wfn.org | Adventist Press: Year 1998 in Review

["Christian B. Schäffler" <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

December 31, 1998
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Year 1998 in Review

Basle, Switzerland, [APD/ANN] The year 1998 saw major 
developments in areas of concern to and involving Seventh-
day Adventists. It was during this year that the Seventh-day 
Adventist Church passed the ten-million adult baptised 
member mark, showing the Church to be one of the fastest 
growing Christian denominations in the world. Throughout the 
year, primary themes of religious liberty, inter-church 
relations, human rights, humanitarian aid, health promotion, 
outreach, and education featured in news from across the 
globe, involving many of the 207 countries in which Seventh-
day Adventists are active.  Here are some of the headline 
stories that APD/ANN continued to develop throughout the 
year:

Religious Liberty Concerns -

In 1998 the concern for religious liberty continued in Russia, 
as the new law passed in September 1997 requiring all 
religious bodies to re-register with the government at the end 
of 1999 came into effect.  In February 1998, the Russian 
Chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association 
(IRLA), a non-governmental organisation with active support 
from the Adventist Church, appealed for action against "the 
violation of freedom of conscience" in the country, after news 
reports calling the Adventist Church a "destructive cult or 
totalitarian sect which turns people into bio-robots."  

Increased restrictions towards religious activities continued to 
be reported in Russia in May 1998 when government officials 
in the Tula region forbade churches to use public buildings for 
religious meetings.  Reports from the Keston News Service 
indicated that two church congregations, Baptist and Seventh-
day Adventist, were expelled from a building owned by the 
Venev municipality.  

The beating of an Seventh-day Adventist in the Black Sea city 
of Anapa, Russia was indicative of the local attitudes towards 
religious minorities.  In a statement for APD, John Graz, head 
of the General Conference Public Affairs and Religious Liberty 
Department stated that while citizens were not experiencing 
any problems on a national level, locally "religious minorities 
are on the defensive.  It is as if the new law has legitimated 
discrimination against those not of the majority faith." 

In October 1998, the first church building to be owned by 
Seventh-day Adventists in Moscow since property confiscation 
policies under communism was dedicated.  Despite violations 
of religious liberty and unfair treatment, Seventh-day 
Adventist have continued their outreach programs in Russia.  
In December, an outreach program at the Church in Tula 
brought about 200-300 visitors, and in Moscow similar 
programs have brought more than 1,250 attendees.  The 
Seventh-day Adventist Church in Russia has recently secured 
its registration with the government.  The Adventist Church 
was the second denomination to have been issued a formal 
registration by the government.

Restrictions in religious liberty also featured in news items 
from Romania (January 1998), Spain (June 1998) and India 
(July 1998).

Inter-Church Relations -

The fourth meeting of the consultation between 
representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the 
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) was held in Cartigny, 
Switzerland, on May.  Over the last four years, the series of 
discussion with the Lutheran World Federation have consisted 
of three thematic parts: Justification by Faith: the Law; 
Scripture and Authority in the Church: Ecclesiology; and 
Eschatology.  The meeting in Cartigny dealt specifically with 
Eschatology.  The meeting in Cartigny concluded the four-year 
series of conversations between Adventists and Lutherans, 
initiated in November 1994 in Darmstadt, Germany.  This was 
the first international consultation between representatives of 
the two Christian world communions, the Seventh-day 
Adventist and the Lutheran World Federation.  The goals of 
the first meeting were, among others, better mutual 
understanding, the breaking of false stereotypes and the 
discovery of each other's bases of belief. In the final report 
both parties recommend that Adventists and Lutherans 
mutually recognise the basic Christian commitment of each 
other's faith communions. Several areas of co-operation for a 
joint witness have also been suggested. The final report has 
been made available on Internet on the following webpage: 
http://www.stanet.ch/APD

Metropolitan Gregorios Ibrahim of the Syrian Orthodox Church 
welcomed the opportunity for greater co-operation with the 
Seventh-day Adventist Church during a visit to the Adventist 
World Church Headquarters on July 2. "For the Syrian 
Orthodox Church it is a new day to have a relationship with 
the Adventist Church. We need to work to develop better 
relationships between Christians," said Ibrahim, who is 
metropolitan of Aleppo, Syria.

In October, Dr. Bert Beach, director for Inter-Church Relations 
of the Seventh-day Adventist Church was re-elected to the 
position of Secretary of the Conference of secretaries of 
Christian World Communions (CWC's) at their annual meeting 
in Windsor Castle, England. Beach has served in this position 
for the past 28 years. "The Christian World Communions is a 
forum for the exchange of information between churches as 
represented by their international organisations," said Beach.

Human Rights-

Adventists church leaders participated in a peace agreement 
on April 30, that ends nine years of civil war on the island on 
Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, signed in Arawa.

In December, the Seventh-day Adventist Church 
commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights.  The Seventh-day Adventist 
World Church Headquarters joined the world community in 
recognising the importance of restating the values enshrined 
in this U.N. document by hosting a historic commemorative 
convocation on November 20. The event was attended by 
guests such as Robert Seiple, special representative of the 
U.S. Secretary of State for International Religious Freedom, 
Joe Sills, director for the United Nations Information Center, 
Karen Lord of the Commission on Security and Co-operation in 
Europe, and many others.  During the convocation an official 
statement from the Adventist Church was released calling for 
support for the U.N. Declaration.

Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief -

Adventists continued their major commitment to aiding the 
world community through humanitarian work and assistance 
in disaster relief. The Adventist Development and Relief 
Agency (ADRA) was heavily involved in assisting disaster 
areas such as Honduras and Nicaragua after Hurricane Mitch, 
the Dominican Republic after Hurricane Georges, and also in 
Chiapas, Mexico, in response to the worst flooding in 40 
years.  ADRA volunteers have assisted in creating and 
providing shelter, food, and rebuilding homes for thousands of 
victims involved in the natural disasters of 1998.

Tobacco and Health -

Adventists have been at the forefront of anti-smoking 
advocacy and tobacco control for well over a century.  As 
initiators of the famous "Five Day Plan to Stop Smoking" 
Adventists continue to operate anti-smoking clinics and to 
inform the public of the dangers of smoking.  In February 
1998, American Adventists joined with 22 denominations and 
associations supporting the Inter-religious Coalition on 
Smoking or Health in urging President Clinton to raise taxes 
on tobacco. The church joined what the Coalition called "the 
single most effective method of discouraging 3,000 young 
people each day from starting a drug habit that will 
prematurely kill 1,000 of them."  

Adventists were at the frontline of research and anti-tobacco 
and health education throughout the world.  Contributions 
from Dr. Linda Ferry in Loma Linda, California, USA and Dr. 
Patrick Guenin in Annecy, France, were nationally recognised 
by health institutions and local governments as catalysts 
towards a tobacco legislation reform.   Throughout the year, 
Adventists continued to support tobacco initiatives, and in 
May, Robert S. Folkenberg, president of the Seventh-day 
Adventist Church, called on church members to support the 
tobacco control bill which was to be debated in the U.S. 
Senate that same month.  In a message to the ten-million 
Adventists world-wide, Folkenberg termed the proposed 
legislation "the most comprehensive tobacco control bill in the 
history of the republic," and called on members in the United 
States to send their messages of support to the relevant 
senators.  Tobacco is considered the number one preventable 
cause of death.  The Seventh-day Adventist Church continues 
to support initiatives that reduce smoking and its destructive 
effect on health. 

Evangelistic Outreach -

In what the Seventh-day Adventist Church is calling a "Festival 
of Baptisms," more than 7,000 new church members were 
baptized in services held in Mexico late January 1998. Of 
special note were the 3,000 joining the church in the Chiapas 
region, scene of civil unrest and death in recent years. In 
Chiapas, a number of Adventists lost their lives for refusing to 
join a group of armed guerillas.

In February more than 3,000 new believers were baptized in 
Cuba as a result of evangelistic meetings held at 183 sites 
throughout the island. The mass baptisms caught the 
attention of CNN World News. On March 2, CNN reported on 
the baptisms indicating that these demonstrate a new climate 
of toleration in the island.

Sixty-one prisoners held in the Ponte Alta prison in Santiago, 
Chile, joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church on June 18. 
The prisoners, serving sentences for crimes including 
homicide, robbery, drug trafficking, dishonesty, and fraud, 
chose to be baptised and begin new lives as Christians.

The Net '98 NeXt Millennium series reached thousands 
globally by satellite. During opening night on October 9, the 
live seminar program up linked to satellite hosts 
including1,979 live satellite downlink sites in North America 
and a worldwide total of 5,000. An additional 3,000 locations 
used VHS tapes to replay the programs. The featured speaker 
for the NeXt Millennium series was Dwight Nelson, senior 
pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Pioneer Memorial Church 
in Berrien Springs, Michigan, USA.  Nelson spoke five nights a 
week to a vast audience across the globe. Reports from 
Adventist Global Communication Network (AGCN) estimate 
approximately 30-40,000 individuals will accept the Christians 
faith and join the Seventh-day Adventist Church as a result of 
Net '98.

Education -

Adventist Education continues to carry the seal of excellence 
and in 1998 provided several examples of this.  In April, U.S. 
based Andrews University announced its wide range 
involvement in its link programs.  Education programs linked 
to Andrews University currently operate more than 20 
overseas sites.  Affiliating with Andrews University means that 
3,000 students will be able to attend the overseas colleges.  
Some sites include Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mexico, 
the Caribbean, India, Singapore and Russia.  The affiliation 
program encourages an international focus and reveals that 
Christian education is viewed positively in many places.

In July, the Adventist University located in Cochabamba, 
Bolivia scored among the top three in a government-
sponsored evaluation of universities.  The Adventist University 
came in second for Cochabamba and third place overall for 
the whole country in an evaluation program sponsored by the 
Bolivian government.  The evaluation analysed the infra-
structure, teaching materials, laboratories, libraries, human 
resources and university administration.

U.S. News and World Report America's Best Colleges, a 
publication which ranks colleges and universities throughout 
the United States, listed Adventist colleges and universities 
among the high ranking educational institutions in America.  
Some of the colleges mentioned were Pacific Union College 
(California), Walla Walla College (Washington), Atlantic Union 
College (Massachusetts), Andrews University (Michigan) and 
Southern Adventist University (Tennessee).

Official Church Statements for 1998 -

The annual meeting of Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders 
from all over the world tackled major issues confronting the 
Church today. The meetings held in September voted 
statements on major areas of concern for church as well as 
voted financial arrangements for the world Church, elected 
officers and revised policies.  Official statements issued at the 
meetings include documents on human cloning and sexually-
transmitted diseases.  An additional statement by the 
Seventh-day Adventist Church was released in December, 
regarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 
church's support for the U.N. Declaration.

In remembrance of -

Bent Moeller Nielsen, 56, Adventist Development and Relief 
Agency (ADRA) country director for Burundi, who was 
murdered on April 22 in the capital Bujumbura.

Pastor John Pel, and two more Seventh-day Adventists who 
lost their lives during an armed attack in northern Sudan, in 
late May. 

A Word From the Adventist Press Service (APD) and Adventist 
News Network (ANN) Staff -

The staff of the Adventist Press Service and Adventist News 
Network wish you a very happy and prosperous 1999!  Thank 
you for your kind support as we communicate important news 
about the progress and challenges of the Seventh-day 
Adventist Church around the world.