1st – 5th January 2015

“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen”.

 The committee of the Oceania Union were delighted when Pastor Tzvetan Petkov and his wife Sister Raquel Orce accepted their invitation to conduct an evangelistic seminar at Toongabbie, in Sydney, Australia. Pastor Petkov and his wife have their home near to the Headquarters of the IMS in Cedartown, Georgia, USA. Pastor Petkov is the Director of the Ministries Department of the General Conference, and Sister Raquel Orce is Canvassing Leader of the General Conference also Family Leader and Director of the Social Ministry Department General Conference. Both are gifted speakers and have extensive experience in dealing with the topics presented.

We had people attending this seminar from Australia, The Pacific Islands and New Zealand.

Pastor Petkov commenced with some very interesting and unique ways of reviewing the statistics of church growth and methods of reaching out to people in a church situation. He also outlined ways of planning and many different ways to reach out to people and share our faith with them. Each person present was encouraged to think about how they could use their talents in service for the Lord. Pastor Petkov also shared with us his own personal methods of missionary work at his hometown in the USA. This includes Bible surveys and Bible studies with emphasis on perseverance in doing the work and to ensure that it is necessary to keep adding new Bible studies each week.

Sister Raquel Orce spoke on the subject of Canvassing and the importance of belief in Jesus Christ in order to be successful in this work, for without the blessing of the Lord we can do nothing. She also reminded us that the General Conference has a very extensive selection of books available from the General Conference Publishing Department. She emphasised that it is necessary to work as many hours as possible per week in order to see effective results.

Sister Raquel also presented a comprehensive seminar on how to build successful family relationships. She spoke about the importance of the mother-child relationship, and how to train a child in a loving way to be disciplined and have a sense of self worth. She gave several personal testimonies about her own experiences as a child and as a mother. She also spoke about the importance of other family relationships between husband and wife and other members of the family. This information is particularly important today as families face the pressures of modern day living.

We also enjoyed a blessed Sabbath day with many visitors. Pastor Petkov conducted the divine service. Other church members took part each day in morning worship, Sabbath school lessons, special items and playing of musical instruments.

We would like to express our appreciation to Sister Mariya Salavyova and the ladies who assisted in the catering and other work in making this a very successful seminar. We all enjoyed the excellent food and the fellowship that we experienced there.

Several people expressed their sincere appreciation to Pastor Petkov and Sister Raquel Orce for the excellent seminar, and we give glory praise and thanks to our Wonderful Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ for making all this possible. Amen.