Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters
July 8, 2008

In This Issue:
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Adventist Church president continues call for involvement of women, youth in leadership
Paulsen's latest pastoral dialogue in South America; lay-involvement obviously key for a pastor of 72 churches
July 2 Jacarei, SP, Brazil

Digital immigrants to study native habits at 6th Internet technology conference
A study of young people's use of technology to include, well, young people
July 8 Denver, Colorado, United States

Angola: rebuilding country promotes freedom of belief
Largest religious liberty festival to date draws 45,000
July 8 Luanda, Angola


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Adventist Church president continues call for involvement of women, youth in leadership
July 2, 2008
Jacarei, SP, Brazil ... [ Ansel Oliver/ANN ]

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Pastor Jan Paulsen met yesterday with seven pastors in South America a Spanish-language dialogue broadcast internationally on the church's Hope Channel. The Adventist world church president brought his usual encouragement of involving women and youth in leadership and urging pastors make time for their families. [photo: courtesy Hope Channel]


The dialogue with pastors was broadcast yesterday from the Adventist Media Center -- Brazil. Though Paulsen asked about local challenges, many issues were similar to those raised during his pastoral dialogues in other parts of the world.

President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Pastor Jan Paulsen, brought the latest episode of his live, televised dialogues with pastors to South America yesterday, encouraging local churches to include women and young members in leadership.

Paulsen spoke through a translator during two separate episodes with seven pastors from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries in "Pastors: In Conversation." The third and fourth unscripted telecasts were broadcast internationally on the church's Hope Channel from here at the Adventist Media Center -- Brazil.

When asking about challenges specific to the region, most participants spoke to issues that have resonated in other regional pastoral dialogues: intercultural ministry and training lay leadership.

"The church will do well when the spiritually gifted lay people in the local church are activated," Paulsen said. "A church does not do well when it relies entirely on the pastor."

Paulsen also spoke to another universal challenge of prioritizing one's own family.

"Your wife, your closest partner should also receive a sense that your care for her is not diminished by your care for the church, and that [your] children feel they have a ? high value in your setting aside quality time," Paulsen said.

The task can be a difficult one when some pastors are in charge of more than one church, Paulsen acknowledged. One pastor, Pablo Carbajal from Ecuador, said he pastors 72 different churches.

Paulsen learned from the group that women make up more than 70 percent of local congregations. He asked how they were leading out in ministry.

Carbajal said women made up nearly 70 out of 80 attendees of a recent leadership workshop. Pastor Nelsen Tapia from Chile said many women are involved in a hospitality ministry, while Pastor David Barzola from Argentina said some women are preaching and offering counseling.

Roughly a quarter of a million people join the Adventist Church in South America each year.

Paulsen has hosted previous conversations with pastors in North America and Europe and will host another episode in Africa in August.


Digital immigrants to study native habits at 6th Internet technology conference
July 8, 2008
Denver, Colorado, United States ... [ Ansel Oliver/ANN ]

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The latest world church technology conference will help church leaders capitalize on new media for ministry, say John Beckett, left, director of the church's Office of Global Software and Technology, and Bryan Collick, world church Web manager. [photo: Rajmund Dabrowski/ANN]



At a technology conference last year, a presentation of technology uses among the under-30 crowd was lacking something: young people themselves.

So this year, organizers are making a point to bring in a group of young presenters who can speak with authority on the subject.

"Many people attending this conference haven't had the opportunity to see what these kids are exposed to and what we're competing against when we produce material," says John Torres, media relations specialist at the Seventh-day Adventist Church's world headquarters.

"The more people who are aware of that, the better off the church will be in reaching this generation," Torres says.

A workshop at the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Global Internet Evangelism Network forum starting in Denver July 9 and running through the 13th will bring together several youth and young adults to help church leaders understand how many people in younger generations live using personal convergence devices, the Web or other technologies.

The conference, the sixth international gathering of its kind, is scheduled to draw nearly 100 attendees, including tech industry professionals, church communication directors, evangelists and church members interested in learning more about the Internet.

Organizers are hoping church leaders learn more about the methods of connecting through technology and tailoring effective messages through new media.

"I think there may be a perception that technology prevents real life interaction. I'm not convinced of that," says John Beckett, director of the church's Office of Global Software and Technology. "I think what you see more is that people prefer being close together, talking to each other, but technology as a substitute when that can't happen."

The forum isn't necessarily to invent new platforms for communication, says Bryan Collick, Web manager at the church's world headquarters, but to foster collaboration in using preexisting technologies.

"It's not for us to say, 'There's MySpace, let's create a better "Adventist" MySpace,'" Collick says. "It's about saying, 'There's MySpace, how can we create an Adventist presence there that falls into the acceptable scope of MySpace but still retains our core values that we want share with the rest of the world?'"

"We're wanting to understand the kinds of people who live this way so we can more effectively reach out to them."

This year's conference will also feature the first presentation of the netAwards, established this year by the world church Communication department to recognize outstanding contributions to online ministry in communicating the church's message of hope.


Angola: rebuilding country promotes freedom of belief
July 8, 2008
Luanda, Angola ... [ SID Staff/ANN ]

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A choir performs at the world's largest religious liberty festival to date, held in Angola's capital June 28 and attended by some 45,000 Angolans celebrating religious freedoms won in their country since its 27-year civil war ended in 2002. [photo: courtesy SID]


Religious liberty festivals applaud the efforts of government leaders who promote freedom of belief, said John Graz, secretary-general of the International Religious Liberty Association, which hosted a three-day religious liberty congress in Angola prior to the festival.

Some 45,000 Angolans gathered at a sports stadium in Luanda June 28 to celebrate freedom of religion in their country, which is rebuilding in the aftermath of a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.

The festival, the largest to date, followed a three-day religious liberty congress sponsored by the International Religious Liberty Association and attended by 330 religious liberty proponents, faith leaders and governmental representatives from the southwest African nation and around the world.

In his keynote address, IRLA secretary-general John Graz thanked the government of Angola for promoting and defending religious liberty and singled out those who fought for the freedoms the country currently enjoys. Such festivals, typically held in tandem with IRLA congresses, are an important way of recogni zing a country's efforts to ensure freedom of belief, Graz has said.



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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.