By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Prince Bahati, communication director, East Central Africa Division)

In his report to the members of the Executive Committee of the East-Central Africa Division (ECD) of Seventh-day Adventists, Executive Secretary Alain Coralie stated that the territory now has more than four million members. His report included the fact that at the beginning of third quarter 2015, membership was 3,116,320. ECD membership now stands at 4,097,347. This means it has increased its membership by nearly a million (981,027) in the last three years. The growth rate is 31.5%, an average…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Britt-Celine Olderbraten)

I love reading. I read quickly and that results in lots of books every year. The only problem is: I do not have space for all those books in my tiny flat! I remember thinking: this is not a problem only for me – many people have books they will not read again. That is how the first ADRA book market in Norway started six years ago.
During the first year, we collected book donations from people in the local area. Most of our customers came from the local church and only a few new people we didn’t…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Andrew McChesney)

Father took 13-year-old Salvatrice “Salvina” Mazza on a 33-mile (43-kilometer) bicycle ride on the Italian island of Sicily.
But the outing wasn’t for fun.
“A family in the village of Rosolini asked for help in understanding the Bible,” Father said. “Come and listen so you can learn how to share Jesus.”
Father didn’t own a car, so he and Salvina mounted their bicycles for the trip from the mountainside town of Ragusa. They were joined by a friend, Giovanni Giallanza, the first Seventh-day…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Lucas Rocha)

It’s been nearly five years since the last South American Pathfinder Camporee. Now, once again a sea of tents was erected in Parque do Peão, in Barretos in preparation for a deluge of Pathfinders. The “Best Adventure” Camporee opened on Tuesday evening with a record audience of 40 thousand in the arena. Hundreds of kitchen, safety, medical and other support services assisted the event.
Pastor Uldocy Zukowski, Pathfinder director for eight South American countries, plunged the hatchet into a…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Maranatha International)

This past Christmas, sixty-one people experienced the joy of service on Maranatha Volunteers International’s Family Project in India. Volunteers, ranging in age from one to 85, spent the holiday laying block on a multi-classroom structure at the Khunti Seventh-day Adventist School in eastern India.
The team also coordinated a medical clinic and other outreach programs in the surrounding community. The youngest volunteers were especially active, spending mornings at the construction site, then…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Lucas Rocha/ ANN Staff)

Camporee gives Pathfinders many learning opportunities and is the perfect place for them to share what they’ve learned with the community around them. This is just what club members from Brazil and Chile did on Thursday, January 10, as they handed out copies of the book Hope for the Family: The Road to a Happy Ending, in the town of Barretos. Co-author of the book Pastor Willie Oliver, who with his wife, Elaine, directs Family Life Ministries for the Adventist World Church, accompanied…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Libna Stevens/IAD)

It’s no secret that people are leaving the church. This alarming fact has Seventh-day Adventist leaders in Inter-America focused on a major initiative to seek and reconcile thousands of former members across the more than 22,000 churches and congregations in the territory.
Coined as the Inter-American Division’s (IAD) “Ministry of Reclaiming and Discipleship of Former Members”, the initiative was officially launched through an online program on Jan. 12, 2019, from Miami, Florida.
Seeking…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (V. Michelle Bernard)

According to the Pew Research Center, nearly 78 percent of the world’s population is unable to worship their God in whatever way they see fit.
Today, on Religious Freedom Day (Jan. 16, 2019), local faith and civic leaders gathered at the North American Division (NAD) headquarters in Columbia, Maryland, for the NAD’s first Religious Freedom Prayer Breakfast. They celebrated the freedoms enjoyed in the United States and prayed for guidance in further fostering and sharing it with others.
“We…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Northern German Union Conference)

Since 1980, volunteers of the Action Solidarités-Feu-Bessières have welcomed passersby on the 75-foot (23-meter) Bressières Bridge in Lausanne, Switzerland, for conversations during the festive season from December 23 to January 3. This year, three members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church took part in this life-saving initiative.
Just before Christmas in 1980, Joël Albert, a local resident, witnessed someone jump from the Bressières Bridge. For years after, Albert spent the festive season…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Sheann Brandon)

A Loma Linda University Health Team PossAbilities member, Shawn Morelli, road and track cycling two-time gold medalist in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, has been named to the 2019 U.S. Paralympics Cycling National Team.
Morelli, who was first named to the U.S. National Team in 2014, says it’s always an honor to be selected. “I love wearing our country’s colors on my back and competing for not just myself but for everyone,” she says. Morelli will be headlining the team after winning three world…

Source:: sda website