From the General Secretary & CFO

From the General Secretary, Cheonneth Strickland

As we are already in the second half of 2022, I pray that everything is going well for you and yours. Here are some highlights of what has been happening in our conference:

• We have been busy developing and tweaking the strategic plans for church, schools and aged care companies. This is to help us be more strategic and guide what we do and how we do ministry.

• We are in the middle of preparing for the Constituency Meeting on 27 and 28 August 2022. This will be a time where the conference will come together and praise God for His leading from 2018 to 2021. It will also be a time where we hear reports on what has been happening in our conference. The Constituency Meeting will be held at Mountain View Adventist College starting at 3:30 p.m. with a praise service that anyone can attend.

• The Conference Office is on the move again. We are having to relocate from the Sydney Adventist Hospital Shannon Building at 185 Fox Valley Rd, Wahroonga, due to compliance and health issues of the building. Given this, we are moving across the road to the South Wing of the South Pacific Division, 148 Fox Valley Rd, Wahroonga. This will happen in the latter half of September.

• In our schools, the education department held their annual professional development for all staff, called Curriculum for Adventist Primary and Secondary Educators (CAPE CASE), at Hills Adventist College. Special guest Pr Jose Rojas from the USA encouraged staff by reminding them that “First, you must believe.” He challenged teachers and non-teaching staff that they are making a difference with an eternal impact to the next generation. It was inspirational.

• In our aged care facilities, we praise God for his protection from COVID-19. Over 50 per cent of our aged care staff have had COVID, but none of them contracted it from their work. All infections were from being in the community.

• We have had some employee changes in the Conference Office. We farewell Mrs Linda Streatfeild, Youth Ministry departmental assistant, who is pursuing other interests. We also have to say goodbye to Mrs Angela Kim, who is leaving us to work for SPD IT. We wish them all the best in their new endeavours.

We thank God for His continual guidance of our church, schools and aged care ministry. Please continue to pray for our work here in Sydney. Stay safe and warm! God bless!

From the Chief Financial Officer, Colin Raymond

After close to three and a half years, we recently went on an overseas trip to Europe. The trip was impromptu—with just under six weeks to plan and book—and we just made it onto our flight out of Sydney after collecting my new passport literally the day before. One of the special highlights was visiting the Czech capital, Prague, thus ticking one item off my wife’s bucket list. At the centre of the Old Town Square in Prague stands the (Jan Hus) John Huss monument, commemorating the great Czech reformer’s death. His notable words are inscribed around the base of this monument: “Love each other and wish the truth to everyone.” Huss lived only half as long as many modern Australians expect to live. Born in 1372, he only reached 43 years of age. When he was burned at the stake in 1415, the authorities declared him a martyr.

Why was he martyred?

He made what we would call today “career limiting moves”. He preached in the language of the people and focused on the Scriptures. He spoke against indulgences, the authority of the pope and purgatory, to name a few. He taught that the Bible presents Christ as “the way and the truth and the life”. Huss came to be regarded by leaders of both church and state as a “critic” and a rebel. On July 6, 1415, he was taken to the cathedral dressed in his priestly garments, then was stripped of them one by one. He refused one last chance to recant at the stake, where he prayed, "Lord Jesus, it is for thee that I patiently endure this cruel death. I pray thee to have mercy on my enemies." He was heard reciting the Psalms as the flames engulfed him. What is John Huss’ message to us today?

• Huss challenges us to be grounded in scripture. Writing to his friends in Bohemia the day before he was executed, he declared, “Be diligent in the Word of God.”

• Keep Jesus Christ as the head of the church. For Huss, the church was the gathering of all believers who confessed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

• He recognized the centrality of worship to connect people to God, the priesthood of all believers, intended to increase people’s focus on God.

• Cultivate the spiritual life. Realizing the realities of persecution for the truth, he wrote less than a month before his death, “It is better to die well than to live wickedly.”

• Huss warns of the reality of temptation. He preached against seeking wealth for its own sake and ignoring the needs of the poor.

Clearly the life and teachings of John Huss were significant not only for Luther and other early Protestants but also for us today. “Wycliffe striking a spark, Hus lighting up a candle and Luther wielding a torch,” reads an inscription at the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague where Huss preached.