Executive Officers and their spouses of the Southern Africa Indian Ocean Division – SID (Conferences and Unions) gathered at Birchwood Conference Center in South Africa to strategize and collaborate on the mission of the church under the theme: “Striving for Excellence.”
The first day was spent with a deliberate focus on marriage and parenting. Attendees received fresh insights about God’s plan for families from the family of Noah. “This is a dream come true: to have all the leaders and their spouses attend the Leadership Summit.” Dr Paul Ratsara, President-SID. Besides leading out in the marriage and parenting session with his wife, Angeline, Dr J Musvosvi in his devotional address to leaders emphasised that “structure is important but people are more important … this is important to remember in Christian Leadership.”
SID had recently organised two Union Conferences (Botswana Union Conference and Indian Ocean Union Conference) making a total of five Union Conferences in the SID territory. In Zambia, the Copperbelt Field was also organised as the Copperbelt Conference. Dr Ratsara, in his address, highlighted the need to unite our hearts and action. “Unity should characterise the Leadership and programs of the SID,” he said.
Intentional focus and planning for Mission to the Cities has also been a focal point of the Summit. Recently, more than 30 000 people were added to the SDA church in Angola as a result of this program. Pastor Marlington Lopes (Presidente da União Sul Brasileira), shared his experiences and further trained the leaders for Mission to the Cities which is a core focus of the SID for 2014.“We want disciples, not just members. Humanly speaking, our business is impossible. It is the work of the Holy Spirit or it will never happen. But God expects us (Matthew 25), to do our part according to our Spiritual Gifts. We need a church that will make an impact in the societies we live in. We want our members to study their Bibles and Sabbath School lessons. We don’t want to tell our members what to do but we do tell them to do something,” he said.
Dr Peter Landless, GC Health Ministries Director highlighted the emphasis of Comprehensive Health Ministry focus of the Seventh-day Adventist church. “Doors of service is opening all around us, and it is God’s end time plan to extend our help,” he said.
Dr Paul Charles
SID Communication – We Connect
kindly help me the contact and email of Pastor Araujo. thanks and God bless you for the work you are doing.