Many Christian denominations -- and congregations -- talk about diversity and the need to reach across cultural boundaries. In Switzerland, Seventh-day Adventists are living out such goals.

Recently, in the town of Fribourg, Switzerland, 21 miles (34 km) southeast of Berne, two refugees -- an Iraqi and a Rwandan -- were baptized as members of the church. The local minister, Pastor Dominik Frikart, met the two, studied the Bible with them and accompanied them in their decision to follow Christ.

Julienne is a young woman from Rwanda, a country that faced negative history with the genocide when millions experienced hatred, war and death among neighbours, friends and family members. In Jesus she found a new perspective and a desirable future.

Andrews came to Switzerland from Iraq, a country known in the past for dictatorship and now for daily terrorist attacks. Andrews also found peace in Jesus, the One Who came to heal.

The adoption of Adventist Christianity by these two people - - and their reception in the worshipping community -- drew media attention. "La Liberté," a major Swiss daily newspaper, sent Monique Durussel, its chief religion writer, to cover the event. In turn, Durussel gave her newspaper's readers essential information about the church's Protestant roots, the baptism of adults, and the role of the biblical day of rest (the Sabbath) in the life of believers.

Being a socially relevant church is a tradition among Seventh-day Adventists in Switzerland. Geneva, known for its international organizations including offices of the United Nations, as well as the World Council of Churches (WCC), hosts several Seventh-day Adventist churches with an extensive number of ethnic groups.

Recently, the French Swiss Adventist region invited their 2,000 members to a spiritual assembly to the Olympic town of Lausanne. The climax of the special Sabbath was a parade of nations representing the different ethnical roots Seventh-day Adventist church members are coming from.

"We have exactly 65 nations represented among the church members of our local conference. Celebrating diversity, we want to demonstrate unity in Christ," says Pastor Denis Rosat, president of the Swiss Union of Seventh-day Adventist churches.

Earlier this year, the Adventist Church in the German speaking region of Switzerland reported a net church growth of 53 persons during 2003. Following a special baptismal worship service in February in Zurich where six adult candidates have been baptised, a new Latino Adventist Community Church with more than 75 members has been established.

Ricardo Abos-Padilla, a theologian from Chile, pastors the Latino Adventist Community in Zurich, including members from Angola, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Also in two other Swiss cities, Winterthur and Basle, smaller Latino Adventist groups are rapidly growing in existing congregations. [Martin Haase and Christian B. Schaeffler]