News From Around the World

• First Leadership Workshop Held in Southeast Asia
• Zimbabwe: Steady Growth Despite Economic Crisis
• Minister Visits Members in Suriname

First Leadership Workshop Held in Southeast Asia

David Baker and Jeff Caudle (senior pastors serving Southeast Asia, New Zealand and South Pacific) requested that Ministerial Services send representatives of the Leadership Workshops and Ministerial Development Program to conduct seminars and workshops for the Church leadership in the areas of the world they supervise.

Beginning on July 17, leaders from Singapore , Indonesia and the Philippines, plus the pastors, elders and wives, met for three days of seminars and workshops in Davao, Philippines. Thirty-eight men and wives attended the sessions.

Mr. Baker and Mr. Caudle gave presentations on developments in their regions, and Richard Pinelli, coordinator of the Ministerial Development Program; Lyle Welty, regional pastor and pastor of Cincinnati East, Ohio ; and Joel Meeker, regional coordinator of the French-speaking areas, presented the seminars.

Here is a partial list of the 19 topics covered: the foundation of leadership and manpower development, Ministerial Code of Ethics, requirements for an elder in good standing, the role of minister's wives, premarital and baptismal counseling, the history of UCG, working with your pastor, developing wisdom and judgment, developing a steadfast spirit, your role in developing the character of God, developing effective sermonettes, split sermons and sermons, conducting Church ceremonies and developing spiritual effectiveness.

“We were very impressed with their desire and eagerness to learn. The men and wives were very focused on the material, and they participated enthusiastically,” Mr. Pinelli said.

This was the first of a number of international seminars and workshops planned for the next few years. UN

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Zimbabwe: Steady Growth Despite Economic Crisis

by Mike Mukarati

Distribution of The Good News magazine and other Church literature from within Zimbabwe began in February 2000 after our pastor, André van Belkum, asked if my wife, Primrose, and I would be willing to take up the task, and we gladly agreed. Previously, literature was being posted to subscribers in Zimbabwe from South Africa.

At that time the country was in the early stages of a political and economic crisis that has progressively worsened until now when the annual rate of inflation is in excess of 1,000 percent—the highest in the world.

For eight months, from February to October 2000, all mail processing was done by hand. We were mailing out 40 GNs per issue and about 25 booklets per month.

In October 2000, Mr. and Mrs. Darris McNeely visited Zimbabwe and brought us a computer kindly donated by the congregation they pastor. This significantly transformed our operations so that by November 2001, we were mailing out 500 GNs per issue. By July 2004, 1,600 GNs were being mailed out per issue with about 300 booklets per month being sent out.

Meeting the Challenge of Skyrocketing Costs

Unfortunately, however, beginning with the September/October 2004 issue, we were for the first time unable to send out The Good News to our mail subscribers because of sudden, massive increases in postage costs—700 percent over a period of four months. Except for a few copies that were mailed to members and coworkers, the bulk of that issue was distributed by delivery to universities, hospitals, doctors' offices, pharmacies and a few business offices.

This effort seemed to bear fruit as we received scores of requests for booklets from people who had collected the GN from these places. We continued with this method of distribution until February 2005, with Harris Hlazo and me making deliveries in the capital city of Harare and two other smaller towns, while Stephen Tshabalala covered the second largest city of Bulawayo.

In March 2005 we reached an agreement with Kingstons Bookstores, a leading bookstore and magazine distribution chain, to distribute the GN through their branches in 14 cities and towns throughout the country for a nominal fee.

Currently, a total of 2,000 copies of the GN are distributed per issue, with about 300 booklets and 50 Bible Study Course lessons mailed out per month.

We receive about 13 requests for literature per day via the Internet. Those asking for The Good News are advised that they can collect their free copy of the magazine from their nearest Kingstons branch, while requests for other literature are processed and the literature sent out by post.

Many are writing in to express their gratitude for having the biblical truth clearly explained to them. UN

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Minister Visits Members in Suriname

by Kingsley Mather

The work of the Church in Suriname (a country in northern South America that was formerly called Dutch Guiana) used to be administered by the Dutch office in Europe.

About two years ago, Siegfried H. Hynes contacted the United Church of God home office. He had worked with Seventh-day Adventist congregations in Suriname for a number of years. He came into contact with the Church of God in the 1970s and was trained by an elder of the Church in Guyana .

Kingsley Mather communicated with Mr. Hynes and finally flew into Suriname on Sunday, March 19, to meet with him. Mr. Hynes speaks Dutch, but also has a good command of the English language.

Mr. Mather met with two of the three members who remained faithful to the truth—Mr. Hynes and Ingrid Virginia Ryker; the third member is Marius Gunther, an Amerindian of Erowarte. Mr. Hynes has continued to work with Amerindians in the area, encouraging them and sharing the truth with interested persons.

Stan Braumuller, a native of Suriname who lives in Orlando, Florida, and his wife, Barbara, had visited Mr. Hynes in 2005. They met a number of persons who expressed interest in UCG literature, and their names were sent to the office in the Netherlands so that they could receive literature in the Dutch language.

The Caribbean region has provided a DVD player, and sermon DVDs will be sent to Mr. Hynes from the Trinidad congregation. The Caribbean region is also providing funds so that he can take a course in word processing and other computer skills to enable him to communicate with the Caribbean pastors. UN

This article first appeared in the June 2006 Caribbean newsletter.