wfn.org | Croatia: Gospel Spreads Through Media Evangelism

[APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com]

March 5, 2000
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Croatia: Gospel Spreads Through Adventist Media Evangelism

Zagreb, Croatia.    The year 2000 marks a new 
beginning of evangelistic work on television and 
radio in Croatia. In the past ten years radio 
evangelism has been one of the main ways of 
preaching the gospel in Croatia, according to 
Pastor Damir Posavac, Communication director for 
the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Adriatic 
Union Conference.

"New possibilities for appearances on national 
television and on popular private TV channels is 
opening a new door for the gospel in Croatia," 
reports Posavac.

The Communication department of the Adventist 
Church Croatian Conference have prepared more 
than a hundred radio programmes entitled 
"Thoughts from the Bible", which have been 
broadcast for one decade from more than twenty 
radio stations throughout Croatia.

"Each 15-minute programme is made up of two or 
three segments of gospel music, and a spiritual 
message read out by the best speakers of the 
Croatian national radio," explains Posavac.

The 20 episode video series "The Search" produced 
by the Adventist Media Centre in Australia were 
synchronised into the Croatian language and had 
its first airing on OTV which covers a huge area 
of small towns around Croatia's capital Zagreb 
with a potential audience of 1,200,000. More than 
300 viewers requested the gift of a free Bible 
and at the end of the series received a year's 
free subscription of "The Signs of The Times". 
Over 370 also enrolled in the Bible 
Correspondence Course.

On February 11, during peak viewing time on local 
television in Rijeka, Posavac was invited to be 
the guest in a programme in front of a large 
audience. Posavac was given the opportunity to 
describe the life and work of the Adventist 
church in Croatia and beyond. Along with a 
documentary showing the Adventist College in 
Marusevec, clips were also shown of the Adventist 
studio used for radio work, the recording of 
songs by the Adventist gospel group, Agapé, and 
the work of the Adventist Development and Relief 
Agency. On this occasion Posavac was able to 
express many different ways and characteristics 
with which the church in Croatia operates.
"It is unbelievable how this interesting 
religious group is not more known in Croatia," 
was the opinion of the show's host on RI-TV in 
the production of this 40-minutes programme. She 
added: "Your schooling system and a specifically 
healthy way of life should be a model to those 
who want to follow positive influences."

It is expected that the series "The Search" is 
soon to be aired on RI-TV. Agreements are also 
being finalised for its airing on Split's local 
TV station ATV.

"A similar programme is to be seen by Slavonians 
on their TV sets by which the Adventist Church 
Croatian Conference would have covered the whole 
geographical outline of Croatia and in this way 
bring the Adventist church into the homes of the 
people by images and words," concludes Posavac.