Inauguration of the South Wales African Adventist Fellowship - Sabbath 14 April 2007
Pictures by Theo Gokah
Inauguration of the South Wales African Adventist Fellowship - Sabbath 14 April 2007 - Theophilus Gokah
The South Wales African Adventist Fellowship has been inaugurated in Cardiff. One hundred and fifty people joined the inaugural service under the theme “Swaaf for all Nations”. Many different nationalities - African, Welsh and Caribbean - resident in Cardiff, Newport, London, Reading, Buckinghamshire, Durham, Oxford and Bristol, attended the service.
As the fastest growing young city in Europe Cardiff is an ideal place for Swaaf to be housed. Cardiff is also home to a growing population of Africans as well as student community served by a world class university with a natural attraction for foreign students and professionals from across the globe.
Cardiff city is already served by a highly multi-cultural Adventist church. However the Swaaf initiative is designed specifically to reach out to Africans in and around Cardiff and to bring together other African Adventist and non-Adventist Christians who for whatever reason fail to attend Church.
In his welcome address Pastor George Asiamah, leader of the fellowship, thanked the hardworking members of the fellowship who have devoted their time and resources to outreach. This sometimes calls for sacrifices in the face of difficult challenges and frustrations.
Evangelising in Cardiff, as in many parts of Europe, is challenging. This was noted in a recent BUC bulletin which pointed out that "only one in ten people in the UK attend church on a weekly basis while 53 percent of the British population identify themselves as Christian." This is a drop of 20 percent from a similar survey conducted just six years ago in 2001. The survey of 7,000 representative adults indicated that 26.2 million adults identify themselves as Christians with 7.6 million of them attending church at least once a month. It also indicated that 3.2 million adults belong to other faiths and some 19 million (39%) say they have no religion.
As that report puts it, "one in every 17 UK adults is open to churchgoing, if only churches reach out to them." It is in this light that Swaaf aims to reach out to its African and non-African brethren to bring them back to our Lord Jesus Christ. The message of Pastor John Surridge, President of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Wales, etitled "Joshua's Last Word" was directly in response to a 'Christ - forgotten' society reminding every family to rethink whom they will serve, a god of materialism or the Creator of our universe.
An afternoon musical and choral performance after buffet lunch was flavoured with traditional tunes and hymns. Young musical talents, notably the Chigbo sisters, were dedicated to the care of the Lord by Elder K T Abequaye, BUC Executive Committee Member. Visitors from London and Reading were thrilled with the work going on in Cardiff and have promised to return to support evangelistic efforts in the city this summer.