ANN Bulletin: June 19, 2007

[Stan]

In This Issue:

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* Task Force Aims to Take Message of Abuse Prevention, Awareness to

Local Churches

* Book Chronicles Adventist Church History of Cayman Islands

* Philippines: Water Supply Contaminated at Adventist University

* French, German Adventist Universities Will Partner to Offer Joint

Degree, French State Recognition

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Task Force Aims to Take Message of Abuse Prevention, Awareness to Local

Churches

Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [Ansel Oliver/ANN]

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Ron Flowers, the Seventh-day Adventist Church family ministries

co-director, said he recently sat in church behind a woman whom he knew

was suffering domestic violence.

To his dismay the pastor talked about a need for forgiveness and that

if a person was going through a hard time, it was for their benefit.

"I don't preach about forgiveness that way anymore," Flowers said of

the good message in the wrong context.

Adventist Church officials hope a task force on abuse prevention

convened at the church's world headquarters June 11 and 12 will raise

awareness of the issue and help local pastors realize, despite the

denial of some people, that domestic abuse likely exists within their

church.

Task force members urged local pastors to take reports of child abuse

seriously, report them to local authorities, and refer victims of

domestic violence to community resources.

"We're not asking pastors to become experts," Flowers said. "We just

want them to report and refer."

One Adventist researcher said 29 percent of Adventists report

experiencing sexual violence from an intimate partner within their

lifetime, while 10 percent report experiencing one instance of severe

physical violence.

That's a higher rate than the surrounding population, said René Drumm,

professor of sociology at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale,

Tennessee. She and a team of researchers collected surveys from

Adventists in the northwest United States and published the results

last year in Social Work & Christianity.

"But I think it's kind of dangerous to say that those numbers are

absolutely higher than the rest of the population," Drumm said. "We

offered participants a very safe environment to answer these surveys."

Participants filled out questionnaires in a church with men and women

separated and surveys were turned into a secure box. This is different

than most national surveys, which are conducted by phone, Drumm said.

Many researchers conducting phone surveys say they feel the instances

were under reported, she said. Drumm reported her research team felt

they had more accurate findings.

"It's a striking finding but it's not unique to Adventists," Flowers

said of Drumm's research.

"It's not an easy thing to talk about, but pastors can become

courageous and preach this from the pulpit from time to time."

Flowers said he hoped similar studies would survey Adventists in other

parts of the world.

"It's important we treat each other well," Adventist Church President

Jan Paulsen told the task force, emphasizing mental abuse can be just

as bad as physical abuse.

Some problems with abuse, church officials said, stem from mixed

messages within fundamentalist groups -- a strong belief in marriage

and family might keep some people from leaving a harmful relationship.

Flowers said a woman recently told her pastor she didn't want to break

up her family; she just wanted the abuse to stop.

"Sometimes it's denial or a lack of sophisticated understanding of the

nature of abuse," Flowers said. "Some people think they need to just

pray more for the abuse to stop instead of seeking counseling or other

appropriate measures."

Carlos Camacho, a pastor at the Inland Spanish Adventist Church in

Southeastern California, said he is learning the severity of taking on

an abuser. After other pastors turned a blind eye toward allegations of

incest, he reported it to the police upon first learning about it.

"They didn't believe her," Camacho said of other members in the family

of the underage girl involved. "That happens all the time. People don't

want to believe that it happened."

Local church administration moved Camacho and his family into a hotel

for several days after he and the victim started receiving threats.

"Abuse is messy," he said. "It hurts everyone involved, even those

trying to help."

The Adventist Church first held a similar abuse prevention task force

in 1995 before releasing a statement against family violence in 1996

and a statement against child sexual abuse in 1997.

In 2002 the Adventist Church began promoting an annual Abuse Prevention

Emphasis Day held the third Saturday of August.

"That's a positive step we've taken here at headquarters and it has

filtered down to many churches," said Heather-Dawn Small, Adventist

Church women's ministries director.

A check of several churches showed that many local church and

administration offices use materials originally provided by the

church's world headquarters through local offices.

Cecilia Anane Otchere, Women's Ministries director for the church in

Mid-West Ghana, said most of the some 400 churches in the region

participate in the abuse prevention day.

Doug Sharp, pastor of the Port Orchard Adventist Church in Port

Orchard, Washington, said he thought a pamphlet about domestic abuse

was available at the church's literature rack. He said the church

financially supports a local woman's shelter and several members

volunteer.

Sharp said two years before he began pastoring the church he learned he

learned of a murder of a woman that followed years of abuse.

"I think that made the congregation aware of what potential violence

could be out there," Sharp said.

He said he was not aware of any incidents of domestic violence since

he's served at the church for 16 years.

"If I was told of anything or if I sensed that it was going on in a

family I would approach them and offer my services," Sharp said.

Church leaders at the task force said they realized the meeting's

success hinges on worldwide offices communicating to local churches.

"I think raising awareness, at least, is crucial," said Drumm, the

researcher. In follow-up studies with victims, she said church members

feel comforted when the church talks about preventing abuse in homes.

"They breathe a huge sigh of relief," Drumm said. "Somebody

understands, somebody's doing something, it helps healing."

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Book Chronicles Adventist Church History of Cayman Islands

Georgetown, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands .... [Ansel Oliver/ANN]

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Jeffrey K. Thompson was working as a photojournalist in the Bahamas in

1975 when he decided to join the Seventh-day Adventist Church - an

award presentation for a government official in Nassau he was covering

was actually the first night of an Adventist evangelism campaign.

Now in his last month of a 17-year stint as president of the church in

the Cayman Islands, Thompson said he still thinks of himself as a

journalist; and now a historian, having recently authored the book

"Legacy of the Pioneers -- the History of the Seventh-day Adventist

Church in the Cayman Islands" to be released June 21 in Georgetown.

The 220-page book documents the birth and growth of the Adventist

religious movement in this tiny Caribbean nation. The country's top

government official, Governor Stuart Jack, wrote one of the book's two

forewords.

"We [Adventists] are one of the largest denominations in the Cayman

Islands and we have a good working relationship with the government,"

Thompson said. About 3,300 people in the country's population of 45,000

are Adventist Church members.

"If people can recognize where they're coming from then certainly

they'll have a better appreciation of where they are and the

possibilities of where they can go," Thompson said of the church's

history that began here in 1894. Caymanian sea captain Gilbert

McLaughlin first joined the church in Honduras and brought teachings

back to Grand Cayman, one of the nation's three islands. McLaughlin

later donated land for a church.

Upon becoming president of the church here in 1990, Thompson said the

church's goal was self-sufficiency. In 2004 the church here earned

"conference" status making it financially self-supporting and no longer

considered a "mission field."

Since then Thompson credits significant membership growth to lay

evangelists. Six Adventist churches have been established in three

years, bringing the total to 15.

"When, as Adventists, we get lay people involved in evangelism, growth

is phenomenal," Thompson said. "We have to do whatever we can to

empower them."

Adventists have long maintained a strong development and relief

presence here. Governor Jack mention's the church's aid during

hurricanes that routinely pound the islands.

"It was a tremendous opportunity for us to display love in action,"

Thompson said of the church-sponsored stress management seminars and

gospel concerts provided for displaced residents in temporary shelters.

The nation is known as a banking center, a destination for scuba

diving, tourism and for a small town called "Hell" - mostly a post

office and shops overlooking a black limestone formation.

"We get about 2 million visitors here each year; I'd say all of these

visitors, if they don't go anyplace else, they go directly to Hell,"

Thompson said.

Thompson said the church's treasury department recently received a

donation for a building fund there.

"We hope someday to literally build a church in Hell."

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Philippines: Water Supply Contaminated at Adventist University

Silang, Cavite, Philippines .... [Gina Wahlen/AIIAS/ANN]

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The June 9 discovery of diesel fuel leaking into the water supply of

the Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies has left the

campus without water now for a week and a half. A fuel filter on a

generator that had been vandalized was found as the source of the leak.

Though the leak was fixed that day, campus officials are still

determining how to clean the school's water system that services the

campus's nearly 700 residents.

Drinking water was brought to campus in trucks the day of the discovery

by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency from the Adventist

Church's Southern Asia-Pacific region's headquarters nearby.

There were no reported cases of sickness caused by the contamination.

"In a sense, this experience has drawn us into community with the large

proportion of the global population that does not have abundant pure

water," Graeme Perry, dean of the school of graduate studies and acting

university president, wrote in a June 14 letter to campus staff and

residents.

The AIIAS administration is continuing to work with local authorities

and other consultants in order to minimize the environmental impact and

to restore a clean water supply.

Perry said the results of hydrocarbon testing of the water will be

available by the end of the week.

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French, German Adventist Universities Will Partner to Offer Joint

Degree, French State Recognition

Krattigen, Switzerland .... [Elizabeth Lechleitner/ANN]

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Saleve Seventh-day Adventist University in Collognes-Sous-Saleve,

France, announced plans last month to adopt a German university

master's program into its curriculum. The move will give recognition to

French Adventist seminary students in a country that does not recognize

degrees from private universities.

Offering Saleve seminarians a theology degree from Germany-based

Friedensau Adventist University -- officially recognized throughout

Europe -- will also make it easier for them to transfer credits, switch

universities and change degree programs without jeopardizing academic

credit, church education officials said.

Members of Saleve and Friedensau's academic administration signed the

joint degree agreement during the May mid-year meetings of the

Adventist Church's Euro-Africa region.

France doesn't recognize private university degrees because of its

century-old laws separating church and state, said Roland Meyer,

Saleve's seminary dean.

Udo Worschech, Friedensau director, says the new degree will lend

Saleve Theology students more credibility, especially if they plan to

further their studies at other campuses across Europe or outside the

continent.

Saleve students who earn a Friedensau-based degree will do so from

their own campus. Both universities will maintain their own faculty and

staff, but will jointly teach the new degree through brief professor

exchanges. Saleve theology students will earn a diploma from both

universities.

Richard Lehmann, director of Saleve Adventist University, hopes the

agreement between the universities will "inspire the exploration of

other agreements between [Adventist] campuses."

Other programs being considered for future joint efforts include

leadership and youth ministries, said Meyer.

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ANN World News Bulletin is a review of news and information issued by

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ANN Staff: Ray 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.