Athens, the capital of Greece,
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one of the world's
most ancient cities,
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the birthplace of
western civilization
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and democracy,
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that and much
more coming up next.
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Just before He
went up to heaven,
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Jesus gave us a command.
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He gave us a mission.
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Jesus said, Go,
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"go unto all the world
telling them of His love."
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This is our mission.
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This is our Global Mission.
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Hello and welcome to
Global Mission Snapshots.
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Coming to you today
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from the ancient
city of Athens in Greece.
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The Apostle Paul walked
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these streets
some 2,000 years ago.
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And Acts 17 it
tells us the story of how
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when he was in the marketplace,
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he talked about Jesus,
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and how he went to
the Jewish synagogue
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and talked about Jesus.
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And then he was
invited up here to Mars Hill
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to meet with the
Areopagus next to the Acropolis.
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And there he
reasoned with the philosophers
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they were
interested to hear new ideas
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and he talked to them
about the resurrection
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and about Jesus, but before that
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he made sure that he
connected with their culture
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and their understanding.
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And so he talked about
the altar to the unknown God
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that he had seen
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and he connected
that to the one true God.
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And he even quoted
pagan poets to them,
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"In him we live, and
move, and have our being,
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and also we are His offspring."
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He took those pagan poems
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and related them
to the one true God.
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As we look at the mission field
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we face today around
the world in so many places,
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so many cultures, we
need to follow the principles
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that were shown
by the Apostle Paul
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of making the good
news about Jesus attractive,
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meaningful, and understandable
to people in their context.
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Well, more about
that on today's program,
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but first up let's
travel to East Timor.
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The Democratic Republic
of Timor-Leste is a country
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located in Southeast Asia.
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It lies on the eastern
half of the Island of Timor.
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This small yet beautiful island
is home to 1.2 million people
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who make up one of two
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predominantly Christian
nations in Southeast Asia.
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Statistically 98% of
Timorese people are Catholic.
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East Timor's official languages
are Portuguese and Tetum,
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which help explain the
history of this country.
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After 450 years of
Portuguese colonization,
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East Timor was almost
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instantly brought
under its neighbor Indonesia.
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It was only recently in 2002
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that East Timor
became independent,
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the first new
democracy of the 21st century.
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The Seventh-day Adventist Church
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was first organized in
this new country in 2009.
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Currently, there is
one official church,
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three companies
and some 500 members
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spread throughout the island.
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Today it's Sabbath
here in Timor-Leste
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and we're inside the only
Seventh-day Adventist Church
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on this remote island.
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The people here are happy
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and they have a place to worship
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the God who made them.
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They sing.
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They study.
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They hear the word of God.
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They raise their
voice as high in gratitude
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for God's grace and protection.
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Adventist members in Timor-Leste
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face regular difficulties
when they join the church
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and start following
the biblical Sabbath.
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Members are often rejected,
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persecuted,
threatened, expelled or fired
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and at times
physically attacked.
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This is Lospalos, a remote town
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on the eastern
shore of Timor-Leste.
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We came here to
visit an Adventist member
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who took a brave stand for God.
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Jorkina is a
Seventh-day Adventist member
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who lives in Lospalos.
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Her home is humble.
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It is also her
shop and workplace.
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Jorkina is a tailor.
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She sews clothes,
purses and many creative items
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to earn a living.
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Jorkina has a physical condition
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that causes her a lot
of pain and challenges.
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One day she felt so weak
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that she prayed
for God to help her.
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It was then that two
Adventist missionaries
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came to her
house, prayed with her
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and gave her a Bible.
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As Jorkina learned the Bible,
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she decided to become
a Seventh-day Adventist.
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Unfortunately there is
religious discrimination
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in this area.
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Soon Jorkina's neighbors
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filed an unjust
complaint against her
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and she was taken by the police.
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It was a
difficult time for Jorkina.
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But after this incident
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she became even
more encouraged to abide
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by her Bible based faith.
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She made the
decision to be baptized
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and join the small local
Seventh-day Adventist group.
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Her persecution is
still evident at times,
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but Jorkina finds
the opportunity to speak
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about God every chance she gets.
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On Saturdays she closes her shop
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and people have to wait until
after Sabbath for her services.
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This small community in Lospalos
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is working hard to
plant a new church.
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There are also other
groups in Timor-Leste
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who ask for your prayer
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and support for
the many challenges
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they face daily
as they follow Jesus.
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Please pray for the people here.
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Pray also for the
global mission pioneers
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and missionaries working
in this beautiful new nation.
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My guest is
Pastor Claudio Gulyas
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who is the president
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of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church
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here in Greece.
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Pastor, thank you
so much for joining us.
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Thank you for inviting me
and give me this opportunity.
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And at a very historic place.
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Please tell our
viewers where we're standing?
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Now, we are standing,
there're lot of stones around
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and we're standing
over lot of stones.
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It has to do with the place
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where Apostle Paul
was here challenging
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the Athenians and
telling about the unknown God.
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So it's a very famous place,
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very well known from
the biblical perspective
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and also we're in a country
where the democracy was born.
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So it's very important place.
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So we're standing on Mars Hill
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where the Areopagus meant
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and we
understand from Acts 17 that
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Paul was down
there in the marketplace
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talking about
Jesus and came up here.
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Now, we're some
2,000 years later
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and we see it's obviously
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a very different
place in many ways,
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but the good news about Jesus,
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He is still being
shared in this city.
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And what about the Seventh-day
Adventist Church specifically?
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What sort of activities
are we involved with in here?
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Now with this financial crisis,
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we have two challenges
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and
opportunities at the same time.
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The challenge is
dealing with this environment,
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Greek Orthodox pass
more than environment.
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Everything is
relative, relativity
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knowing to seeking in
other religion, belief,
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so but in the same time
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this crisis have
done very important thing.
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It changed the way
that people see life
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and change their orientation.
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So they are more open,
not specifically to religion
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but to any kind
of help from outside.
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So we're working in that way
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because public evangelism
is very difficult here.
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People will not
come in open event,
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so we're trying to appose
them on one to one evangelism
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and they're more
sensitive to the human needs
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and we're working on that level.
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I'm guessing pastor if
you were to rent a hall
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here in Athens and
invite people to come
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to hear some talks
on spiritual things,
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you would probably
find an empty audience.
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They will not come,
only a very few of them,
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that they'll not
but that is now--
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They're not
interesting in that right now.
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They're interesting in what
they're going to eat tomorrow,
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they're lost in their jobs,
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so we have to work
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on that level to
meet their needs first.
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Now, I'm guessing
that Adventism is probably
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seen as some sort
of a foreign group,
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it's not same as a Greek
owned thing is that right.
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Tell me about that?
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Yes, yes, you're right
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and basically here
if you're an Orthodox
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you have to be Greek,
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it's very
sentimental with nationality.
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So it's almost like
a state religion to--
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To state religion, you're right.
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And has very big influence
and impact on people's life,
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even though they say
we're Orthodox Greeks
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but usually they
don't attend a church,
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they're not open
to any other religion,
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something different.
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So it's more a cultural
commitment from most people
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and I guess in many
parts of the world those of us
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who call ourselves Christians,
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we may only go
to church for Easter
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or for a wedding or
something like that,
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so you were
talking to me earlier
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about the early stages of a plan
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for a center of influence,
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a center of hope
here in the city.
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What sort of thing
would you like to see happen?
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What we would
like to do is based
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on their needs is
try to find to cooperate
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with some professional
like doctors, lawyers,
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to rent a place and each
day to have a different person,
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a lawyer one day
for couple of hours
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to give advice for
free to the people,
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the next day we have a doctor,
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medical doctor to give
them advice on medical issues,
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another day probably Sunday
has to do with the family,
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something like that to
give them advice for free
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to the people and
it will work, I'm sure.
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Well, I'm sure it will work too
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because it's basically
Christ method in ministry,
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isn't it, where you're mingling,
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you're showing sympathy
00:11:31.99\00:11:33.32
and you're ministering to needs.
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Do you have within the church
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this sort of professionals
you'd need for this?
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We have but not
as much as we want.
00:11:41.53\00:11:44.63
So we have to go
outside which is very good.
00:11:44.67\00:11:47.14
Because you're
involving the community
00:11:47.17\00:11:49.30
in as a community service.
00:11:49.34\00:11:50.84
And they, you
know, they feel like
00:11:50.87\00:11:52.41
they're doing something
good so did I say earlier
00:11:52.44\00:11:54.78
this crisis makes
people to be more sensitive
00:11:54.81\00:11:57.58
about the people needs.
00:11:57.61\00:11:58.95
So I think it would be
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a big problem
to find volunteers.
00:12:00.35\00:12:02.75
To reach out for the people.
00:12:02.78\00:12:04.89
As you look to the
future what are your hopes,
00:12:04.92\00:12:07.79
what would you like to
see happen here in Greece.
00:12:07.82\00:12:11.26
I mean for the--
00:12:11.29\00:12:12.63
For the church? For the church.
00:12:12.66\00:12:14.00
Yeah.
00:12:14.03\00:12:15.36
From my point of view
00:12:15.40\00:12:16.73
I'm--
00:12:16.77\00:12:18.10
we're working on trying to...
00:12:18.13\00:12:21.27
..to focus not on numbers.
00:12:21.30\00:12:25.07
Have baptisms, but to go out
00:12:25.11\00:12:29.21
and to live out doctrines,
live out what we believe.
00:12:29.24\00:12:33.01
To mingle with people to
be the salt of the herbs,
00:12:33.05\00:12:36.08
the light of the world,
00:12:36.12\00:12:38.25
so that's where
we're working on that,
00:12:38.29\00:12:40.62
to be really involving
00:12:40.66\00:12:42.32
the society to make
God known in Greece.
00:12:42.36\00:12:44.59
Yes.
00:12:44.63\00:12:46.76
Look at the outcome it
will be to have some baptisms,
00:12:46.80\00:12:50.03
but that's not
our focus on baptism.
00:12:50.07\00:12:53.00
To live our life
00:12:53.03\00:12:54.47
that's I'm
looking forward to getting
00:12:54.50\00:12:56.07
for the Greek Adventist starts
to be known in Greek society.
00:12:56.10\00:13:02.04
Yeah. Because you're--
00:13:02.08\00:13:04.21
or you're reminding us
00:13:04.25\00:13:05.58
that we're really
called to be faithful.
00:13:05.61\00:13:07.65
The baptisms are the
work of the Holy Spirit.
00:13:07.68\00:13:10.75
Well, you know,
00:13:10.79\00:13:12.12
when we look at
a city like Athens,
00:13:12.15\00:13:14.49
how many people do we have here?
00:13:14.52\00:13:15.86
I mean we have
millions upon millions of people
00:13:15.89\00:13:20.10
and I guess rather
than having someone come
00:13:20.13\00:13:22.36
and preach at them,
00:13:22.43\00:13:23.77
they wanting
someone who can show
00:13:23.80\00:13:25.13
how Christianity
works in practice.
00:13:25.17\00:13:26.50
You're right. You're right.
00:13:26.53\00:13:27.87
People are wanting to see
now to be able to help them,
00:13:27.90\00:13:33.71
just to be--
00:13:33.74\00:13:35.08
to see that we're
human beings as they are.
00:13:35.11\00:13:37.85
you know, when we look at,
00:13:37.88\00:13:39.58
go back to 2,000 years
to when Paul stood here.
00:13:39.61\00:13:42.08
He actually taught us
that principle just don't come
00:13:42.12\00:13:44.39
and preach at the people,
00:13:44.42\00:13:45.75
you listen to them first
00:13:45.79\00:13:47.12
and then you
connect it to their needs.
00:13:47.16\00:13:48.49
Pastor Claudio,
00:13:48.52\00:13:49.86
thank you so
much for joining us.
00:13:49.89\00:13:51.23
Thank you. Thank
you. And thank you.
00:13:51.26\00:13:52.69
And we'll be right
back after this break.
00:13:52.73\00:13:55.40