Grand Advent Church

Four Seventh-day Adventist church members in Chile are confirmed dead in the wake of the magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck the southern part of the South American nation on February 27, church officials have confirmed.

Chile's President-elect Sebastian Piñera and United States Secretary of State Hilary Clinton spoke with ADRA volunteers during a visit to the Santiago Airport Tuesday, March 2. ADRA is currently working to distribute food and clean water to earthquake survivors. [photo: ADRA Chile]

Two church headquarters have been severely damaged, while more than 10 places of worship have "been almost completely destroyed," according to Pastor Erton Köhler, president of the church in South America.

At the same time, the division reports United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with ADRA volunteers at Santiago's airport on March 2 and commended the group's relief efforts.

"Thanks to those who prayed and continue praying for our brothers and all who have suffered from the earthquake that happened last Saturday in Chile," Köhler wrote in an e-mail message March 5. "We remain united in intercession and supporting our fellow Chileans."

Köhler added, "Until now we have news of four killed Adventists and some still missing. We're still waiting for more news. Furthermore, we have two headquarters, the South Chile Conference in Temuco and Central Mission in Talca, Chile, [that are] highly compromised. More than 10 churches have been almost completely destroyed and some [church-related] academies and schools suffered significant damage. Many of our brothers are homeless, struggling to find food, water and a place to stay."

According to Köhler, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is continuing its assistance in the region. "ADRA is supporting the delivery of food, blankets and tents, as well as having a Canadian team working with water purification and a group of nearly 100 volunteers helping in Santiago to arrange the food to be sent to needy regions," he reported.

According to Karen Cordovez writing for the region, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with the outgoing Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and spoke with President-elect Sebastian Piñera while at the Santiago airport.

During the state visit, Project Coordinator for ADRA Chile Cristián Pincheira spoke with Clinton about the work that ADRA is doing in the country to help the earthquake survivors after Clinton approached the volunteers at the airport, Cordovez reported.

"Clinton expressed her appreciation for the work of the volunteers and related her own awareness of ADRA's work in the United States," Cordovez said.

-- With information from the Adventist Church in South America

A study of active Seventh-day Adventist youth in Europe offers a snapshot of what factors could be associated with young Adventists who foresee themselves in the church in 20 years.

Key preliminary indicators include a congregation that offers a "thinking climate." The study suggests that youth who felt they could develop an original position in their faith by asking questions and challenging church leaders said they are more likely to remain in church compared to youth in congregations that just emphasize conformity.

Other preliminary results from the research involving 6,000 respondents suggest that personal sharing and interaction with a father on issues of faith greatly increases the possibility of young people foreseeing themselves as Adventists in adulthood.

Manuela Casti is the chief researcher for Valuegenesis Europe. Results will be published in a book scheduled for release this autumn. [photos courtesy Euro-Africa Division]

The Valuegenesis Europe study is the first of its kind for the Adventist Church on the continent. Researchers hope the new data can serve as a tool for church leaders shaping management of Adventist ministry in Europe.

Researchers used a 335-question survey in 17 languages to study Adventists between the ages of 14 to 25. About 42 percent of respondents said they were unsure about their future in the church, while another 6 percent said were against the idea of being in church in 20 years.

Results from the 2006-2007 study are now being analyzed by a team of Adventist scholars from Newbold College in England, Friedensau Adventist University in Germany, and Saleve Adventist University in France.

Conclusions are due out in a book this autumn.

Manuela Casti, the study's chief researcher, said high exit rates among youth in Europe motivated her involvement in the study. "Where I was raised in Italy, probably 70 percent have left the church," said Casti, who also lectures at the church's Newbold College in Berkshire, England.

The new data could highlight a need for increased administrative support for the church's Family ministries, said Corrado Cozzi, Youth director for the church's Euro-Africa region, who also serves on the study's research committee. He said a young person's decision to become an Adventist was found to be more influenced in the long run by family, a church pastor and other adults at church than by a youth pastor or peers.

And while researchers said that mothers are usually the "bedrock" of faith in the home, it's fathers who might actually determine a positive decision for church. Survey respondents who discussed faith issues with their father were 70 percent more likely to foresee themselves remaining in the church than those who said their father didn't discuss religion with them.

Research committee member Paul Tompkins, who serves as Youth director for the church's Trans-European region, said data "showed very clearly that as men, some of us are not so good at talking about our faith to our kids. We can talk about cars or sport, but even if we discuss religion, it's often with other men."

The European study builds on studies of Adventist youth in the United States. Two studies, in 1990 and in 2000, also named Valuegenesis, lead to an increased support for youth ministry, said Bailey Gillespie, chief researcher of the U.S. studies. A third Valuegenesis study in the U.S. is scheduled to launch in October.

"Churches are going to need to step it up a bit and recognize the importance of this ministry for church growth," said Gillespie, director of the John Hancock Center for Youth and Family Ministry at the church's La Sierra University in Riverside, California, United States.

In one longitudinal study over 10 years, nearly 50 percent of Adventist youth surveyed had left the church or were inactive members by their mid-20s.

"It became increasingly evident that the congregational climate was a big factor, not what leaders do at the [Adventist Church world headquarters]" said Roger Dudley, author of the book Why Our Teenagers Leave the Church, based on the 10-year study.

"Many people said they loved their church," Dudley said. "Their congregation accepted them, gave them important jobs, they made it feel like a wonderful, safe place. On the other hand many people didn't like [their particular congregation] because they didn't feel part of it. It was easy for them to drop out and stop going."

Part of the ad campaign promoting the youth study in Europe.

European researchers said they hope the new study will offer insight on a specifically European viewpoint of a young person's faith. Respondents were older than those in the U.S. and were surveyed at churches, unlike in the U.S., where surveys were mainly conducted at schools. There are far fewer Adventist schools in Europe than in the United States.

Casti, the chief researcher for Valuegenesis Europe, said new data pointed to a need for intergenerational contact both at home and at church. Interactions with peers in person or through social media aren't enough to keep young people in the church, she said.

"When we give responsibility to a young person, it's usually in the youth department, or music," she said. "But an involvement in other areas would allow for more contact with older generations."

Not that youth ministry involvement is a bad thing, Casti said. It can help young people mature and contribute to generational diversity; however, when youth lead other youth, a pattern of generational segregation might emerge. The trend is seen in the Adventist Church and in other denominations, she said.

Many times a young person graduates from youth ministry and ends up also graduating from church, Casti said.

In addition to the importance of family and other adults, researchers found relevance in church programming itself. Respondents who heard preaching that was "helpful to their daily lives" at church were 450 times more likely to want to remain active in their faith than those who didn't identify with weekly sermons.

Whether a young person has supportive parents or church congregation, the key is to provide an environment of "frank, open and transparent exchanges," Casti said. She said she is grateful to adults who allowed her to grow up in such an environment.

"That's why I'm still here."

--Helen Pearson contributed to this story

Sherry Ayitey, left, Ghana's Minister of Environment, visits with Helge Wendenburg of Germany's Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety following the inauguration of the Baobab Centre for Ecological Studies at Valley View University, Tuesday, February 23. [photo courtesy VVU]

Grants from the German government and universities are helping a Seventh-day Adventist University in Ghana become one of the most conservation-conscious universities in West Africa, school officials said.

Valley View University, home to some 3,000 students, has received 1.3 million Euros (US$1.78 million) for campus conservation projects, including a wastewater recycling to fuel conversion system, rainwater harvesting and storage, tree planting and a new study center for environmental science.

"This center will create opportunities for interaction between local as well as international experts in the field of ecology," said Seth A. Laryea, president of Valley View, during a February 23 ceremony to dedicate the Baobab Centre for Ecological Studies. On hand were project partners from Germany, Ghanaian ministers of state, students and faculty.

Helge Wendenburg of Germany's Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, said he hoped "to illustrate that not only here at Valley View University but also as a whole, German-Ghanaian cooperation in the field of climate protection is on a good track."

The university's conservation efforts were given a boost some six years ago when the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research provided a grant for the development of the university's plan to become an "eco-friendly" campus.

The Baobab Center for Ecological Studies was built with a grant from conservation proponents in Germany.

The Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, German is collaborating with the university to plant 10,000 trees on campus and in the surrounding community, as well as the preservation of existing tree species native to the area.

The Ecological Engineering Society is undertaking rainwater harvesting and storage while the University of Natural Resources and Applied Sciences in Vienna, Austria is responsible for the water treatment.

In another project, dry toilets are reducing water usage and human waste is used to produce bio gas to supplement the liquid petroleum gas used for cooking in the university's cafeteria.

Sherry Ayitey, Ghana's Minister of Environment, praised Valley View University for its determination to showcase and disseminate conservation initiatives and promised to work with the university in replicating initiatives for other institutions.

Valley View became Ghana's first accredited private university in 1995 and the country's first charted private university in 2006. The university is located in a rural setting some 20 miles northeast of Accra, Ghana's capital city.

Seventh-day Adventist Church education leaders are establishing formal guidelines for new medical, dental and pharmacy schools, requiring institutions to demonstrate the ability to support a program before earning accreditation.

New guidelines will set accreditation standards for Seventh-day Adventist Church-run institutions wishing to add medical, dental or pharmacy schools. Loma Linda University is the Adventist Church's medical school in Loma Linda, California, United States. [photo: Rajmund Dabrowski]

The accreditation guidelines, which could go into effect April 1, were created partly in response to an increase in requests for new medical, dental and pharmacy schools from institutions around the world, said Ella Simmons, the world church vice president overseeing the church's Education department.

Simmons said there is a growing need for medical and health care around the world, and the Adventist Church has a unique responsibility to respond to such needs.

"However, along with this call to service and ministry comes the responsibility to provide care and healing that are of the highest quality," Simmons said.

According to the guidelines, institutions must show their ability to support, house and maintain a new school before they are granted conditional accreditation. The conditional accreditation is subject to a mid-year and final review during the trial school year.

The previous guidelines used by the Adventist Accrediting Association addressed general accreditation standards and didn't specifically target medical, dental and pharmacy schools, said Lisa Beardsley, associate secretary for the church's department of education.

Major contributors to the new guidelines included members of the Education department of the Adventist world church. The Adventist International Board of Education (IBE) and the Adventist Accrediting Association (AAA) oversaw the creation of the guidelines and will vote on the document at the end of the month.

If the two boards feel more work must be done on the document, the guidelines will be revised and voted on again during Annual Council, October 8 to 13, Beardsley said.

For more information and to see the complete guidelines, visit education.gc.adventist.org.

An 8.8-magnitude earthquake, one of the most powerful in recorded history, shook the South American country of Chile early Saturday morning, taking hundreds of lives and damaging public and Seventh-day Adventist Church infrastructure around the quake's epicenter, some 200 miles south of the capital, Santiago.

The church's Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is coordinating with federal emergency officials to provide aid and a small crew is assisting with urban rescue efforts among collapsed buildings.

An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile Saturday morning, damaging infrastructure and collapsing numerous buildings near its epicenter, about 200 miles south of the capital city of Santiago. Above, neighbors assess damage over the weekend. [photo courtesy South American Division]

The Adventist radio station in Chile, La Radio Nuevo Tiempo, is announcing that fellowship halls at Adventist churches are available to the public in need of assistance, said Magdiel Perez, executive secretary of the church's South American Division, based in Brasilia, Brazil.

More than 700 people have died in the disaster, an estimated 500,000 homes have been destroyed and 1.5 million others have suffered damage, according to Chile's National Office of Emergencies and Information (ONEMI).

Several Adventist Church buildings were destroyed in the city of Talca, including the Central Chile Mission administration office, an ADRA warehouse and the Talca Central Adventist Church, officials for the church in South America reported.

Church officials also reported structural damage to sanctuaries in Los Angeles, the Chile Union Mission office, located in Santiago, the South Chile Conference office, located in Temuco, and Chile Adventist University in Chillán.

"The ground was moving like ocean waves," said Nancy Roa Vidal, a resident of Santiago. "[The earthquake] lasted approximately two minutes. We're in a state of catastrophe."

Residents near the epicenter remain jittery as aftershocks continue. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has recorded more than 105 aftershocks stronger than 5.0-magnitude since the quake struck Saturday at 3:34 a.m. local time.

"People are out of their homes, and many are thinking of sleeping outside for fear of the aftershocks," said Jorge Alé, country director for ADRA in Chile.

ADRA dispatched a truckload of water, which left Saturday afternoon from Santiago to the cities of Talca and Concepción. Mattresses, blankets, and other basic necessities are also being procured for distribution.

ADRA's urban rescue team is also coordinating aid to the city of Villa Alemana, near Valparaiso.

ADRA International and ADRA of South America have pledged an initial $105,000 to help in relief efforts Chile.

ADRA is accepting donations for the Chile Earthquake Response Fund at its Web site, adra.org, by phone at 1-800-424-ADRA, or via mobile phone in the U.S. -- text "CHILE" followed by a space and the donation amount to the number 27138.

Chile is no stranger to earthquakes. According to the USGS, Chile endured in 1960 a 9.5-magnitude quake, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.

The long, narrow nation lies near a fault line between the Nazca tectonic plate in the Pacific Ocean and the South American plate. While building codes in the past few decades were designed to withstand earthquake damage, Saturday's quake was nearly unprecedented.

There are some 120,000 Adventist Church members in Chile, worshiping in about 600 churches and 260 organized groups.

More information will be provided when confirmed reports are available.