EUD Inter-Ministries Summit, September 18-22, 2019

Now it’s over, the congress, or really the Inter-Ministries summit of three departments of the Seventh-Day Adventist church in the Inter-European Division in Lignano Sabbadioro, Italy. What a good idea to get all the people involved in Family Ministries, Children’s Ministries and Women’s Ministries together to address topics involved with people and calling the congress People 7.0. Living as Christians reflecting God’s love to all people is a journey that we are all on and where we can use all the help we can get from professionals in various areas. That is what this summit was about. The EUD team picked up the letters of the division’s abbreviation to make up an acronym: E – encourage; U – uplift; D – develop. Each day of the congress addressed one of these areas with short “EUD”-talks brilliantly presented by interesting speakers with professional experience in their respective fields. In the afternoon there was a plethora of workshops to choose from. The evening programs told the real stories of real authentic people. The congress structure may have been surprizing for some, but the organizers should be commended for their courage in taking up new and inspiring ways to pass on the message of living an authentic life, reaching out to our communities and letting out little light shine. Let us take off our masks and be the people we are and let God heal our hurts. Maybe then we can reach others who are scared away by the perfect image that we project when we come to church with our Sabbath masks on our faces.The journey that was started here will not end here. The participants were encouraged to take up the challenge of passing on the inspiration to their homes and local churches and to call an accountability partner in a few days in order to remind them of what, how and when they will do this. It was a privilege to attend this congress and I want to thank the whole Division team for this wonderful experience. But most of all the success of the congress was due to God’s presence and blessing in the whole event. Thanks be to God!
Reported by Hannele Ottschofski