What should the ideal church be like?

"What should the ideal church be like?" was the title of the recent Iberian Pastoral Convention held in Entrepeñas from Sunday, October 20, to Wednesday, October 23, 2024. Iberian because both peninsular unions (the Portuguese and the Spanish) joined forces, ideas, and resources to be able to carry it out jointly. This implied an additional enrichment, because it allowed participants to meet, dialogue, and grow not only among colleagues in the field, but also with the pastors and administrators of the Portuguese Adventist Union, the Spaniards’ "first cousins."
The programming was coordinated harmoniously, between the two ministerial secretaries, Pastors Paulo Neves and Richard Ruszuly, together with the rest of the administrators. There was also a team of logistics and program managers, to whom we are very grateful for their work.
Close and practical topics
The main speaker was Pr. Ramon Canals, ministerial secretary of the General Conference. His topics were close and practical. He proposed a focus on the values ​​of an ideal church, based on Colossians 1 and 2. He also reminded us of certain health habits, as well as principles of memorizing biblical texts.
Aurora, his wife, responsible for the Women's Area of ​​the Ministerial Secretariat, shared good practical recommendations for spouses.
As both pastors and psychologists, Néstor Bruno and Antonio Martínez were very helpful in addressing the issue of burnout, focusing on the processes, symptoms, and prevention, as well as on the importance of pro-health reform, also at a mental level. We were able to analyze the risks to which we are exposed in the performance of ministry, but also the joys and privileges, due to the power and constant presence of Christ, our great ministerial Pastor. On the other hand, the issue of gender identity was discussed. One phrase stuck with us: "Whoever loves more, and for longer, wins."
Pastor Jonathan Contero, in his topic about the multicultural challenge, spoke to us about the need to contextualize, in relation to the approach to the secular mentality, but without losing sight of the biblical worldview of the Kingdom of Heaven that Christ proposes to us.
Carmen Maciel, director of ADRA Portugal, shared an interesting topic about charity, proposing an approach at a global and local level.
Pedro Esteves, head of Hope Media Portugal, highlighted the link that we can sometimes miss in the mission-service-multimedia relationship, as well as the importance of having a local team of digital missionaries.
Ventsy Panayatov, ministerial secretary of the Inter-European Division, reminded us how important coherence is in the pastorate, since people will listen to our preaching, but they will follow our behavior.
Presence of the director of the Spanish Bible Society
We also had the presence of Luis Fajardo, current director of the Spanish Bible Society. He gave us the latest news and projects on the valuable ministry that this entity carries out in the dissemination of the Bible worldwide. The pastor presented a New Testament translation specially designed for young people.
To read the original article, please go here.