TED News Bulletin
Trans-European Division of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church

25 June 2008


In this issue:
-------------------------
* Poland: Polish Union Conference Session
* Serbia: A Festival of Spiritual Music
* Netherlands: Inspiration, Worship and Dialogue
-------------------------

POLISH UNION CONFERENCE SESSION...[Marek Rakowski/TED News Staff/TED
News]

Warsaw, Poland - The three officers and members of the Executive
Committee of the Polish Union Conference (PUC) of Adventists were
elected during their regular Session on 12-13 June.

The Session delegates expressed their appreciation for the work of
the administration during the past five years, and re-elected Pawel
Lazar as Union President and Maksymilian Szklorz as Treasurer. Marek
Rakowski, Secretary of the Polish South Conference, was elected
Executive Secretary of the Union. One of the main outcomes of the
Session was the approval of the new Polish Union Conference
Constitution - which has been modelled along the lines of the World
Church policy.

In his keynote address, Dr Bertil Wiklander, President of the
Trans-European Division (TED), emphasised that God is our only hope
and he underlined the importance of forgiveness. Hope and focus on
our Mission were also the topics of the morning and evening
devotionals by Pastor Raafat Kamal, TED Field Secretary.

Dr Wiklander said: "The [Polish Union] Session was marked by a good
spirit, active discussions, and by important steps to bring the Union
Constitution up to date. The high point was the spiritual gathering
in Warsaw on Sabbath where many Adventists and guests from other
churches enjoyed a blessed service of praise to God with witnessing,
preaching and a quality of music that I have seldom heard before. I
bring my warmest, personal good wishes to the elected leadership and
pray that their and the Executive Committee's path into the future
will be fully supported by the whole Church. God has plans for his
people in Poland and we must leave everything else aside to bring it
to fruition."

"Granted with Hope", as the session's motto stated, the Adventist
Church in Poland will aspire to grow by the grace and power of God,"
concluded Marek Rakowski.


A FESTIVAL OF SPIRITUAL MUSIC...[Miodrag Zivanovic/TED News Staff/TED
News]

Belgrade, Serbia - On Sabbath 14 June, the Festival of Spiritual
Music (FEDUM) took place at the main Adventist Church in Belgrade.
Organised by the South-East European Union Conference (SEEUC), this
is the third time this festival has been held in Belgrade to
celebrate and worship God.

In the first part of the programme, a contemplation on "Intellect and
Feelings in Music" was presented by Dr Tanja Grek of Sorbonne III
University. This was followed by beautiful songs delivered by various
performers from Germany, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Among the invited artists were Jewish "Hashira" from
Novi Sad and "Arabian", a group from Novi Pazar.

President of the SEEUC, Miodrag Zivanovic, main speaker of the day,
commented: "This festival has shown the diversity of talents we have
in our churches, all united with one goal - to celebrate the name of
God. Their inspiration gave joy to the audience which numbered more
than one thousand. Our hearts were filled with happiness, and we
believe that we will meet again very soon to glorify our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ."


INSPIRATION, WORSHIP AND DIALOGUE...[Wim Altink/TED News Staff/TED
News]

Huis Ter Heide, Netherlands - On Sabbath 21 June the Dutch Caribbean
Adventists living in the Netherlands convened for their annual
gathering of inspiration, worship and dialogue.

More than 800 people assembled for this event, to experience
fellowship and be inspired through workshops and interviews, and also
through presentations by Pastor Gifford Rhamie, of Newbold College;
Pastor Israel Leito, President of the Inter-American Division and
Pastor Dick Barron, former youth leader of the World Church.

Cherrel Francisca, a pastor from Curacao working in Holland for a
period of 5 years to foster church-growth among the Antillean
population, was well content with the day which he - with the aid of
many - had organised. "The Antillean work in Holland will continue to
grow by the grace of God" Francisca says.

"Three new healthy Antillean churches were inaugurated in the past
two years. This is the result of intense work of the Netherlands
Union church planting movement led by Pastor Rudy Dingjan" concludes
Wim Altink, President of the Netherland Union Conference (NUC).

The NUC, with a total of 4900 members, counts over 1500 members
originating from the six Dutch Caribbean islands.

_________________________________________________________________
TED News Staff:
Paul Clee, News Director and Editor
Heidi Kamal Kendel, Editorial Assistant
119 St Peter's Street, St Albans, Herts.,
AL1 3EY, England
Website: www.ted-adventist.org

TED News is an information bulletin issued by the Communication
department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European
Division. You are free to re-print any portion of the bulletin
without the need for special permission. However, we kindly request
that you identify TED News whenever you publish these materials.