By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Fabiana Lopes)

While all public and private schools remain closed in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, students from the Adventist schools are attending online classes during social isolation. In addition to the basic academic subjects, educators also work to help the students understand the importance of health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Duque de Caxias, classes remain suspended until May 13, according to the local city hall. However, the Duque de Caxias Adventist College promoted an…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Gloria Lozano-Castrejón)

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began to change our daily habits, we had to let go of many activities and ordinary pleasures, at least for the time being. Other doors that seemed closed, however, now are open and look inviting, if we dare to cross them with discipline, curiosity, and imagination.
Such is what happens with poetry, something which suddenly has gone through a resurgence and acquired newfound resonance outside close academic circles. It has become again “the voice of the people,” a…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (NSD Communication Department)

The Cheongso Open Church in Korea gave away homemade hand sanitizer and handmade masks to their neighbors for free to help them prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“When the virus began to spread fast in Korea, it was not easy for people living in a rural area like us to get hand sanitizer and masks,” said church pastor Lee JinSeon. “I thought our church should help overcome this hardship together with our neighbors, rather than just feeling frustrated.”
Church member volunteers gathered for…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Maryellen Fairfax)

Well-loved community café Manna Haven, a ministry of Byron Bay, Alstonville, and Ballina Seventh-day Adventist Churches in New South Wales, Australia, among others, is distributing meal vouchers to backpackers, families, and individuals struggling to make ends meet as a result of COVID-19.
Customers, church members and people from the community have so far purchased more than 200 meal vouchers to feed people in need, at a cost of AU$14 (US$9) per meal. ”I’ve been giving the vouchers to the…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Bruno Quaresma)

Approximately 269 miles (450 kilometers) from Minas Gerais, Brazil, lies the city of Teófilo Otoni, the largest center for the production of precious stones in the world. The city is slowly beginning to return to its normal routine after government lockdown measures were enforced to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Shops, fairs and medical offices recently reopened their doors, with reduced service.
The municipality of more than 140,000 has 424 suspected cases and 18 confirmed cases of…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (CD-EUDNews, Daniel Brinzan)

One third of Romania’s Adventist churches simultaneously clicked GO LIVE on their various social platforms, offering their first-ever collaborative social media evangelism campaign
Approximately 300 official Facebook pages and 30 YouTube channels of both churches and other Adventist organizations broadcast the same programming live at 8:00 every night between April 25 and May 3. From the very first minutes of the broadcast, the video was distributed by volunteers on WhatsApp lists and groups….

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (St. Albans, United Kingdom; Bern Switzerland)

When “Uncertainty” was chosen as the theme for a GAiN network project in February 2019, leaders were somewhat nervous as to whether this was the right decision. Little did they know what the future held – and how relevant the theme will be as countries slowly work to come out of COVID-19 lockdown into an uncertain new world.
GAiN Europe was cancelled as a physical event due to the coronavirus, but those registered to attend will now have the opportunity to join a special ‘webinar’ get together…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (TED FAMILY Ministries)

Lockdown has brought with it all kinds of relational challenges including extreme loneliness, getting on each other’s nerves, and figuring out how to do work, home school and family life within four small walls. There is also a positive side, enjoying the time to grow closer to our loved ones. But, for some people, the biggest challenge is finding themselves trapped in their own home, 24 hours a day, with an abusive relative. After a couple of weeks of lockdown in the UK, worrying reports began…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review)

Time and again, experts in sexual abuse remind us that one of the worst fears of victims is being ignored when seeking help. It is something, experts say, that can lead to extremely harmful and long-term health consequences.
In the context of church life and faith-based organizations, that breach of trust can be outright devastating.
Against this backdrop, leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church recently provided evidence that church regions (or divisions) are taking concrete steps to…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Maryellen Fairfax)

Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) partnered with local churches in Brisbane, Australia, over the weekend of May 2-4 to assemble 112 food parcels for locals in need, with a focus on assisting international students and others who have lost jobs and can’t afford basic necessities.
Irena Pule, ADRA director for South Queensland Conference, put out a call to churches across Brisbane for volunteers to help assemble the parcels. More than 40 people responded—mostly youth and young…

Source:: sda website