The people of the island of Cyprus take pride in the fact that their home was the first place in which a government official, a governor by the name of Sergios Paulus, believed and accepted Jesus. Today the largest portion of the island's population is comprised of Greek Cypriots (84 percent of the 741,000 population). The next-largest segment of the population is the Turkish Cypriot community, who reside in the northern part of the island; this area became inaccessible to the Greek Cypriots after the Turkish invasion of 1974.
Currently there is only one organized Adventist church on the island, and it is located in the capital city of Nicosia. Approximately 50 people attend regularly; however, during the past four years an active small group outreach ministry has been taking place in Limassol, the second-largest city in Cyprus. It is hoped that the fruitage of this ministry will result in an established church in this town. Small group ministry, combined with an out-of-the-ordinary evangelistic campaign such as "Treasures in the Sand," seems to be the recipe for success in this unique country.

Orthodox Challenges
The first striking characteristic of the Greek Orthodox religion is that it is embedded in the national culture. The sociopolitical life of the Greeks in Cyprus has also been influenced by religious figures. For instance, Archbishop Makarios was the first president of the island after it gained its independence from Great Britain in 1960. "It is always expected and assumed that anyone who is Greek is a Greek Orthodox," comments Pastor Ioannis. "Those who are not are somehow regarded as 'impure' Greeks. The Greek Orthodox consider themselves to be God's chosen people, a nation favored by God. After all, the gospel did go first to the Greeks, the New Testament was written in Greek, and the tradition of a state church goes back to the very 12 apostles."

Perhaps this is why, in order to prove conclusively how dreadfully misled people from other religious backgrounds are, the very first question a Greek Orthodox will ask in a conversation about religion is "When did your church come into existence?" Then, mathematically, they prove that theirs is the best religion, since its origins can be traced to the apostolic church.

"These challenges are by no means new," says Pastor Ioannis. "In preaching to the Jews, Paul encountered people with strongly ingrained Jewish traditions. Jesus had an apt answer for the Jews who argued that they were right simply because they were descendants of Abraham [see John 8:39]. The evangelistic series 'Treasures in the Sand' sought to present our message in a way that would respond favorably to these challenges. Emphasis was given to the fact that our doctrines also originate from the Apostolic Era."

Removing the Sand
More than 80 persons filled the conference room of the Kanika Pantheon Hotel on the Limassol seafront to hear the first in the series of these 20 biweekly lectures. Initially the first few lectures used illustrations and stories from ancient civilizations to show the reliability of the Bible and its prophecies. Particular emphasis was given to the fact that many of these ancient stories were unknown until archaeologists, in recent times, brought them to light. During subsequent meetings Pastor Ioannis uncovered ancient Bible truths that had been "covered by the sands of scepticism, ignorance, and bigotry." These Bible truths were repeatedly referred to as "treasures," and the lectures, therefore, became a quest to reveal the original Bible doctrines. Keenly interested individuals in the audience were seen videotaping and recording the lectures. Because of the immense importance that Greeks place on their tradition, church forefathers were quoted extensively.

"Further in the series, when the time came for more doctrinal issues to be presented," added Pastor Ioannis, "we demonstrated how many of the revered Greek Church Fathers, such as Chrysostomos and Athanasios, practiced adult baptism and accepted the seventh-day Sabbath respectively."

Weeks before the meetings were scheduled to begin, church members from Nicosia and Limassol assisted in the door-to-door distribution of 15,000 four-color handbills. Newspaper advertisements printed in the popular Greek press also contributed to the success of the meetings.

Global Mission and the Nicosia church, with the anticipation of boosting the small group of Cypriots already meeting in Limassol on a weekly basis, jointly funded the lecture series. However, it was remarkable to note that the Holy Spirit moved one non-Adventist Cypriot who had attended similar meetings in the past to donate funds to cover 30 percent of the total budget for this endeavor.
"After 10 years of working in this environment it becomes evident that it is not possible to undo the influence of 2,000 years of tradition in just a few meetings. This is why the purpose of these meetings was not to lead people to baptism, but rather to get acquainted with people in order to invite them to join our existing small groups in Limassol," reported Pastor Ioannis after the meetings had concluded.

Several of these people did accept the invitation to join the small groups at the end of the series and with the support of the existing members are slowly being led to making a decision. The merging of these groups will establish the church in Limassol.

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Alex Elmadjian is the Communication and Media Services director of the Middle East Union in Cyprus. Ioannis Giantzaklidis is the pastor of the Nicosia Seventh-day Adventist Church and the presenter for the "Treasures in the Sand" evangelistic series.