Rimini, Italy [CD EUDNews]. The Inter-Ministries Convention took place from Wednesday to Saturday, March 13-16. It was organized by the Inter-European Region (EUD).
Approximately 350 participants from almost all European countries were present at the conference. The motto “United to Serve” aroused enthusiasm among the audience as well as among the speakers, who in turn, presented topics to encourage everyone to be a disciple of Jesus.
The way it was organized, the program was a clear invitation to gather all the forces of the church to achieve the mandate that Jesus gave us 2000 years ago. The various church ministries present at the conference were: Children's Ministry, Education, Family, Women's Ministry, Stewardship, Religious Liberty, and others. Each ministry gave its contribution to evangelism. In fact, the conference aimed to present a model to allow the various departments to work in harmony and to achieve the common goal of evangelism.
All the presentations in the plenary session and in the workshops were aimed to invite the attendees to consider what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. In fact, all types of conventions on evangelism like this are under the motto “Be My Disciple”. Among the speakers we had Joseph Kidder from Andrews University, Don MacLafferty for Kids in Discipleship Ministry, Linda Koh as worldwide Children’s Ministries director, Eliane and Willy Oliver as worldwide Family director, Bill Knott as Adventist Review Editor, Derrek Morris from the General Conference as well as the vice president Ella Simmons, and other workshops speakers. All participants enjoyed a wonderful atmosphere.
“It was a profound challenge to rethink seriously the way we organize church and missions”, said Barna Magyarosi, EUD Family and Education director. “It was inspiring and renewing” said Pedro Torres, Spanish Communication Director. Sascha Schuster, Web Engineer at the Stimme der Hoffnung, affirmed that it was impressive to see how our speakers were able to teach the Bible. “It is not easy”, Schuster affirmed “in a postmodern setting to teach a message written ages ago. Our guests were able to apply modern meaning to Bible teachings for today’s mentality.” “The speakers challenged us and we reacted,” said a Romanian delegate. “All the devotionals were really inspiring and totally engaging.”
Participants proposed to choose one member to be supervisor in the churches to use all departments as teamwork, to go forward in unity towards one goal. The suggestion was to stop wasting time in committees, to make it practical and do the work. “The different departments need to be in close communication to work together on one vision and one mission,” declared Gabriel Maurer, EUD Executive Secretary. “Growth of the church needs to be in direct relationship to the growth of the membership. A personal audit can help to recognize the need and to adjust things if necessary,” Maurer concluded.
Special attention should be given to the children and the youth and inspire them to work together with the older generation for the mission of the church. “We hope that this recommendation be really applied by the church, this time,” said Corrado Cozzi, EUD Communication director.
“We worked very hard to organize this convention,” said Paolo Benini and Corrado Cozzi, two of the organizers, “we reached most of the goals set for this meeting. This is a starting point, and considering the evaluation of the participants, we are already focusing on organizing the next Inter-Ministries Convention. We’re expecting an even larger crowd.”
The convention was held in the Hotel Punta Nord of Torre Pedrera/Rimini. The meals were excellent, typically Italian and traditionally vegetarian. "I learned that being a disciple of Jesus means to receive and to give, and to teach that concept to people around us" said one of the volunteers. They did a great job.
pictures: Participants of the Meeting (CD EUD);
