Adventist Mission Sends Emergency Funds to Ukraine; and other world news
26 Mar 2022
This week on ANN
Adventist Mission has sent emergency funds to Ukraine to help feed and shelter anxious crowds who have sought refuge in Seventh-day Adventist churches. In response to an appeal from the Adventist Church in Ukraine, Adventist Mission sent 15,500 dollars from its Hope in Crisis initiative to support Ukrainian churches this week. Since the armed conflict erupted on February 24, Adventist churches have been swamped with as many as 50 to 100 people arriving every night seeking food and shelter. More than 3 million people have fled the country but many others have been unable to leave.
For the past nine years, Global Youth Day (GYD) has touched thousands of lives around the world for Christ—including young people who participate. On March 19 youth in every conference, union, and division of the Adventist World Church, chose to “be the sermon.” Young people from more than 180 countries actively shared their GYD activities through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok and YouTube using the hashtags #GYD22, #BeTheSermon, #LovingTheForgotten and others. Together they reached more than 30 million individuals by posting or sharing each other’s Global Youth Day activities.
In recognition of the humanitarian work carried out by Adventist youth on “Global Youth Day,” the City Council of Araçoiaba, a municipality in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, instituted the “Municipal Young Adventist Day.” The bill that was voted and approved, was authored by Councilor Erison Silva Pereira. The date was incorporated into the official calendar of events in this city of northeastern Brazil. From now on, the “Municipal Young Adventist Day” will be celebrated every third Saturday of March and will feature events and social actions throughout the city.
More than 15,000 Seventh-day Adventists in Chiapas, Mexico, took to the streets, parks, and public spaces to clean up and inspire others to join their efforts. According to local church leaders, the church’s state-wide initiative, called “Clean Your City,” was created three years ago by a youth ministry in Chiapas to motivate both young and old to care for their environment as God’s stewards. Another missionary campaign called “The Final Hope” calls for three million missionary books titled, “The Final Hope,” authored by Clifford Goldstein, to be distributed. More than 800,000 young Adventists in Mexico have helped to distribute the books on Global Youth Day.
After six weeks of online spiritual meetings hosted by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica, a total of 4,213 persons joined the church through baptism. This happened during the Footprints of Hope Online Evangelistic Series. Driven by Glen O. Samuels, the series became a reality through coordinated efforts by the Seventh-day Adventist Church administrative offices of Jamaica, the Caribbean, Atlantic Caribbean, Dutch Caribbean, and Belize. Thousands of people from across the Caribbean, Central America, North America, Asia, Europe, and other parts of the world watched and listened via several media platforms including social media, Free-to-Air Television, cable, radio, and HopeBeyond.net.
Developed by the global Adventist Church’s communications department in partnership with Hope Channel, “Heroes: The Bible Trivia Game” celebrates its one-year anniversary on March 25th. Since its release, the game has not only improved the biblical knowledge of more than 120,000 people, mostly between 18 and 24 years old, but it has also inspired many to take Bible studies and be baptized. In its continued effort to improve the app’s features and reach, Hope Channel plans to make the game available in Hindi, Chinese, and Tagalog by its upcoming one-year anniversary.
Roller Peps, a children’s series produced by the streaming platform Feliz7Play, of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South America, recently won an international award. Roller Peps won the Bronze Crown in the Best Children’s Production category at the 49th edition of the International Christian Visual Media Crown Awards. The annual award recognizes the best audiovisual content with a Christian theme. On the Peps screen, the characters live through everyday situations that teach lessons in civics, respect, good habits, love for God and each other. Available in Portuguese, Spanish, English, and Brazilian Sign Language (Libras), the series strives to be inclusive.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Eurasia region has issued a special call to prayer for the conflict in Eastern Europe. Prayer every evening at 7 p.m. is our humble position before the Lord, and may your hands not weaken in this holy vigil, and in works of mercy, as we give people all kinds of support. The complete “Call for Prayer” is on the website: esd.adventist.org.
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