefold vision for our churches.

First, we need leaders and pastors with a vision for the harvest (John 4:35). NET '96 allowed many churches to participate in a new form of public evangelism. The enthusiasm for this type of evangelism in many of our churches caught some leaders by surprise. Despite cross-cultural divergences, NET '96, NET '98, and all other satellite evangelistic campaigns achieved good results. But no program can be successful without churches that are motivated by the compassionate vision of a ministry to people who need the Lord. To develop such a vision at all levels of our church must be the first task of our pastors and leaders.

Second, I see an immense need in our division to continue to mobilize the gifts and talents of our lay members. The EUD has set as a goal for the year 2000 and the years beyond to have 25 percent of its membership actively engaged in the dynamic sharing of their faith.

Third, as the Euro-Africa Division is facing heavy financial challenges, and as the needs are greater than our capacities, the time has come to measure plans, activities, and even organizational structures by their contribution to the unique end-time message and the total mission of the Adventist Church. What does not fit these criteria must be discarded. When we look at anything our church does, we must use three evaluation questions:

• Does it uphold the message God entrusted to us?
• Does it help fulfill the mission God has given us?
• Does it promote the growth of our members and strengthen their confidence in the church and its organization?

I have the vision of a church that will be active and in full bloom as it searches to fulfill its mission. And that mission is to spread the message of redemption to all peoples, nations, tribes, and languages.