ANN Bulletin - April 15, 2008 - unOFFICIAL ADVENTIST FORUM

Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do.
And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with
– even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department.
Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently. Romans 14.1: The Message

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#167712 - 04/21/08 08:14 AM ANN Bulletin - April 15, 2008
magilly46 Registered: 10/29/02 Posts: 140 Loc: BC	Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters April 15, 2008 In This Issue: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kenya: Adventists oppose six-day workweek proposal 15 percent of civil servants could be affected, church leader says; campaign in media, community April 10 Nairobi, Kenya Dominican Republic: President donates land to Adventists Fernandez commends church presence; permanent youth retreat planned April 11 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Adventists continue exploring partnerships with international health organizations More internships, missionary opportunities expected for students April 14 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States Peru: ADRA helps women, small farmers start businesses, increase sales Dairy project highlighted at United Nations forum April 11 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States Adventist university degree goes the distance with new partnerships Griggs' distance learning MBA available in Vietnam, United Arab Emirates, Taiwan; 'You are the one we want to partner with' April 15 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kenya: Adventists oppose six-day workweek proposal April 10, 2008 Nairobi, Kenya ... [ Ansel Oliver/ANN ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Adventist Church in Kenya placed advertisements in national newspapers April 10 explaining its opposition to a government proposed six-day work week. Church leaders plan to lobby government and labor officials regarding the proposal that would require Adventist civil servants to work Saturdays. [photo: East Africa Union] Seventh-day Adventists in Kenya are criticizing a government six-day work week proposal that would require civil servants to work on Saturday, the biblical Sabbath and day of rest for the nearly 16 million-member global denomination. Kenya's minister of state for public service introduced the proposal after a government team examined a new work model. Adventist Church leaders called on the government to suspend the proposal, saying requiring members employed as civil servants to work on Saturday would conflict with the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion. "While appreciating the minister's zeal to drive our nation to a 24-hour economy, we are of the opinion that any moves in that direction should be sensitive to the fundamental and God-given rights of all Kenyans," Paul Muasya, executive director of the church's East African Union Mission, said in a statement during a press conference in Nairobi last week. His entire statement also appeared on April 10 as advertisements national newspapers, including Daily Nation and The Standard. Church leaders in Kenya said the proposal could affect 15 percent of the country's civil servants. Union of Kenya Civil Servants representatives said they would accept working Saturdays if they were treated as overtime, according to the Nation. Last week, The Nation reported Minister of State for Public Service Asman Kamama as saying he had urged public servants to stop being "conservative" and "embrace change." Kamama was not immediately available for comment. The church's Justice and Commission Committee met April 10 to set plans in opposing the minister's plan, said Philip Gai, the church's communication director in East Africa. "We intend to dialogue with the minister concerned, lobby through our Adventist members of parliament, lobby through the Adventist lawyers association, meet with the civil servants union leaders and to meet with the Federation of Kenya Employers," Gai said. "We also want to sensitize church members on the situation and embark on religious liberty seminar in all our churches," he added. Kenya, a country of about 37 million people, is home to roughly 565,000 Adventists. Church leaders estimate that figure jumps to nearly 3 million when including children who have not yet chosen to join the church through baptism. Dominican Republic: President donates land to Adventists April 11, 2008 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic ... [ Libna Stevens/IAD Staff/ANN Staff ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez, right, with Cesario Acevedo, left, president of the church in the Dominican Republic. Fernandez donated 31 acres of public land to the church last month. [photo: Dominican Union] The Dominican Republic national leader donated 31 acres of public land -- already used by Seventh-day Adventist young people for annual retreats -- to the church last month. During the March 28 donation ceremony, he applauded the church's work and image in the country. "There is a natural kindness in each one of you that I know is a result of having God as a guide in your attitudes and your behavior," President Leonel Fernandez told hundreds of church leaders and members gathered for the ceremony. "I would like that same spirit to be extended to the entire Dominican nation." The donated land -- part of a university-owed campground earlier decreed public by the Dominican national government -- is located in the island nation's San Cristobal province outside its capitol, Santo Domingo. In 2006, the church in the Dominican Republic established a public relations campaign to bring its ministries and activities to the attention of government leaders. Late last year, Fernandez took note of the 250,000-member church's mission in the nation of 9.4 million, its positive impact in the community and the involvement of its young people, church officials said. The church will build new facilities to house thousands of Adventist young people who already use the land during annual retreats, said Silvestre Gonzalez, Adventist Church spokesman in the Dominican Republic. Gonzalez also said for a national leader to recognize a non-Catholic denomination was unusual, and the church was grateful. The Adventist Church in the Dominican Republic operates six regional offices, more than 1,000 congregations, nearly 100 elementary and secondary schools, one university, one hospital and eight radio stations. Adventists continue exploring partnerships with international health organizations April 14, 2008 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States ... [ Ansel Oliver/ANN ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adventist Health Ministries director Dr. Allan Handysides believes partnering with international health organizations will help broaden Adventist students' understanding of global health issues. [photo: Rajmund Dabrowski/ANN] The Pan American Health Organization is seeking to engage in partnerships with Faith-Based Organizations, including the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Health Ministries, as part of their effort to connect with FBOs who deliver as much as 40 percent of health care in many developing nations. Representatives from both organizations met here at the Adventist Church's world headquarters last month to explore ways of implementing the UN's Millennium Development Goals through the church's structure, including its health leaders and healthcare institutions. "I was very impressed in learning how much health is an integral part of what the Adventist Church is all about and I thought that was fascinating," said James Hill, PAHO external relations officer. PAHO is the World Health Organization's regional office in North and South America and predates its parent organization. Church leaders said partnering with such organizations and receiving international standards of care would give even more credibility to its work. "We would like to see Adventist health professionals and churches that are interested in health to perhaps align some of their activities to ameliorating some of these problems like childhood and infant mortality in South and Inter-America," said Dr. Allan Handysides, the church's Health Ministries director. He said a collaboration might offer Adventist students more internship and missionary opportunities. "We usually think of missionaries as going to our own institutions, but it would be possible that if we place some of our Adventist students with organizations like this it would help them in their understanding of global health issues and create natural networking among the young people that would lead to lifelong partnerships," Handysides said. Church leaders said last month's meeting grew out of a commitm ent from WHO officials to recognize and partner with the work of FBOs. The Adventist Church will continue to dialogue and hold further consultations with other FBOs during Geneva world conference on lifestyle and longevity in June 2009. Peru: ADRA helps women, small farmers start businesses, increase sales April 11, 2008 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States ... [ ADRA Staff/ANN ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A three-year ADRA project is helping women in Peru become business owners. The project trains women in leadership, marketing, accounting and business management skills. [photos: courtesy ADRA] Julio C. Muqoz, second from right, ADRA's bureau chief for marketing and development, presents an overview of an ADRA development project at an April 4 United Nation's forum for non-governmental organizations. Handmade fabrics manufacturing, producing chocolate goods, milk and cheese and a laundry service are all micro-businesses that the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) helped native Peruvians develop and sustain. The businesses came from two separate ADRA projects designed to encourage sustainable sources of income in Northern and Central Peru. The first project, Women's Hands, provided economic opportunities for women in Morococha, a mining district in central Peru. The second project, Increased Employment and Income Among Small Milk and Cheese Producers, targeted impoverished dairy farmers in the Hualgayoc Province in the economic corridor of the Cajamarca region, Northern Peru. From the three-year Women's Hands initiative, some 85 women received training and successfully established micro-businesses. They have already sold their products at local markets and are now looking to expand their businesses to other towns. "They are attempting to create modern, profitable and sustainable micro enterprises, looking for a niche in the district, while looking forward to future expansion to the state, the region, and probably to an international level," said Isabel Asca, marketing assistant for ADRA Peru. The project was completed on March 23 and financed by Peru Copper, a mining company. The second project, aimed at helping dairy farmers obtain sustainable sources of employment, has helped them increase sales of high-quality dairy products. In an April 4 presentation at a non-governmental organization (NGO) forum held at United Nations headquarters in New York City, ADRA highlighted this project to illustrate innovative sustainable development. "In its consultative role to the UN, ADRA recognizes the value of sharing its success stories with member states about the issues that affect the people we serve in so many countries," noted Anne Woodworth, ADRA's representative to the UN. A presentation of ADRA's project will be displayed at the Innovation Fair Civil Society Pavilion at the UN, as well as posted on a related blog, where countries can approach NGOs on their involvement in sustainable development. Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org. Adventist university degree goes the distance with new partnerships April 15, 2008 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States ... [ Elizabeth Lechleitner/ANN ] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some 90 students at Hanoi-based Vietnam National University are enrolled in an English master's degree in business administration offered by Adventist-run Griggs University. Similar degree partnerships around the world give Griggs a chance to introduce students to Christian values and business ethics, the organization's president says. [photo: courtesy Griggs University] As fledgling free market countries capitalize on the global economy, English language degrees -- often available through partnerships with United States-based universities -- are indispensable for students with international business ambitions. Such affiliations with public universities are a chance to offer top-notch degrees and introduce students to the service-based philosophy behind Christian education for Seventh-day Adventist-owned Griggs University, the organization's president says. Six months ago, officials at Hanoi-based Vietnam National University told Griggs president Donald Sahly they'd chosen the Maryland-based correspondence university to supply an English master's degree in business administration alongside their Vietnamese program. Griggs hurtled for the chance: "Boom -- within six months we had 90 students enrolled," Sahly says. Formerly known as Home Study International, Griggs began offering college degrees by correspondence to international students without access to an Adventist campus in 1991. But with partnerships such as the one in Vietnam, students can study at a traditional campus and benefit from classroom interaction while still earning a distinctly Christian education from Griggs. "I tell these students, 'Look, an education from Griggs is bigger than your GPA, your MBA or the BMW you drive afterward," Sahly says. "It's not about money or greed. It's about service." Sahly received a call last week from education officials in Taipei, Taiwan interested in a similar partnership at the Chinese International Academy Institute, R.O.C. "They have the faculty and the facility. All they need is our MBA." Meanwhile, affiliations with a college and a graduate studies institute in the United Arab Emirates -- one in Dubai and the other in Ajman -- have enrolled more than 150 BBA and 40 MBA students. Sahly and his staff supply the curriculum and approve the contract teaching staff, which includes the head of a consulting company who spent six years on the New York Stock Exchange and an Australian lawyer and lecturer who freelances for three colleges in Hanoi. The host university provides classroom space and hires the approved professors. Even though the teachers are not Adventist and Griggs' MBA classes aren't taught in a distinctly Christian environment, Sahly says the partnerships expose students to the philosophy that drives Christian education through Griggs curriculum and periodic lectures by Griggs staff. Sahly says the students learn to be motivated by service. "People who serve live longer, are happier and are more productive than those who are self-centered," Sahly says. For students "raised on evolution and atheism," he says such concepts stir questions. The students may not be signing up in droves for Bible classes, but every question they ask is a wedge to a new worldview, Sahly adds. "Adventists have been tied to the concept that evangelism has to conclude with a baptism," he says. Traditional evangelism has its place, Sahly says, but "being thrown out of a country for proselytizing does not help our witness very much. I think what we're doing here is simply representing our God and our church in a very positive, productive way." Griggs typically charges $25,000 per 100-student affiliated program plus a $150 registration fee from each enrolled student -- less than the going degree affiliation rate. Because it's strictly a distance learning university, Griggs isn't saddled by the overhead that comes with campus upkeep and fulltime faculty. "If we were in this for the money, we'd be charging double or triple what we are," Sahly says. During his visits to the host universities, Sahly has noticed capitalism-driven thirtysomethings whose job it is to propel their countries more fully into the free market are replacing older generations. "Our invitations to these places have a lot to do with how we can help open up these countries to the wider world -- economically, technologically and philosophically. That's where we fit in." While Sahly doubts distance learning partnerships will outmode the church's campus-based education system, he says they make sense in countries where there are no Adventist universities. Even where there are church-run schools, Sahly encourages Adventist campuses to partner with their local public universities to offer Griggs' MBA degree. "I've gone to our colleges in Hong Kong and Taiwan and I've said, 'Here's what's happening in Dubai and Vietnam. Why don't you people go downtown, find some contract teachers and knock on some doors?' It's an opportunity to witness in a way we've never thought of before." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- news.adventist.org ANN World News Bulletin is a review of news and information issued by the Communication department from the Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters and released as part of the service of Adventist News Network. It is made available primarily to religious news editors. Our news includes dispatches from the church's international offices and the world headquarters. Reproduction Requirements: Reproduction of information in this article is encouraged. When reproducing this material, in full or in part, the words "Source: Adventist News Network" must appear under the headline or immediately following the article. The words "Source: Adventist News Network" must be given equal prominence to any other source that is also acknowledged. Ground 7 News Podcast: Ground 7 News is a review of news and information issued by the Communication Department from the Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters and released as part of the service of Adventist News Network. Reproduction of the ANN podcast is encouraged. When rebroadcasting this material, in full or in part, the words "Source: Adventist News Network" must be mentioned before and after the podcast. ANN Staff: Rajmund Dabrowski, director; Ansel Oliver, assistant director; Taashi Rowe, editorial coordinator; Elizabeth Lechleitner, editorial assistant. Portuguese translation by Azenilto Brito, Spanish translation by Marcos Paseggi, Italian translation by Vincenzo Annunziata and Lina Ferrara and French translations by Stephanie Elofer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.2/1386 - Release Date: 4/18/2008 5:24 PM
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