About 150 Pentecostal leaders from 30 countries in Europe gathered in Zagreb, Croatia, on the occasion of PEF’s Annual Conference held on March 2-4, 2016 at the Panorama Hotel. The conference theme was « Church Planting in Today’s Europe », addressing the urgent need of church planting in light of the spiritual needs and the current refugee crisis in our continent.
In the opening session, following the welcome message given by Pastor Damir Spoljaric (President of the Host Pentecostal movement), Dr. Peter Kuzmic (Croatia) described the current trends in Europe, calling the church to bring the hope of the Gospel to our broken society. Dr. John Wagenweld (USA) shared on 7 shifts needed for a breakthrough in church planting. Pastor Moise Ardelean, president of the Romanian Pentecostal movement, highlighted biblical principles as seen in the phenomenal church planting his country is experiencing.
A communion service celebrated our unity in Christ, followed by a message by Pastor Pierre Chiner (France) on the importance of passing the baton to the new generation. Rev. Paul Trementozzi (USA) concluded the conference with a message urging Pentecostals to live out God’s mandate, « Do Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly » as defined in Micah 6:8. Participants enjoyed great times of interactive fellowship, in particular through the seven workshops offered on a variety of relevant topics including a ladies’ forum, a youth track, a seminar for social ministries and a round table on the refugee crisis.
A highlight of the Annual General Assembly was the election of a new PEF Chairman, Rev. Pelle Hörnmark, Superintendent of the Swedish Pentecostal Movement, succeeding Dr. Arto Hämäläinen (Finland) who served in this capacity for the last three years. Rev. Marek Kaminski, Superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Poland, was elected as the new Vice-Chairman.
Twelve regional representatives were ratified by the same General Assembly to serve as the new Presidium for the term of 2016-2019.
Special appreciation was expressed to the outgoing Chairman for his long-time service within PEF and he was endorsed as Honorary Member of the Presidium.
The conference also marked the 50th anniversary of PEF. On this special occasion, every participant received a copy of a booklet entitled « From Rome to Zagreb », tracing the journey of PEF, and written by Rev. Daniel Costanza, Executive Director.
The same General Assembly officially welcomed four movements as new members of PEF, specifically from Moldova, Serbia, Bulgaria and Ireland.
Next year’s conference will be jointly organized by PEF and PEM and will be held at the Filadelfia Church in Stockholm (Sweden), on March 7-10, 2017.
Conference pictures and teaching resources are available on www.pef.eu
Presidium of PEF:
OFFICERS:
Chairman – Pelle Hörnmark (Sweden)
Vice-Chairman – Marek Kaminski (Poland)
Secretary: Esko Matikainen (Finland)
Treasurer: Siegfried Tomazsewski (Germany/USA)
REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES
Northern Europe: Jan Eilert Aakre (Norway), Rimantas Kupstys (Lithuania)
Western Europe: William Kay (UK), Nick Park (Ireland)
Central Europe: Edwin Jung (Austria), Imre Pinter (Hungary)
Southern Europe: Christian Blanc (France), Angelo Gargano (Italy)
Eastern Europe: Nikolai Zalutsky (Russia), Leonid Biruk (Belarus)
Source: PEF Head Office, Brussels (Belgium)