8 February, 2016

In Iraq, Adventist Church leader prays for new church

Ted N.C. Wilson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, prayed at the construction site of a new church in Iraq as he made a weekend visit aimed at encouraging Adventist believers living 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Islamic State-occupied territory. Wilson, accompanied by his wife, Nancy, and a small group of church leaders, visited the city of Erbil, the thriving capital of Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan, where high-rise construction was booming until oil prices fell and dining options include popular U.S. chains such as KFC and TGI Fridays.

5 February, 2016

Adventist Church in St. Vincent is mourning the loss of one of its members

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Caribbean Islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is still shaken after a tragic accident left one member dead and seven other church members injured on Jan. 30, 2016. Marilyn Henry, 62, died after the vehicle she was in careened off the road and overturned in Argyle, near where the International airport is being built, reported Pastor Dermoth Baptiste, president of the church in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

4 February, 2016

ADRA distributes $8 million in food aid in eastern Ukraine

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency provided $8 million in food supplies to more than 100,000 people displaced by violence in eastern Ukraine last year and is continuing its relief efforts as an uneasy calm settles over the region. The Ukrainian branch of ADRA, working in partnership with the United Nations’ World Food Program, distributed the food to internally displaced people from Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions, where more than 9,000 people have died in fighting between independence-minded separatists and Ukrainian forces since April 2014.

3 February, 2016

In St. Thomas, a new café run by the church is attracting dozens of people

A new café opened by Seventh-day Adventist church members in the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Thomas is becoming a hot spot for dozens of people who visit a popular strip mall on the island. The main item on the menu: Prayer. The Prayer Café, which is located on the third floor of Foster’s Plaza, is a 600-square-foot space open daily. While there, people can sign in, have someone pray for them, and get to write and place their prayer requests into a prayer box.

3 February, 2016

Adventists Church in Jamaica distances itself from pastor’s comments made at political rally

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica is disassociating itself from comments made by one of its clergy at the People’s National Party (PNP) mass rally in Half-Way-Tree, in St. Andrew, on Jan. 31, 2016. Pastor Michael Harvey, who is employed by the church’s flagship education institution Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in the capacity of church pastor and vice president of spiritual affairs, told the large gathering that they should rise up and be counted in his exhortation for them, to vote for the PNP.

2 February, 2016

Mexican State governor pledges support for Adventist efforts in religious liberty and social programs

Human rights and religious freedom were the focus of a meeting last week between Ganoune Diop, the Seventh-day Adventist world church’s religious liberty leader, and Eruviel Ávila Villegas, governor of Mexico’s most populous state. The two, along with representatives of the Adventist Church in central Mexico, met on January 22 in Toluca de Lerdo, the state capital, and discussed ways in which Adventists work to improve the quality of life within communities.

1 February, 2016

Enrollment booms at first Adventist school in Namibia

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has opened its first school in Namibia after 63 years, and enrollment has soared following the first week of classes. The Mavuluma Seventh-day Adventist Primary School opened with 37 students enrolled in pre-kindergarten through third grade on Jan. 13. A week later, the number had jumped to 56 children.

29 January, 2016

In the Atlantic Caribbean, Adventist schools strategize to function as a school system instead of a system of schools

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Atlantic Caribbean Union, which oversees The Bahamas, Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos, plans to unify its four primary and secondary schools into one school system. Three of its church schools recently underwent an assessment by the Bainum Family Foundation, a foundation which develops programs that build instructional and organizational capacity in schools to ensure that both students and schools reach their full potential.

27 January, 2016

Goalkeeper stuns Brazil’s sporting world by refusing to play on Sabbath

An up-and-coming soccer goalkeeper has stirred up a storm in Brazil’s sporting world by announcing that he would no longer play matches scheduled from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Carlos Vítor da Costa Ressurreição, 30, who was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church last month, told reporters about his decision a few days ago, sparking a wave of surprise, sympathy, and even anger from fans and sports commentators who struggled to understand his rationale.

25 January, 2016

In the Dominican Republic, Adventist ministers are accredited to officiate civil marriages

When Luis Miguel Acevedo, ADRA director for the Dominican Republic, tied the knot in 2012, he and his bride, Arjoy, had to visit a court to legally register their marriage. The couple also had to pay the judge a fee, which currently amounts to about US$200, to officiate the wedding. Only then could they head to the local Adventist church for the religious ceremony.

25 January, 2016

En République Dominicaine, les pasteurs Adventistes reçoivent l’accréditation pour officier à des mariages civils

Lorsque Luis Miguel Acevedo, directeur d’ADRA pour la République Dominicaine, s’est marié en 2012, son épouse Arjoy et lui ont du passer par le tribunal pour que leur union soit légalement reconnue. Le couple a également dû payer au juge une somme, qui s’élève actuellement à 200 dollars US, pour qu’il officie à leur mariage. C’est seulement à ce moment qu’ils ont pu se rendre à l’église Adventiste locale pour la cérémonie religieuse.

21 January, 2016

Adventists distribute bottled water in Flint, Michigan, amid water crisis

Seventh-day Adventist volunteers are distributing bottled water and water filters to residents of Flint, Michigan, after high levels of lead in the local water supply left the city without drinking water. Flint, a financially strapped city of 100,000 people north of Detroit, is mired in a water crisis following a cost-cutting decision last year to switch its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River.