WEBVTT
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Adventists in Serbia have made
meaningful connections with people
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through healthy activities.
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Health clubs have drawn a lot
of interest from the community.
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Groups go hiking, exercise together,
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hold health lectures,
and conduct cooking demonstrations.
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If not for these activities,
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it’s likely that the participants
might never meet an Adventist
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or be exposed to
the Adventist message.
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Here it’s important to
actually build friendships first
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and then you can say who you are.
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Otherwise they will
reject you from the start.
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Personal connection
is how Jesus ministered
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when He was on earth.
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So these church members
are following His lead
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by implementing Christ’s
method of ministry.
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This is key to building relationships,
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especially in the growing
cities like Belgrade
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where people tend to stay focused
on their own busy lives.
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This is a community
that lives in big buildings.
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There are a lot of skyscrapers here
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that has a lot of people there.
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It’s a very, very big area
to actually outreach to.
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There are a lot of people
who actually live here
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and don’t know anything about God.
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They are not that religious.
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People don’t want to
learn and search for God,
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because they live in that kind of society.
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Now, no one wants to know about God.
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So, it’s hard to actually
talk about it with people
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who don't know or want
to know about God.
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That’s the challenge here.
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I mean, it is a secular country.
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Just a few years ago,
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the area known as Novi Belgrade
had no Adventist church.
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Any time church members who lived
in this part of the city wanted to gather,
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they had to travel far to
get to the nearest church.
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In 2020,
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a portion of your 13th Sabbath Offering
helped establish a church
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in Novi Belgrade!
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They were able to get
a space with two levels
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and are in the process
of renovating the lower level
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to be an urban center of influence!
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It means a lot to us,
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because we have our own services,
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we can invite friends.
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The facility is very good,
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and we are very grateful to God
that it has two levels.
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The upper one, where we are now,
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where the services are held,
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and the lower part,
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which is very convenient
for various activities.
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This is going to be a center of influence,
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and we are going to have
the health clubs here.
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We are going to teach people
how to cook healthy food
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and maybe some kind of crafts.
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There are a lot of people
here who like crafts,
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like making soaps
from healthy ingredients,
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as well as decoupage and quilting as well.
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Your contributions to
the 13th Sabbath Offering
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have already been received with gratitude.
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The new space feels like home
to this congregation,
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and hopefully, it will allow them to grow.
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I am very grateful
to those that helped us,
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all the brothers and sisters
from all over the world,
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because this is a big municipality
where we are
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and where our church was not.
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Believe that we have prayed
for over 20 years.
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We have prayed to have this church,
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and that’s why we are also
ready to give our offerings
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to those who also need
to have their own church.
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I have so much gratitude.
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Thank you.
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I’m grateful to God
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that He gave those people
the will to actually give,
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and that He inspired them to give.
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That tells us we actually have to work
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and to justify what we already got.
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And that we have actually
prayed for God
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to actually use us where we are
to fill this building,
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so we have to find another one.
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Please pray for this church
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as they soon open an urban center
of influence in a new part of Belgrade.
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Thank you for giving to
the 13th Sabbath Offering in 2020
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and making this congregation’s
dream become reality!