"To reach these goals, we dedicate ourselves:

The Complexity of the Euro-Africa Division in a Global World
Have we succeeded in fulfilling these goals?

The answer is not easy to give, considering the challenges of the Euro-Africa Division: secularized countries, former Communist countries, Muslim countries.

When we look at our division, we are stricken by the diversity of the nations and peoples that make up its churches and have shaped its mission. The Euro-Africa Division consists of six union conferences, five unions of churches, and the attached Trans-Mediterranean Field. Its territory spreads over Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, all representing different religious majorities.

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

In spite of this diversity, our division is united in the common goal of bringing the good news of Jesus Christ and His soon coming to every people and family within our division territory. Today the total population in our territory is 561,356,000, with a church membership of 190,000.

Sharing the gospel represents a big challenge, not only because of the cultural diversity and language barriers. The growing indifference toward religion in the secularized countries of Western Europe and the strictly fundamentalist societies of the Muslim countries could prove insuperable obstacles to the preaching of the gospel.

But with God on our side, everything is possible. With creativity, our ministers, church members, and institutions are reaching out to people, going "to the marketplace."

Janka's Story and Health Ministries
Janka, a young atheist woman living in Slovakia, was a translator for a series of Adventist health talks and became interested in health. She wanted to know more about this topic and about Adventists and their beliefs. Today she is a committed and active church member.

No matter where people come from, they want to live a meaningful existence with a good quality of life, and are therefore interested in health. For this reason, the Health Ministries Department reaches out to all classes of people with the comprehensive message of salvation, integrating all aspects of life--body, mind, soul, family, and neighbors.

We have two well-equipped hospitals: Clinique La Ligniere in Switzerland, and Krankenhaus Waldfriede in Berlin, Germany. Besides curative health care, both work also for prevention by offering seminars on a multitude of health topics. This made them both eligible to become members of the WHO network of health-promoting hospitals in Europe.

Besides these large institutions, we have three lifestyle centers: Herghelia in Romania, a health clinic in Lisbon, Portugal, and "Die Arche" in Germany, which provide inpatient treatment on the NEWSTART basis and also offer a variety of health seminars.

Our hospitals and lifestyle centers are places where the people must go. But we also must go where the people are. This is being achieved through the health expos and health clubs. The expos are standardized health fairs that operate for a few days in public places. Overall health assessment, lectures, and personal counseling are the main features. Com-pared with the traditional stop-smoking seminars or cooking classes, which address only one lifestyle aspect, the health expos cover the entire lifestyle, including the main killer diseases, such as heart attack, cancer, hypertension, and diabetes, as well as depression and spiritual aspects. This method works well for secular people as well as for Muslims. Another positive feature is that the involvement of lay members revitalizes the churches that participate.

After the health expos have created a desire for more information, the health clubs come into place. These are organized groups of people who meet regularly--once or twice a month--for lectures and discussion of topics regarding health, family life, and spiritual matters. Health clubs provide people with the opportunity to get acquainted with church members, their lifestyle and beliefs, on a safe basis. They represent an important step toward church attendance.

Health expos and health clubs are well-established activities in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Portugal, and Bulgaria. We would like to give special credit to the Portuguese Union and its health ministries director for their committed service and input in this area. These activities are being developed in Germany, Austria, Romania, and soon will be developed in the other countries of our division.

Youth and Education
As it does every five years, the EUD Youth Department had its International Youth Congress in Wroclaw, Poland, in August 2004. For the first time in many years, it gathered 3,000 young people from more than 40 countries in the two European divisions (the Trans-European and Euro-Africa divisions organized the congress together) and other parts of the world.

"Time for Action" was the theme, to emphasize that we live in a special moment of history. We wanted to reaffirm that Jesus is coming very soon. Today, more than ever, it's "time for action."

In Stuttgart, Germany, a group of about 40 committed young people, mainly students, are carrying out a creative evangelistic program to reach unchurched downtown youth. This program, called Generations, consists of several activities targeted to young non-Adventists: The Underground (a special meeting corner to socialize and share literature, talks, music, religious TV programs, videos, movies, etc.); FridaysatSeven (special programs for Friday evenings in the youth hall), and Generations worship services at church on Saturday evening, with special music, relevant speakers, sensitive topics, and a large participation of young people.

An average of 100 non-Adventist young people attend these meetings, which provide many occasions for Bible studies every week. The group operates an attractive Web site, www.generation-s.info, as an active link with their growing audience.

In France a nationwide and ongoing evangelistic effort named "Generation Mission," conducted by the youth leaders and involving hundreds of young people, is showing promising results. We praise the Lord for the motivation and commitment of our younger generation.

The 10/40 Window
Did you know that September 11, 2001, raised more serious questions in Muslim minds than it strengthened Islam? That one of the most frequently asked questions among Muslims is about Jesus? That young Muslims are searching the Internet to know more about Jesus? A personal outreach ministry is developing in all of the Muslim countries of our division (Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia) and in Bulgaria and France as well. In four countries people are being baptized, and the tithes are steadily increasing.

Contextualized radio broadcasting is the main tool for low-risk preaching. Production is done in France (14 and a half hours per week, preparing 750 hours a year of broadcasting) and in four other branch studios. Assisted by AWR, three full-time producers, an army of 14 occasional workers (most of them laypeople), and five volunteer workers prepare broadcasts in seven languages: French, classical Arabic, dialectical Arabic, Berber, Kabyle, Turkish, and Farsi (spoken in Iran). This is a tremendous challenge. We thank the Lord for the growing success of our radio broadcasts, be it by shortwave or by satellite distribution, as in Italy and Romania.

One of our pastors/producers has followed up 152 Bible study series with listeners. In order to strengthen the AWR ministry, we have created the first contextualized Web site with a French address: www.voixdelesperance.com. This makes it possible not only to listen on shortwave radio or on satellite, but now by downloading French, Arabic, and, soon, English programs.

A Variety of Other Evangelistic Activities
During the past quinquennium we have experienced significant developments and deep changes, which show that the Lord has led us to strengthen and to experience unity in diversity.

The restructuring of our division territory as of January 2003 has represented a major change in the life and work of the Euro-Africa Division. By this action two of the largest and fastest-growing unions have been incorporated into the newly created division in Africa. This experience meant more than the readjustment of our membership by more than 50 percent. It also meant the change of a mutual relationship of giving and receiving with a field so different from the European field.

For the European part of the Euro-Africa Division, this territorial restructuring has represented a challenge with a strong motivational potential. Major evangelistic events have strengthened the confidence and the courage of our European church members. The enthusiastic participation in satellite evangelistic campaigns produced by our unions has given a strong support to our church members and has motivated them to share their faith with people around them. Satellite campaigns were broadcast from Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, and Romania, including two satellite campaigns specifically designed for young people. Prioritizing its financial means, the EUD was able to lead out in these initiatives with the support of the General Conference and the proficiency of the team of our media center in Darmstadt.

Evangelism has become an important element of our church's life. Euro-Seeds, starting in 2001 as an ongoing process, has contributed to evangelism through church planting. Different models have helped to reach out to our diverse society. Youth Challenge in Austria, the Go Conferences in Germany, the Hope church in Paris (France), the One Year for Christ project in Geneva (in close cooperation with the José Figols Youth Center and the Theological Department of the Saleve Adventist University), and the Pioneer Church Planting Volunteers' Program in Romania have significantly contributed to the establishment of many new congregations.

Sow 1 Billion has motivated many members to distribute leaflets inviting people to study the Bible. With the financial help of one of our major institutions, in Germany alone about 17 million "Take Jesus" cards have been distributed. There has been a dramatic increase of enrollments for Bible studies. All these actions have led to a new awareness of the evangelistic potential of our lay members and youth.

In 2003 the Spanish Union organized a field school for evangelism with international participation. The aim was to prepare for the Year of World Evangelism in 2004, during which more than 500 lay members throughout the division discovered their call to preach the gospel in public evangelistic campaigns. Another 700 are preparing to join the group. Motivated pastors and members have contributed toward a membership net increase of 5.01 percent during the first four years of the quinquennium, totaling 171,076 members as of June 30, 2004.

Involvement in Society
The idea of becoming relevant to the community has generated creative actions on the local and national levels. In Romania, Tinserv (in English, "Youthserve") has become a program known for its involvement of groups of young people helping the poor, sometimes even building houses for people in need or helping them in their daily struggles. The Italian Union concept of using local churches as community social centers, and the Bulgarian proj-ects helping ethnic groups such as the Romani population, have made an impact on the image of the church in society.

Successful symposiums on religious liberty organized in Paris (France), Rome (Italy), Madrid (Spain), Sofia (Bulgaria), Prague (Czech Republic), and other places demonstrated a substantial contribution toward better awareness of the needs of minorities in Europe, thus providing a deeply appreciated report for governmental entities.

Humanitarian projects highlight the earnestness of the Euro-Africa Division's desire to get involved in the society of which the Seventh-day Adventist Church is a part. They include the program initiated by ADRA/Switzerland for continually feeding thousands of children in North Korea, the extraordinary commitment of our ADRA team in Afghanistan and the instantaneous help of ADRA/Germany for the homeless after the earthquake in Bam (Iran), the tremendous efforts after the tsunami tragedy in Southeast Asia, as well as the Friedensau University projects in India and its participation in the Commission for Minorities at the United Nations in Geneva, and the volunteer teams from our youth groups and schools such as Marienhoehe in Germany.

Conclusion
Sharing the gospel in the Euro-Africa Division territory is a tremendous challenge. But we have nothing to fear. God is with us.

Ever since M. B. Czechowski and J. N. Andrews set foot on our continent, the mission has been our reason for existence. In the words of Emil Brunner, "The church exists by mission just as fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no church" (The Word and the World, p. 108).