India: Adventist students allowed to take exams after Sabbath
Two Seventh-day Adventist students from the Seventh-day Adventist Boarding School in Kottarakara won a court ruling in Kerla, India allowing them to take their exams after 6 p.m. on Saturday. The students, Remya Rajan and Jincy Monachan, refused to take exams on Saturday because they believe in keeping holy the Biblical Sabbath day from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. Some 60 more Adventist students who also refused to take the March 15 exam will be allowed to take the exam at a later date without penalty. Scheduling this year's exam on a Saturday interfered with a 1961 government order against Saturday exams. Government leaders explained that they scheduled the exam on a Saturday to avoid holding it on Good Friday, a holy day for Christians and Muslims. Church leaders are working with government officials to ensure that scheduling conflicts like these do not happen in the future. [Gordon Christo/Southern Asia Division]
Jamaica: 30,000 join Adventist Church in a single day
More than 30,000 people across Inter-America joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in a live March 15 satellite evangelism program held at the National Arena in Kingston, Jamaica. The program, Pentecost and More, is in its second year and was designed to get every church member across the region involved in evangelism. The baptisms took place in nearly 40 countries spanning the Inter-American region of the Adventist Church. "The significance of it is not so much the numbers that we were able to achieve today," Israel Leito, president of the Adventist Church in Inter-America told the Jamaica Observer. "It is the fact that the whole church in Inter-America was involved in evangelism over the last two weeks because the members, pastors, everybody alike, was involved." At last year's event nearly 45,000 members joined the church through baptism causing the church's membership in that region to surpass 3 million for the first time. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America covers Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the northern tip of South America. [ANN Staff]
Russia: Adventist outreach effort noted during country's 'Year of the Family'
Russian media are noting a Seventh-day Adventist-run outreach effort for its strong family-oriented message. The meetings, broadcast from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia beginning March 14 and available on the church's Hope Channel and a number of satellite stations across Europe and Asia, correspond with the country's Year of the Family. President of the church's Euro-Asia region, Artur Stele, and Shepherdess International director for Russia, Galina Stele, delivered the nightly messages, which local church leaders say have already sparked feedback via email, text message and phone calls from nearly 100 cities in Turkmenistan, the Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and Russia. Church officials also say the six months of Bible studies and 40-day prayer marathon leading up to the meetings mean those attending are better prepared to consider accepting the Adventist message of hope. [ANN Staff]
Silver Spring, Maryland United States, Compiled by ANN Staff
Two Seventh-day Adventist students from the Seventh-day Adventist Boarding School in Kottarakara won a court ruling in Kerla, India allowing them to take their exams after 6 p.m. on Saturday. The students, Remya Rajan and Jincy Monachan, refused to take exams on Saturday because they believe in keeping holy the Biblical Sabbath day from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. Some 60 more Adventist students who also refused to take the March 15 exam will be allowed to take the exam at a later date without penalty. Scheduling this year's exam on a Saturday interfered with a 1961 government order against Saturday exams. Government leaders explained that they scheduled the exam on a Saturday to avoid holding it on Good Friday, a holy day for Christians and Muslims. Church leaders are working with government officials to ensure that scheduling conflicts like these do not happen in the future. [Gordon Christo/Southern Asia Division]
Jamaica: 30,000 join Adventist Church in a single day
More than 30,000 people across Inter-America joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in a live March 15 satellite evangelism program held at the National Arena in Kingston, Jamaica. The program, Pentecost and More, is in its second year and was designed to get every church member across the region involved in evangelism. The baptisms took place in nearly 40 countries spanning the Inter-American region of the Adventist Church. "The significance of it is not so much the numbers that we were able to achieve today," Israel Leito, president of the Adventist Church in Inter-America told the Jamaica Observer. "It is the fact that the whole church in Inter-America was involved in evangelism over the last two weeks because the members, pastors, everybody alike, was involved." At last year's event nearly 45,000 members joined the church through baptism causing the church's membership in that region to surpass 3 million for the first time. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America covers Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and the northern tip of South America. [ANN Staff]
Russia: Adventist outreach effort noted during country's 'Year of the Family'
Russian media are noting a Seventh-day Adventist-run outreach effort for its strong family-oriented message. The meetings, broadcast from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia beginning March 14 and available on the church's Hope Channel and a number of satellite stations across Europe and Asia, correspond with the country's Year of the Family. President of the church's Euro-Asia region, Artur Stele, and Shepherdess International director for Russia, Galina Stele, delivered the nightly messages, which local church leaders say have already sparked feedback via email, text message and phone calls from nearly 100 cities in Turkmenistan, the Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and Russia. Church officials also say the six months of Bible studies and 40-day prayer marathon leading up to the meetings mean those attending are better prepared to consider accepting the Adventist message of hope. [ANN Staff]
Silver Spring, Maryland United States, Compiled by ANN Staff
