Regional Leaders Discuss Contextualization, Challenges to Mission in Europe

More than 160 Trans-European Division (TED) leaders, pastors, church planters, and evangelists gathered at Newbold College of Higher Education (NCHE) in England for Engaged in Mission 150. The event provided a platform to celebrate achievements, acknowledge challenges, and reaffirm the commitment to the future of mission work in Europe.

Organized jointly by TED and NCHE over the weekend of April 25-27, the conference addressed theological and missiological challenges currently facing TED. Attendees reflected on lessons from the past, aiming to shape today’s church life and witness. This report offers a brief overview of the depth of the discussions that took place during the weekend.

In his keynote opening address, TED Adventist Mission director Anthony WagenerSmith likened the experience of today’s TED members to the Old Testament people of God, in exile and far from familiar territory. “This reality presents a unique opportunity for us to reimagine what it means to be a resurrected, countercultural, and missional community,” he said. “Only in exile,” he continued, “do we discover in fresh ways how to live as a faithful minority that grows wider and deeper, helping others prepare for Christ’s return.”

Remembering and Telling the Story

David Trim, director of the Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, shared that during the twentieth century the Northern European Division (now TED) “sent nearly 1,000 missionaries from Europe to other parts of the world, where they adapted to local languages, cultures, and customs.” This raised a key question for Trim: “Do we still have the same ironclad determination to reach Europe that the division’s founders and early leaders had?”

Trim then posed another challenge for European Adventists: “To what extent is Adventist mission in Europe contextualized, and to what extent have American presumptions been applied?” he asked.

Commitment, Humility, and Sacrifice

“Women have been vital to the mission of the church, particularly in Europe,” said Heli Otamo-Csizmadia, who highlighted the roles of women as pastors, missionaries, educators, and spiritual leaders for more than a century. Using the example of Alma Bjugg, Otamo-Csizmadia emphasized that these women represent a quiet but powerful legacy of God’s call. “Their ongoing presence challenges the church to fully embrace and affirm what history has long made clear: that women have always been—and continue to be—essential to the life and mission of the church.”

Otamo-Csizmadia was later joined by Dragoslava Santrac, managing editor of the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists; Sven Hagen Jensen, former missionary to the Middle East and Nigeria; and Catherine Anthony Boldeau, British Union Conference (BUC) Stewardship Ministries director. Together they shared the mission stories of Elsa Lukkanen, Christian Johannes Jensen, and Donald and Anne Lale, each highlighting values of commitment, humility, and sacrifice. In the case of the Lale family, this sacrifice was tragically ultimate, as they lost their lives in service in 1981.

Building a theological foundation for mission, Santrac went on to explore the Old Testament’s foundational role in mission theology—often overlooked in favor of the New Testament. “A missional interpretation of Scripture,” suggested Santrac, “views the entire Bible as telling the story of God’s mission through His people, engaging with the world for the sake of all creation.” She challenged the participants: “How do the creation narrative and the messianic hope guide our mission in the world?”

Throughout the event, interspersed with lectures, were open-forum discussions and opportunities to share personal stories in smaller groups.

Learning From the Past

With TED’s mission spanning more than 96 years, time was dedicated to considering both the mindset of European missionaries who sent Adventist outreach to other parts of the world and the immigration of Adventists from around the globe into TED. A challenging and painful question was raised by Val Bernard-Allen: “Did some European missionaries serve with colonial mindsets?” Acknowledging that we are all products of our time, Bernard-Allem invited participants to take a deeper look and ensure that the minds of today’s missionaries and leaders are free from any vestiges of colonialism. “Colonial mindsets,” Bernard-Allen suggested, “should seek transformation.”

Anthea Davis-Barclay shared the story of African-Caribbean immigration to Britain in the aftermath of World War II, when workers from the colonies were invited to help with national reconstruction. “Among the significant migration of Caribbean people to the UK, many identified as Adventists,” said Davis-Barclay. She went on to tell the difficult and painful story of how African-Caribbean Adventists navigated connection, belonging, and participation in church life with the British Adventist community. Through extensive research, including interviews with members from both sides of the 1960s-1980s divide, Davis-Barclay revealed the tensions that came to a head in the mid-1970s, when the General Conference, under the leadership of Robert Pierson, was asked to intervene and offer solutions. “Critical to that conversation,” shared Davis-Barclay, “was black representation in leadership—pastoral, conference support staff, directors, and leaders.”

Consumerism and Community in a Post-Christian Culture

Shifting from historical reflection to the present, the conversation turned to the challenges of living in a post-Christian culture. Brendan Pratt, General Conference Global Mission Center for Secular and Post-Christian Mission director, suggested that “consumerism has become the primary ‘folk religion’ in post-Christian culture.”

Pratt views consumerism as “a spiritual disposition, a folk religion, and institutionalized selfishness.” However, he believes Adventism offers theological tools to address consumerism. “Is it possible,” Pratt challenged, “for consumerism to be addressed by a bigger imagination of what it means to be human? And can we, in post-Christian culture, be a countercultural biblical community that points people to a bigger imagination?”

Worship, Friendship, and Sharing Together

While much of the event’s significance took place in the meeting rooms, what happened outside them was equally important. In an outbreak room, members of a writing committee worked tirelessly on a collaborative statement. Chaired by Anthony WagenerSmith, Tabitha Purple, Marianne Dyrud, and David Trim, the committee produced a document outlining the strategic values and direction of TED mission as it moves into the future. This statement will soon be published on the TED news site.

Organizers stated that they hoped Engaged In Mission 150 would inspire a community of dedicated leaders, pastors, and church planters to join a TED-wide effort to understand, research, and address the challenges of secular, post-Christian mission in Europe. “Our goal is to offer support and guidance to the wider global Adventist community as similar demographic and cultural trends began to affect other regions,” they said.

The original version of this story was posted on the Trans-European Division news site.