The Seventh-day Adventist Church began its New York thirteen initiative, including an international vegetarian cooking class. Also, a report on the Seventh-day Adventist health study 2 that the NIH funded through Loma Linda University.

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has offered assistance to hundreds of refugee families fleeing the ongoing conflict in Syria with a targeted focus on un-registered refugees, an agency official said.

Over the past year, ADRA has offered cash assistance to more than 100 families to help cover rent in neighboring Jordan, said Thierry Van Bignoot, ADRA’s director of emergency management.

The agency also partnered with the government of Germany to distribute winter clothing to some 3,500 families living in the Al Zaatari refugee camp in Mafraq Governorate in Jordan.

For two years, refugees have fled Syria’s civil war, which has killed more than 70,000 people, according to the United Nations. More than 1.5 million people have fled, many to Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

Van Bignoot said ADRA estimates the number of refugees is higher because many have not registered.

“Some people are afraid to give their names for fear of retribution,” Van Bignoot said.

The agency last year partnered with ADRA Middle East North Africa and the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization to offer 100 Jordanian dinars (approximately US$140) each month for three months to unregistered families for lodging. Many are staying with designated host families, while some have found basement rooms or small apartments.

The assistance helped people such as Amara, who told local ADRA officials that she came to Jordan with her five children while her ex-husband remained in Syria with his new wife. With the extra cash, she was able to pay rent for an unfurnished and unheated apartment. She said she was also able to buy some necessary medication for her heart problems.

Another recipient was a man named Musa, who came to Jordan with his wife and six children. Their finances have been depleted after they sold the last of their gold jewelry they brought from home.

ADRA has identified other needs in the region and is now implementing a project to provide gynecological and obstetrical care to Syrian refugee women in West Bekaa, Lebanon. In Beirut, the agency is planning a school that would provide half-day classes to refugee children, who are without education. Another project proposes a mobile clinic in the Jordan Valley, an area where few nongovernmental organizations are involved.

“The needs are huge,” Van Bignoot said.

He estimated that more than 70 percent of refugees are women and children. Many men have stayed behind in Syria, he said.

The U.S. Department of State this week released its annual report on international religious freedom, including an assessment of what governments around the world are doing to protect the rights of their citizens to freely worship.

The vast majority of Americans could tell you that religious freedom is a basic right here in the U.S., but they would likely be hard-pressed to say whether this same right does – or at least is supposed to – exist around the world.  And yet, as noted in yesterday’s report, “all states are committed to freedom of thought, conscience and belief in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has been the touchstone and the global standard for the protection of human rights around the world since 1948.”

Frankly, that’s what makes yesterday’s report all the more troubling.

This week, the Seventh-day Adventist church officially commemorated its 150th anniversary. As a church that often found itself in the religious minority, Adventists recognized early on that it was vital to advocate for protection of the fundamental right of the world’s citizens to worship – or not – according to their conscience. Not just for the church itself and its own members, but also for people with whom the church had little else in common. That’s because once religious minorities are silenced, it becomes much easier to strip away other rights.

That, unfortunately, is exactly what we’re seeing in many parts of the world. In releasing the 2012 report earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, “The report chronicles discrimination and violence in countries ranging from established democracies to entrenched dictatorships. It documents that governments around the globe continue to detain, imprison, torture, and even kill people for their religious beliefs. In too many places, governments are also failing to protect minorities from social discrimination and violence. The report identifies global problems of discrimination and violence against religious groups, including Baha’is, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Christians, Muslims and Sikhs.”

This annual report is a product of the International Religious Freedom Act passed 15 years ago by the U.S. Congress. Many in my line of work eagerly anticipate the findings each year as a means of assessing where progress is being made but, even more importantly, where rights are being trampled. 

As in previous years, the 2012 report does an excellent job of identifying many of the “hot spots” around the world and diagnosing the most pressing short- and longer-term problems, noting that, “The immediate challenge is to protect members of religious minorities. The ongoing challenge is to address the root causes that lead to limits on religious freedom.”

This report also bears witness to the fact that most of the trends we see continue to be negative – there are many more places around the world where religious freedoms are being taken away and where religious minorities actively are being oppressed, than there are places where freedoms are being restored.

These trends include:

• Government Restrictions and Abuses (described by the report as “laws and policies that impede the freedom of individuals to choose a faith, practice a faith, change their religion, tell others about their religious beliefs and practices, or reject religion altogether remain pervasive.”

• Blasphemy, Apostasy and Conversion (again, as noted in the report, “such laws often violate freedoms of religion and expression and often are applied in a discriminatory manner.”)

• A Continued Rise in Anti-Semitism

• Societal Violence and Intolerance

• The Problem of Impunity (the ability of government officials in many countries to commit abuses with no fear of being held accountable)

There are a tremendous number of valuable details in this week’s report and I would encourage anyone with interest in this topic to at least read the executive summary.

Shining a spotlight, as this report and others like it do, is an important step. But reports are only one step in the broader struggle to fight ongoing encroachment by governments and other entities around the world on the fundamental human right of the world’s people to worship according to their conscience.

—Dwayne Leslie is an attorney as serves as director of Legislative Affairs at the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters.

The La Sierra University Constituency met on May 23 and voted to modify the school's bylaws. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) had requested some changes that would give the school more autonomy. GC president, Ted Wilson, has expressed his concern that the Constituency maintain the authority that the church has in guiding the school in its operation as a Seventh-day Adventist institution. The battle is on as to who is to set the standards for La Sierra, the church or the WASC. The church will not allow the school to teach evolution as fact. The WASC wants more separation between the school and the church.

Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, the director of the General Conference Education Department said "The board needs to clearly express the goals, means, and primary constituents served, and as a Seventh-day Adventist institution, explain what makes La Sierra University distinctive from … secular and private universities.  The board needs to determine and monitor programs and ensure they are consistent with the mission and purposes of a Seventh-day Adventist university. The board holds administration accountable for carrying out the mission on a day-to-day basis.  Ultimately, the faculty are essential partners in accomplishing mission, not only because of the power they hold based on academic freedom, but because learning, and the integration of faith and knowledge in the various disciplines takes place under the direction of the faculty.  They need to be fully converted, God-fearing mentors and guides who live out the mission every day,” 

We have yet to see the revised changes that were adopted. What we have seen does not appear to be damaging to the church. The board retains its makeup except that in the past one of its members could be a non-church member, that has been removed with the newly voted bylaws. All trustees must be Seventh-day Adventists. The president of the Pacific Union Conference chairs the board. As Conference president, he also chairs the Pacific Union College board. This has been changed with the new bylaws at La Sierra. He may not chair the board of trustees of both schools.

Both the Adventist Accreditation Association and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges will now have to consider what to do next. It appears that not much has materially changed if evolution is still being taught at La Sierra University.

The La Sierra University Constituency held a meeting today to vote on proposed changes to their by-laws that would further separate the school from the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The request for changes came from the accrediting body,  Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The issue has a much greater influence than just La Sierra University. The Seventh-day Adventist Church has many other schools that could be effected by the WASC demand for separation. It extends to other denominations with schools of higher education and possibly could even effect primary and secondary educational institutions.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s West-Central Africa Division this year will create four new union administrative units, an action that underscores membership growth in the region and a need for more strategic planning in local fields.

The move, which will go into effect December 31, includes new unions in Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, and will split the Sahel Union Mission into two territories, which church leaders said would save on the high cost of travel in the region. 

“The present structure in all four unions placed an unmanageable demand on union staff, which limited their presence and effectiveness in the areas that they served,” said Rosa Banks, an Adventist world church associate secretary and liaison to church administrations in Africa. “Dividing these territories will provide a strategic advantage for the fulfillment of the mission of the church,” she said.

David Trim, director of the world church’s Office of Archives, Statistics and Research said it has been demonstrated that adding more local structure helps membership and tithe grow, as well as increasing the rate of growth. “With more administrative units they can more effectively strategize and use resources,” he said.

The Ghana Union Conference reports a membership of nearly 397,000, which is more than the combined total of both of the denomination’s European divisions.

“Creating a second union in Ghana is long overdue, based on their tithes, membership or any other metric,” Trim said.

The current Ghana Union is a “union conference,” which means it is self-sustaining, both in finances and leadership. Other unions are classified as “union missions,” which rely on appropriations. Ghana currently has the only union conference in the division.

As part of the division’s reorganization, Adventist Church structure in Ghana will be divided into the South Ghana Union Conference, based in Accra, and the North Ghana Union Mission, based in Kumasi.

In Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, the Adventist Church’s two union missions will become three unions, one of them a union conference.

The current North-Western Nigeria Union Mission, based in Ikeja in Lagos State, will divide and become a union mission in the north and a union conference in the south. In this region’s northern territory, the church will create the Northern Nigeria Union Mission, based in Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory. In the Southwest part of the country, the church will create the Western Nigeria Union Mission, with headquarters in Maryland, Lagos.

“This particular step is to facilitate mission in the northern part of the country where the church has yet to penetrate effectively,” Trim said.

The Central Africa Union Mission, now based in Yaoundé, Cameroon, will relocate its headquarters to Bangui, Central African Republic, allowing the newly created Cameroon Union Mission to operate out of Yaoundé.

And the church’s Sahel Union Mission, now based in Lomé, Togo, will become two union missions – the Eastern Sahel Union Mission, based in Lomé, and the Western Sahel Union Mission, headquartered in Dakar, Senegal.

“Dividing this field into two unions will afford better administrative oversight in these challenging fields and will save money on the high cost of travel in that part of the world,” said G. T. Ng, executive secretary of the Adventist world church.

Ng emphasized that reorganizing structure is a step in the right direction but not an automatic cure-all for slow or stagnant membership growth. Rather, he said, it is with both reorganization and a strengthening of individual congregations that best contributes to growth.

“It has been shown that local church-based evangelism is the most effective model of evangelism,” Ng said. “Members are the most important assets of the church. Pastors have to double up as trainers beyond playing their traditional role as baptizers and have a discipleship program in place for new members.”

The West-Central Africa Division, with headquarters in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, is home to a reported membership of approximately 866,000. It currently has six unions; the reorganization later this year will give the division 10 unions.

Seventh-day Adventists were some of the first responders to a commercial factory building collapse in Savar, Bangladesh, that has captured international media attention and sparked debate over building standards.

Ten Adventist youth trained in earthquake preparedness and potential building collapse situations were some of the first onsite after the Wednesday, April 24 collapse and helped bring out 30 victims, four of whom were still alive.

Another group of 125 Adventist young people went to the disaster site on Saturday, April 27 to assist rescue teams. The group helped recover three women as well as several bodies. They also provided food and water to survivors.

The eight-story commercial building is known as Rana Plaza and is located approximately 45 kilometers from the capital city of Dhaka.

The building housed five garment factories, production lines, banks and hundreds of shops. An estimated 3,500 people were in the building at the time of the collapse, the majority of whom were female factory workers under the age of 25. To date, approximately 400 bodies have been recovered and 2,444 injured people have been rescued, but hundreds are still unaccounted for. 

ADRA Bangladesh also responded promptly by providing oxygen tanks, masks, flashlights, hammers, shovels and other tools as preliminary assistance. According to director Serpa Santana Landerson, ADRA Bangladesh is planning to donate cash to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund after committee approval is received.

During an April 26 Adventist Youth evening meeting, young people spontaneously collected Taka 12,100 (approximately USD$160) for the victims.

Reports have confirmed that at least one Adventist, a boy named Bitu Baroi, who was working in one of the garment factories, is still missing. His mother works at Pollywog, an Adventist-sponsored handicraft industry located on the Adventist Church’s Bangladesh Adventist Union Mission campus.

The disaster area is about 20 kilometers from the union office.

The garment industry is a major foreign currency earner in Bangladesh and the biggest industry in the country. Bangladesh is the second largest garment exporter country in the world after China. There are more than 5,000 such factories in Bangladesh, mainly in Dhaka and Chittagong regions. And that number only counts factories registered with the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporting Association. There are hundreds more not under this umbrella.

There are about six million factory workers, mostly women, employed directly in this industry.