Frontline Edition by Global Mission - 2nd Quarter 2009

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FRONTLINEedition

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he religious climate and population demographic in Australia today is quite different to that which confronted the first Seventh-day Adventist missionaries who arrived in Melbourne in 1885. At that time, the separate colonial states were just moving towards a federal national government and Christianity—as brought to the new colonies from England, Scotland and Ireland—was a traditional way of life.

Today Australia is a secular and post-modern society. Following 60 years of immigration since World War II that has brought people from every continent to our shores, Australia is now very multi-cultural and diverse in religious background. Recent census statistics show that the percentage of Christians has shrunk, while the number of those claiming “no religious belief” or atheism has grown considerably. Buddhism, Islam and other non-Christian religions are also on the rise.

This is the challenge of Global Mission, reach the

AUSTRALIA: The Great South Land

Still needing the Gospel! increasing number of people groups flooding into our cities, and this is where a number of Global Mission projects are operating. Whereas Australian evangelists in the past have been innovative, using new methods of evangelism and new approaches, such as archeology, and health, today Global Mission pioneers are planting new churches from small group ministry, Asian student groups, and refugee community outreach.

Adventist Mission must always remember to follow the example of Jesus, who came close to people where they were. And so Global Mission in Australia is focusing on special ethnic and people groups, meeting their physical, social and spiritual needs.

You will read in this issue of Front Line Edition about one of these projects, but remember that many others are also struggling to compete against the secular forces of our society. Paul Hogan provides the stereotypical Australian who’s

“throwing another shrimp on the Barbie”, while holding a can of beer in one hand and joking with profanities with his mates. But another image today is of thousands of Asian university students with a background of Buddhism or no faith at all, or of Middle Eastern people swarming towards their Mosque. It is for this reason that the church in Australia has embarked upon Global Mission projects that will focus on some of these groups.

Your prayers and your donations to Global Mission will help bring the gospels’ good news to “the great south land” of Australia and help plant an Adventist presence among these new people groups.

Thank you for your support and your passion for finishing the work of Christ on this earth!

Raymond Coombe Adventist Mission Director South Pacific Division

Michael L. Ryan –Chairperson, Adventist Mission FRONT LINE EDITION Hindu Study Center is published quarterly by G. R. Mohan Roy Gary Krause –Director Global Mission, part of the Southern Asia Division Ganoune Diop –Study Centers Director Office of Adventist Mission, Post Box 2, at the Seventh-day Adventist HCF Hosur 635110 Rick Kajiura –Communication Director Church World Headquarters.

Tamil Nadu India Nancy Kyte –Marketing Director Tax- deductible gifts for Global Phone: 91 (4344) 26-2170 Mission projects can be sent to Fax: 91 (4344) 26-2090 Marti Schneider –Programs Director Global Mission mohanroy@sud-adventist.org Homer Trecartin –Planning Director 12501 Old Columbia Pike World Jewish Silver Spring, MD 20904 Ruth Dunbebin –Donor Services Representative Friendship Center 800-648-5824 Laurie Falvo –Communication Projects Manager www.global-mission.org Richard Elofer P.O Box 592 Charlotte Ishkanian –Mission Editor Global Center For 94186 Jerusalem Andrew King –Video Producer/Editor Adventist-Muslim Israel Phone; 972 (2) 6251 547 Fax: 972 (2) 6251 391 Hans Olson –Communication Projects Manager Relations Jerald Whitehouse www.jewishadventist.org Shyamala Ram –Senior Office Assistant AMRNET PO Box 1223 rielofer@netvision.net.il Nimfa Sumagaysay–Donor Response Coordinator Loma Linda CA 92354 USA Buddhist Study Center Phone: (909) 558-4563 Stella Thomas –Administrative Assistant Scott Griswold Fax: (909) 558-4845 2 G L O B A L M I S S I O N • w w w . g l o b a l m i s s i o n . Luang, org • Daniel Weber –Video Producer/Editor P.O. Box 15, Nakhon E-mail: jwhitehouse@gcamr.org

Ayutthaya Thailand 13260 griswold@loxinfo.co.th Phone: 66 818 515 414 www.BridgesForMinistry.org

Centre for Secular and Post-Modern Studies

Miroslav Pujic 119 St. Peter’s Street; St. Albans, Herts AL1 3EY; ENGLAND Phone: 44 (1727) 854-229 Fax: 44 (1727) 866-312 www.reframe.info ask@reframe.info

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2Q 09

Healing in Malawi I

n 1908 a small hospital was started near Makwasa, Malawi as part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s medical mission program.

For more than 100 years this hospital has provided physical and spiritual healing to one of the poorest countries in Africa. Malawi is home to more than 13 million people, many of whom live in poverty and are in dire need of medical care. HIV-AIDS is rampant and is changing the face of Malawi. A disease that shows no mercy in regards to race, religion or social status, HIVAIDS affects people young and old.

Today Malamulo Adventist Hospital has more than 200 beds and runs numerous communities outreach and outpatient programs. The hospital also runs a medical school that trains nurses, laboratory technicians, and other medical staff.

The school attracts students from all over the country and is an important part of the hospital’s outreach to the community. Students learn skills that will help them earn a living, as well as saving lives of those in need. It‘s impossible to count the number of lives that have been saved and changed by the holistic ministry of the dedicated staff at Malamulo.

Dr. Christy Shank has been at Malamulo for less than one year and part of her job is to train students from the hospital’s medical school. She says the opportunity to work with students was one of the attractions to coming to Malamulo. “Because as one person, you can only do a set amount of work, you can only get so many things done, but if you’re teaching, then you have a chance to have a much larger impact,” says Shank.

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As Dr. Shank works with her students, she shows patience as they struggle to find the answers to her questions.

As a young doctor herself, she can relate to the training and the struggles they are facing.

One of Malamulo’s greatest challenges is HIV-AIDS patients. “We estimate that probably 50 to 60 percent of our adults who are admitted either have HIV-AIDS as a main cause of their problems or also have HIV-AIDS that may be related to why they’re here,” says Shank.

Despite the high number of HIV-AIDS cases, the hospital is often able to help transform their patients’ lives. According to Shank, “Because we can take really sick people, diagnose them properly, start them on medicine and then improve dramatically.”

Your faithful support of the Mission Offerings each Sabbath help make it possible to train and send medical doctors like Dr. Shank who are willing to dedicate their lives to treating the sick, poor and helpless just like Jesus did when he was on earth.

By Daniel Weber

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The ministry of Sharyn & Lou DiFlorio

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F E A T U R E

Café 7: Food for

the Body, Food for the Soul

By Hans Olson and Charlotte Ishkanian

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f the Lord wants us to do this, let’s ask Him to make that shop available,” Lou DiFlorio said to his wife, Sharyn.

Sharyn worried that her husband was too demanding of God. The shop they wanted, though empty, wasn’t even available for lease. But Lou insisted that if God wanted them to open a café church in the Northern Perth, Australia, suburb of Landsdale, He would make that shop available.

For months Sharyn and Lou, along with a small group from church, had been looking for ways to reach their suburban post-modern community on Australia’s west coast and share God’s love. At first Lou wasn’t interested. But Sharyn

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had attended a church planting workshop during campmeeting and felt a deep burden, especially for young people.

One day someone in their small group suggested the idea of staring a café. “When I first heard the idea,” says Lou, “I thought, Great idea—for someone else. I own an advertising business that kept me busy, and Sharyn coordinates an Adventist group home for adults with intellectual disabilities.”

Then one day Sharyn noticed a vacant store in a nearby shopping center with a for lease sign in the window. “I thought maybe we as a group could go in together to start a café,” says Sharyn.

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But Lou wasn’t so enthusiastic. “When Sharyn showed me the shop that was for lease, it didn’t seem interesting. It didn’t have a nice feel,” he says. “There was a much nicer shop on the corner with more natural light and a warmer look. It wasn’t occupied, but it was under lease.

Lou felt strongly that the corner shop was the best place to open the café. He prayed in front of the corner shop, asking the Lord to make it available to them. Lou then told Sharyn that if the Lord wanted them to do this, He could make that shop available.

The small group talked about the idea of a café for several weeks, weighing the

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pros and cons. Eventually they decided it was too risky of a venture. “I was a little disappointed because I felt that we needed to do something tangible to reach the people in our community,” says Sharyn.

Then one day a member of the small group drove by the

They were thrilled.

They had never been part of something like this before, but they knew that God was leading them. corner shop Lou had noticed and saw a for lease sign in the front window. They immediately called Lou and Sharyn to tell them the good news. Lou says, “I thought, You’ve got to be kidding!”

Sharyn and Lou called the leasing agent the next day and signed the papers right away.

They didn’t even take a look inside the building. The building was new and had been sitting uncompleted for three years. “It was waiting for us,” says Lou. They were thrilled. They had never been part of something like this before, but they knew that God was leading them. A few months later Café 7 officially opened.

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Café 7 is a place where people can come and get a meal, read, play games, and meet friends. The DiFlorios keep a variety of spiritual reading material on the café’s bookshelves for people to read when they stop in.

Bibles, Signs of the Times, and other Christian magazines and literature lie next to popular board games. When people come into the café, the DiFlorios take the time to get to know them. These are people they wouldn’t meet otherwise. “They share their stories with us,” says Sharyn.

“We can sense that some people who come in have real problems, so we let them talk, and we learn about their problems. We ask whether we can pray for them, and usually they’re happy to have us do it.”

A broad spectrum of people come into the café each day, from teenagers to people in their 50s. “Several men’s groups from various churches meet here,” says Lou. “And because we’re certified halal, a good number of Muslims from all over the city come here to eat as well.”

Since Lou and Sharyn didn’t have immense resources to open the café, they decided to both keep their full-time jobs and hired Sharyn’s daughter, Ellie, to manage the café during the day. As more and more people came into the café each day, the DiFlorios hired several

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other young people to help Ellie. They’re not Adventists, but they are interested in what the café is doing in the community. One of the people they hired is Ollie.

Ollie seemed to going through some personal struggles when the DiFlorios hired him. They knew he was they type of person they wanted to reach—a young person with a need for the Savior. So they took a special interest. Lou especially took Ollie under his wing and told him to call them day or night if he need anything.

And Ollie did. Very early one morning Ollie called Lou desperate to talk to someone.

“I know it’s early,” he said, “and I hope I won’t get fired for calling you. But I want to know whether there’s anything that I can do that God won’t forgive me for doing.”

“I told him no, that God will always forgive us,” says Lou. “He’s in business of saving people.”

Ollie told Lou that he hated his father because Ollie’s father used to abuse Ollie’s mother. Lou tried to encourage the young man. Over the coming weeks Ollie opened up more and told Sharyn and Lou that he was in trouble with the police. It is people such as Ollie that Sharyn and Lou are trying to reach. Ollie is now studying the Bible regularly and the DiFlorios hope he will find a new life in Christ.

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Café 7 now receives some support from Global Mission, and the help of a part-time pastor, Gys Seegers, who leads out one Sabbath a month at the café’s informal church service. It is not a lot, but it

helps lighten Sharyn and Lou’s load. The café still isn’t making a financial profit, but every day through the café the DiFlorios share God’s love with those who don’t even know they’re searching for

something. “It blows us away when we see what God is doing,” says Lou.

AUSTRALIA

COUNTRY PROFILE

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ften called “Down Under,” Australia lies in the southern hemisphere between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

It is the sixth largest country in the world and the smallest continent. British explorer Captain James Cook claimed the continent for Great Britain in 1770. Originally established as a penal colony, most of Australia’s population descends from 19th and 20th century British and Irish immigrants.

Since World War I, Australia’s population has quadrupled due in part to open immigration policies. Today more than one quarter of the population is foreign born.

While the European population was growing, Australia’s indigenous Aboriginal population declined for 150 years.

But policies established in the mid-20th century have helped reverse that trend.

Australia’s strong economy today compares with the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

Adventist Life Ellen White received her first visions of the work in Australia on April 1, 1874,

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however, it was 10 years before Stephen Haskell, William Arnold, and Henry Scott and their families left San Francisco harbor to become the first Adventists missionary in Australia. By the middle of 1886 Australia’s first church, Melbourne Seventhday Adventist Church, had 95 members.

Like most post-modern secular nations today, Australia struggles to grow in membership. Over the past 10 years the church in Australia has grown by only 9 percent, while the world church has grown by 61 percent.

FAST FACTS • Ellen White helped select the site for Avondale College and the Sydney Sanitarium (now Sydney Adventist Hospital) during the nine years she spent in Australia from 1891 till 1900. Her influence had a deep impact on the church’s early work in the South Pacific.

•Sydney Adventist Hospital is the largest private hospital in New South Wales, the most populous state in Australia.

The church also operates 15

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Capital: Canberra

English (official)

Language:

Catholic 25%, Anglican 25%, Uniting Church 10%, other faiths 15%, no affiliation 25% Religion:

Population:

21 million*

Adventist membership:

53,475* Adventist to population ratio:

1:393*

*General Conference Office of Archives and Statistics, 145th Annual Statistical Report

retirement centers throughout the country.

• On June 10, 1900, the first Adventist primary school was established with two teachers and 60 students. Today there are more than 55 primary and secondary schools in Australia.

• In 1927 Pastor David Sibley is believed to have broadcast the first Adventist radio program in Melbourne. In 1956 Faith for Today was the first Adventist television program broadcast in Australia. In 1966 the Adventist Media Centre in Australia began production on Focus on Living films.

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2Q WHAT’S COOKING IN Australia 09 On the Menu: • Macadamia Shortcake Biscuits • Melbourne Minted Orange Salad • Aussie Carrot and Honey Soup

Macadamia Shortcake Biscuits Makes 8-10 biscuits

Crunchy macadamia nuts add taste and a bit of luxury to basic shortcake biscuits.

They are delicious served warm with butter and jam as an accompaniment to soup or salad, or heaped with sliced fresh fruit as a dessert.

Ingredients: • 2 cups flour • 3 tablespoons sugar • ¼ teaspoon salt • 1 tablespoon baking powder • 1/3 cup margarine • ½ cup milk • 1 egg (or ¼ cup egg substitute), beaten well • ½ cup chopped macadamia nuts

Australia’s climate is ideal for growing a huge variety of fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, and flowers. Most of its produce is consumed locally, but about 15 percent is exported to other countries. Australia’s fine reputation for producing “clean” produce without genetic alterations gives them a competitive edge in Melbourne the export Minted market.

Orange Salad

Serves 6-8

Fresh mint lends unexpected flair to this lovely make-ahead salad. It looks beautiful in a glass or crystal bowl.

Aussie Carrot and Honey Soup Serves 4-6 Savory and sweet, a comforting soup any season of the year.

Ingredients: • 6 oranges, peeled, halved, seeds removed • ½ pineapple, peeled, core removed • ¼ cup mint leaves, chopped • 1 teaspoon sugar, if fruit is tart

Ingredients: • 3 cups carrots, sliced • 1 cup celery, sliced • 1 onion, chopped • ¼ cup honey • 1 tablespoon olive oil • 2 garlic cloves, minced • 4 cups vegetable stock or water • Salt • Mace, nutmeg, or allspice—optional • Chopped parsley

Preparation: Slice the oranges and pineapple into a serving bowl and chill. Chop the mint into small shreds and toss with fruit.

Preparation: Lightly sauté vegetables in a large pan for three minutes. Add vegetable stock or water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until carrots are tender. Add seasonings to taste. May be served as a chunky brothbased soup, or blended in a food processor. For a cream-based soup, add milk or light cream after cooking. Gently reheat, but do not bring back to a boil. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Preparation: Stir dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Cut in the margarine until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the beaten egg and milk and macadamia nuts, stirring with a fork until mixture just holds together. Roll out on lightly floured board and to a thickness of one-half inch. Cut with round cookie cutter. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet at 425°F for 12-15 minutes.

–Nancy Kyte is the marketing director for Adventist Mission.

She enjoys experimenting with new recipes and confirms that global cuisine is one way to travel vicariously.

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WORLD NEWS SUDAN John was the village leader of another denomination in Southern Sudan. Several years ago he briefly attended an Adventist evangelistic series, but his congregation threatened him when they found out. So he stopped going. In fact, his congregation was so upset they caused widespread opposition against the evangelistic team. At the close of the series the baptisms had to held in a neighboring town.

Then last winter John had an opportunity to attend another evangelistic series when evangelist Joseph Dut, who had heard John’s story, invited him to secretly leave his village and travel some 100 miles to a town where he was holding an evangelistic series. John readily accepted.

John was excited to see the Adventist young people’s involvement in evangelism.

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He also enjoyed getting to meet the Adventist leaders who were involved in the series. Each night John listened closely to Joseph’s lectures. After the meetings he’d spend hours asking Joseph and others questions about what he was learning and praying with them.

At the close of the meetings Joseph called those who wanted to fully commit their lives to Jesus Christ in baptism to come forward. John was one of the 45 people who stood up and went to the front of the meeting hall. On the day of his baptism John gave a testimony before the large crowd, which had gathered to witness the baptism.

When he returned home, his congregation confronted him. They asked him how the Adventist church was able to coax him away from them. They asked if he’d been

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offered some high position in the Adventist church. He said no, I’m just a member of Christ’s body now.”

Then he offered to open the scriptures with them and show his congregation what he’d learned while he was away. This angered some of them so much that they tried to put him in prison.

This didn’t work, because the county administrator, who happened to be an Adventist, reminded them that the law allows freedom of worship.

Please pray for John as he shares his newfound faith in Sudan.

–Courtesy of Michael Collins

CAMBODIA Global Mission pioneers work hard to prepare people for baptism, hoping they’ll show up on their baptismal day. Some don’t make it because of family pressure or community oppression, but for six Vietnamese fishermen the reason was jail. That’s right, they missed being baptized during last year’s campmeeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia, because they were in prison.

Just one week before campmeeting they were arrested, along with their boss, when their boat was

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found fishing with illegal nets. After months of Bible studies with them Global Mission pioneer Tach Soong was disappointed. Tach works in a floating fishing village on the Tonle Sap River among a Vietnamese minority group in Cambodia.

However, four others with whom Tach had studied, were baptized during campmeeting, including his son.

The fishermen have since been released, but not until after campmeeting. Please pray that these new Christians’ faith will continue to grow stronger every day.

GuineaConakry

only find low-paying jobs to help make ends meet.

When she discovered Christianity her husband refused to support her decision. In fact they argued about it constantly. It got so bad that he eventually left her. Unable to support herself she moved in with her parents.

She’s been studying for quite some time with Global Mission pioneers Felix Kiamou Delamou and Nyan Edouard.

“The way they presented the Adventist Church really touched me,” say Christine.

She feels that she truly has found a new life in Christ and plans to be baptized soon.

UNITED KINGDOM A puppet ministry performs in place of the regular church service one Sabbath a month at the Yate and Chipping Sodbury Seventhday Adventist Fellowship.

This church plant just outside Bristol in Southwestern England uses this unconventional service as a way to bring people into an Adventist church, when they might not have come otherwise. It has become popular in the community and is even bringing in members from area Adventist churches.

Christine Sandy lives in Yalenzou Guinea, Western Africa. After being disabled as a child she felt her life was hopeless. As she grew older she got married. But her life was still difficult as she could

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Attendance at Yate and Chipping Sodbury has gradually grown. A big part of the fellowship’s growth has come from special services such as music days, and health meetings in addition to the puppet days. Also church members get out into the community every week, so they can build friendships with people where they live.

Since its inception three years ago Yate and Chipping Sodbury Fellowship has focused on reaching an area of Bristol where no Adventists live. Some 25-percent of Bristol’s residents are secular according to a British statistical survey done last year. This is twice the percentage of secular people in the United States and higher than the average in the United Kingdom. Because many secular people don’t want to go to an Adventist church, the fellowship holds its Sabbath services in a community center.

The next step for the Fellowship is an evangelistic series they plan to hold later this year. Many people have

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already asked for Bible studies. Church planting pastor Ilie Tarlev expects to hold a baptism very soon.

–Courtesy of Allan Moore

Korea “The church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria … was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.” Acts 9:31 NIV. Members of the Ilsan English Church in Ilsan, Korea, felt that like the Early Christian church, they needed to strengthen their faith so they could reach out into their communities. Pastors Mark Jenneke and Kwon Myoung prepared their congregation for a citywide evangelistic series by encouraging them to bolster their personal spiritual lives.

Only after the church members were ready did the pastors launch a variety of programs, which invited the com-

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munity to the Ilsan church, such as Beginner’s English Classes, English Bible Study and, the English Reading Club. The average attendance in the Ilsan church has almost doubled on Sabbath. Some are even taking baptismal classes now.

Editor’s UPDATE The first quarter 2009 issue of Picture Story featured Jason Williams who was studying the Bible with William and Ruth* each week.

We just learned that recently William and Ruth were baptized and are now members of the Botwood, Newfoundland, Canada, church. *Names changed by request.

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SPECIAL OFFERS

Free Book Offer Front Line India

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If you enjoyed reading about Divijohn in this issue of Front Line Edition, we have a special free book offer for you. Front Line India is packed with stories about a shawl weaving contest, a bamboo hospital, a haunted living room, and many more.

To learn more about how Global Mission pioneers share Jesus in their villages, ask for your free copy of Front Line India by going to www.AdventistMission.org/book-offer/, or call us at 1-800-648-5824. We’ll send your free book right away.

Hope for the Thirsting

A book of inspiring stories from the former Soviet Union Sometime God sends an angel to do his work. Other times he calls 300 inexperienced missionaries, some were barely in their 20s. Most were new Christians and new Adventists. Some were previously pizza salesmen, spirit mediums, and professional soccer players. Each of these Global Mission pioneers was given the same assignment: Go back to your home country and plant a church in an area where there are no other Adventists.

The results are in this book: • A lifelong KGB worker who was changed by a bowl of soup • A Bible that spent the night in a wood stove • A communist propaganda expert who found Christ in a children’s Bible • And host of miracles from Siberia to the Asian deserts To learn more about how Global Mission and to ask for your free copy of Hope for the Thirsting visit: www.AdventistMission.org/book-offer/ or call us at 1-800-648-5824.

We’ll send your free book right away

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Remember when mission work was the most important thing we did as a church?

It still is.

Every day nearly 1,000 Adventist missionaries serve in more than 200 countries around the world. Your support of the Spring Mission Appeal offering on May 30 will help give them the resources they need to tell the world about Christ’s love.

For more information visit: www.AdventistMission.org.

Thank you for being part of it!

Be part of it!

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904