Ministry in Pakistan

For the first two weeks in December 2008, Janos Kovacs-Biro, Seventh-day Adventist Church for Trans-European (TED) director for evangelism, visited Pakistan, where he met with administrators, pastors, and other gospel workers. The main emphasis was on ministering to infl uential people-groups.

Approximately 60 participants attended—all of whom were eager to learn the principles and practices of outreach work. Additional training was given in the areas of teaching, evangelism, giving sermon appeals, and integrating community people into church life. Church leaders and pastors have selected six cities from the northern part of the country and fi ve cities from the southern part in which to begin work in 2009.

During the weekend, Pastor Kovacs-Biro and Younis Noor, president of the Adventist Church in Pakistan, dedicated four new church buildings that will serve as community centers and places of worship. [Janos Kovacs-Biro]

Prayer conference in the Philippines

The first prayer conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Central Luzon started February 20, 2009, in Silang, Cavite, Philippines. With the theme, “The Prayer Journey: A Divine Call to Revival and Reformation,” the event was organized to provide church members prayercentered activities that will lead to a strengthened Christian life.

Central Luzon Conference (CLC) President Carmelito Galang Jr., explained how daily prayer is the hardest type of prayer and stressed how this condition can be solved through the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6:9 –13 as our model.

“But daily prayer is the hardest kind of all, and it’s a sad truth that when things are going smoothly, we often ignore our heavenly Father,” said Galang. “It takes just thirty seconds to learn how to establish a meaningful daily prayer life. Why thirty seconds? Because thirty seconds is the time it takes to repeat the Lord’s Prayer.”

Francisco Gayoba, the ministerial secretary for the Adventist Church in the northern Philippines, challenged the attendees to reclaim the church as the house of prayer, citing many New Testament examples of prayer during regular meetings, special meetings when choosing and appointing leaders and times of farewell, times of persecution, prayers for new converts, gospel workers, leaders, missionaries, and one another, and prayers for healing and wisdom. [Armon Perez Tolentino]