Schedule of events and speakers for October 2011 London Seventh-day Adventist Church

805 Shelborne Street, London, ON

Date Speaker/Facilitator Event Time

1 Clara Baptiste Life changing Prayer 11 am

8 Alex Golovenko Radical Thanksgiving—Harvest 11 am

8 Alex Golovenko Mission 316—Crosscultural Mix 6 pm

15 Velma Morgan Adventurers Induction Service 11 am

21 Chris Bassaragh Youth Revival “Are you happy?” 7 pm

22 Dan Linrud Christian DNA—House Church 11 am

22 Chris Bassaragh YR “Identity: Who am I?” 7 pm

23 Chris Bassaragh YR “Dealing with Loneliness” 7 pm

26 Chris Bassaragh YR “What is your worldview?” 7 pm

28 Chris Bassaragh Youth Revival “Stress relief” 7 pm

29 Rodney Davis Pastor of St.Thomas Church 11 am

30 Chris Bassaragh YR “Knowing right from wrong” 7 pm

Tickets for this will be $5.00 per person

children/youth 15 and under are free.

Dinner before the film will be served at 5:30 pm

Movie and dinner option will be $10.00 per person

children/youth 15 and under will be $3.00 for the dinner.

For more info contact Gord & Kathy Rayner

519-472-6066 gord.rayner@sympatico.ca

Showing

October 3

7 pm

October 23 Walk with us AGAIN!

Springbank Park, Sunday morning at 9 AM

O we are the Pathfinders strong, the Servants of God are we….

For over 60 years these words evoke feelings of adventure, discovery and

growth. This summer was an eventful one for the Forest City Pathfinders Club.

The current cohort of kids had been walking together for 6 years, growing from

Friends to Voyagers, and training for Master Guides.

Twenty five travelled to Awakamenj Mino Scout camp in Quebec to join thou-

sands of youth from Ontario, Quebec, Barbados, Jamaica for the annual Camporee.

A trip to the Parliament Hill in Ottawa was a memorable experience. For the first

time our troop participated in the drill competition under command of Kamron

Bancroft.

Among many honours and skills learned at the camp all kids took the Sanctuary

class, learning about God’s Plan of Salvation revealed through the Sanctuary

model. Honour in Bible Marking, Temperance are teaching kids spiritual skills.

Many other honours, such as fire building and camp cookery, geocashing, cultural

diversity give skills for our elite youth. At the Investiture service on September 24

club directors awarded over 150 honour patches to kids and counsellors.

The Club is growing as we added five youth and two master Guides during the

Induction service same evening. Pastor Alex Golovenko is

finally wearing the uniform, and collected some awards for

his sash too in fulfilment to a promise to fully join the Club

when his youngest son Sammy will reach the age of Pathfindering.

The Club serves youth from all three congregations in London

South, North & Spanish. Kids 10-16 are students. Those older

contribute as counsellors, leading next generation.

Big plans include forming the drum corp, and preparing

for the Oshkosh 2014. Pray for and support us raising

our youth for Christ!

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada (SDACC) Re-elects Its Executive Officers

During the 17th Regular Meeting of the Members of the SDACC, held at College Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, on September 23-25, 2011, Mark Johnson, Dragan Stojanovic, and John Ramsey, were asked to serve as president, vice president for Administration and vice president for Finance, respectively. Each per-son was voted either unanimously or by an over-

whelming majority. The constituency also approved the creation of a new position and elected Dennis Mar-shall as the SDACC’s first General Vice President. It is a non-executive position, and he holds it along with his position as vice president for Education.

All other positions that were up for re-election were also re-elected. A full report of the session will be pub-lished in the next edition of the Canadian Adventist Messenger.

Since 2002 the fourth Sabbath in August has been designated Abuse Prevention Emphasis Day (APED) on the official world church calen-dar. However, many object and of-ten say that they don’t have to ob-serve a day dedicated to abuse pre-vention because none of their mem-bers are abused.

The idea that verbal, physical, sexual, emotional abuse doesn’t ex-ist in congregations if the pastors or members are unaware of it is con-trary to what we have learned from a series of studies among Seventh-day Adventists. Research shows that as many as 42 percent of our mem-bers have experienced some form of abuse during their lifetimes. In or-der of most frequent to least fre-quent, these abuses include intimi-dation and physical violence; sexual victimization; resource deprivation; leveraging of children; and poten-tially lethal actions. In addition, con-trolling and demeaning behavior was reported by 61 percent of mem-bers who responded to the surveys.

This means that in every congrega-tion there are likely members who have experienced, or are experienc-ing, some form of abuse.

Abuse is routinely underre-ported by victims because of the shame, fear, and guilt associated with it. Therefore, the attitude of denial on the part of church mem-bers and leaders is harmful because it prevents victims from getting the help they need. In order for the church to be a safe place, abuse must be acknowledged and under-stood. Victims must be heard, alle-gations must be investigated impar-tially, and no abuse should be ex-cused or tolerated.

Abuse is not part of God’s plan for families. As a church, we have long been blessed with guidance for building healthy families, much of which is distilled in the book The Adventist Home. On the very first page of Chapter One, Ellen White wrote that home “should be a little heaven upon earth, a place where the affections are cultivated instead of being studiously repressed.”2 This

heavenly atmosphere must be inten-tionally fostered by godly love and actions on the part of parents, in partnership with the Holy Spirit—never by force or abuse .

Abuse deprives people of their individuality, their power to think for themselves, and their ability to act in their own best interests. Ellen White wrote that “every human be-ing, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator- individuality, power to think and to do.”3 God reveals His will for each of us with these words: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11).

The most compelling reason that we should be concerned about abuse is that it distorts the victim’s perception of God and, by extension, the church. Victims often find it vir-tually impossible to conceive of a loving God, one who loves them un-conditionally. They reason that if He loved them, He would have pro-tected them from the abuse. They leave the church when their cries for help are ignored and when they are abused by members. The reality is that the way we as a corporate body respond to abuse in the church can have eternal consequences.

Reprinted in part from the Adventist Review,

September 29, 2011

This Newsletter is produced by the Communication department of the London Seventh-day Adventist Church

Date Country population Adventists Prayer needs,

1 Afghanistan 29,117,489 NONE!

One of the least developed countries. End of War and Taliban terror. Pashtun tribe, women empowerment, medical & educational access.

2 Uzbeks, Tadjiks, Hazara and 70 more tribes to know Christ. Adventist military personnel among peacekeepers in the country. Mission to open!

3 Albania 3,169,087 334 Recovery from Communism, freedom from Islam, end of corruption.

4 Algeria 35,422,589 190

Berber tribes among which Christian Church influence is fast growing.

5 Recovery from recent civil war. Gospel among Arabic speaking Muslims.

6 American Samoa 68,505 2,812 Japanese Buddhist are unreached by the Gospel. Ethnic outreach.

7 Andorra 86,685 NONE! Catholic church is dominant. People are materialistic secularists.

8 Angola 18,992,707 378,256

Peace after 40-years war, ending in 2002. Alleviating physical suffering by clearing landmines and poverty by rebuilding infrastructures.

9 Anguilla 15,465 782 Revival for 80yrs-traditional church. Spanish evangelism for new churches.

10 Antigua and Barbuda 88,550 815 Least “Adventist” Caribbean islands! Revival amidst complacency.

11 Argentina

40,665,732 105,882 People in slums around Buenos Aires. Economic disparity. Immigrants.

12 Jewish people to accept Christ. Adventist university, colleges & schools.

13 Armenia 3,090,379 876 Peaceful relations with neighbouring nations, Azerbaijan in particular.

14 Aruba 107,380 755 Development of Adventist Mission. Outreach to new immigrants & Jews.

15 Australia 21,507,384 55,365 Increasing pluralism and aggressive secularisation among Christians. Intercultural mix due to constant influx of refugees and immigrants.

16 Austria 8,387,491 3,897 Catholic heritage is declining due secularism. Middle-Eastern immigrants.

17 Azerbaijan 8,933,928 721 Growth of Adventist mission. End of Muslim persecution of Christian churches, and destruction of church properties. Peace in Nakhichevan.

18 Bahamas 345,736 18,020 700 islands between Florida & Cuba. Faithfulness amidst materialism.

19

Bangladesh 164,425,491 32,168

88% of people groups are unreached with Christian Gospel message at all.

20 Openness among Muslim majority of the Christian work and presence.

21 Hindus tribes, Brahmin people, for openness to receive the Gospel.

22 Shaikh Muslim tribe (75%), Ansari, Hajam, Sayyid Muslim tribes - openness

23 Burmese Buddhist tribes in Chattagam, ethnic animists – for openness

24 Growth of Adventist educational work through schools

25 Development of Christian Mission, food availability, climate changes.

26 Bahrain 807,131 22 Greatest religious freedom in the Islamic Gulf. Current political unrest.

27 Barbados 256,552 14,532 Greater commitment to the Lordship of Christ, & outreach to Asian groups

28 Belarus 9,587,940 5,151 Totalitarian pro-Communist regime continues to thwart church growth.

29 Belgium 10,697,588 1,756 97% urban. Walloon-Flemish cultural rivalry ignores growing immigration.

30 Belize 312,928 35,482 Fastest growing Adventism in Central America! Yet, legalism is evident. Outreach is needed to Garifuna, Mayans, Hindu, Chinese groups.

31 Benin 9,211,741 5,083 End of corruption. For Muslim and ethnic animists to open up to Gospel.

Starting October 1 our whole church will be praying

for nations of the world, country by country. The calen-

dar has been designed to consider the population propor-

tions per country. While small nations have a specific

day each, large countries, such as China, with 19% of

world population, India (17%), USA (5%), and others

will be allotted more days.

A special emphasis is given to tribes and ethnic

groups unreached by the Gospel. The data on these

countries is adopted from the www.operationworld.org

where you could find more about each country’s needs.

We believe that when this gospel of the kingdom will

be preached in all the world as a witness to all the na-

tions, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14) How

passionate are you to see Christ coming?

I dare you to participate in our One Year Experiment.

The first step is to pray for entire world daily.