The Year End Meeting of the Inter-European Division (EUD) of Seventh-day Adventists took place from 2 to 6 November in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, with mission as a central theme that cut across all reports, debates and decisions.
Committee members and guests, representing EUD Unions, administration, departments, institutions and services, welcomed Executive Secretary Erton Kohler, Vice-President Thomas Lemon and Associate Treasurer Brent Burdick as General Conference officers. In addition to inspiring devotionals, Erton Kohler presented a keynote emphasising the indispensable balance between church mission, identity and structure, which implies a healthy effort in all three areas simultaneously for effective church growth.
Interview with Erton Kohler, GC Executive Secretary
Interview with Tom Lehmon, GC Vice President
The Year End Meetings of the Church's administrative levels are, in addition to the necessary reports, plans and votes for the smooth running of the Church, an opportunity to praise the Lord for His blessings. This was a year of growth in the number of members and in financial resources for the development of mission, which was expressed in the reports from the Secretariat and the Treasury. To this gratitude, the officers added words of advice and encouragement to all officers for a greater effort in evangelization in Europe, an area of great challenges, both external, such as secularization, and internal, such as linguistic and cultural diversity.
The members of the Executive Committee also had the opportunity to attend and participate in a youth meeting of the Bulgarian Union during the Sabbath service and other moments. Erton Kohler dedicated his sermon to the universal urgency of the Church’s mission, especially in non-penetrated fields, finalizing it with an appeal that led to twelve impressive decisions to serve Christ as ministers and missionaries. Jonatan Tejel, EUD youth director, addressed the group on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.
One of the areas highlighted during the meeting was evangelism through media ministries. After an intense and participatory discussion on Friday 3, the meeting ended with a unanimous vote for a strategy at each church level, for growth and integration of means for digital evangelism. The document voted on is entitled "Communication, Personal Ministries, Media Ministries: an integrated approach on digital disciple making" and expresses the will of the fields in the EUD territory to organize themselves and invest in a more effective use of information and communication technologies at the service of the mission, namely through the personal involvement of each member. According to point 2.a. of the document, a priority objective will be to “developing awareness and motivation among church members for the concepts of the digital disciple, as a current, regular, and necessary form of ministry.”
The meeting ended with a final reflection by EUD President Mario Brito, calling for a life of intimate communion with God, leading to a meaningful existence and a willingness to share the Gospel.
"God wants us to enjoy eternal life here and now," said Brito. "This doesn't mean that we expect to live here forever, in our current condition. We await and proclaim the Lord's soon coming. It means that we can and must live and share the loving principles of His kingdom, now and here, daily and with everyone."
