Baltic Union Constituency Meeting 2019
On May 23-25, in Riga, Latvia, Baltic Union Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church held its regular Constituency Meeting.
Delegates from all three Baltic countries came to review what’s been done, to amend BAUC Constitution and Bylaws and elect new Union leadership for the next five years. Altogether 61 delegates from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania gathered for the Constituency Meeting.
13 delegates represented Baltic Union, 10 delegates — Estonian Conference (1 delegate missing from the meeting), 26 delegates — Latvian Conference, 6 delegates — Lithuanian Conference plus 4 delegates were invitees. Also, all three officers of the Trans-European Division were present in the Constituency Meeting – President Raafat Kamal, Secretary Audrey Andersson and Treasurer Nenad Jepuranovic.
Since 2018 the Strategic Planning Committee of the Baltic Union has met several times discussing and debating the future operation of the Union. The felt need expressed had been among other for better communication, more co-operation and stronger sense of ownership. The Baltic Union is operating with three Conferences in three different countries in five different languages: Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian and English. Because of different cultures and languages, the work of the church is mainly organised in Conferences and it has been felt that the personnel of the Conferences should be more directly involved in the Union leadership team. As one of the steps towards that goal the delegates voted in a change to the Constitution and Bylaws of the Baltic Union to have all three officers of all three Conferences as ex officio members of the Union Executive Committee. Associated with this decision the maximum number of the Executive Committee members was raised from 13 to 21.
The Strategic Planning Committee also suggested the Union start using the shared administration model of administration and services in the Union, including in the position of Officers. This suggestion was followed when choosing the new leadership team.
Ivo Käsk was elected as the new Baltic Union President. At age 40 he is the 2nd youngest Union President in the TED. He has been the President of the Estonian Conference since 2014. Daumands Sokolovskis is the new Executive Secretary of the Union (also serving as the Executive Secretary of Latvian Conference). Jaanus-Janari Kogerman is the new Treasurer (also serving as the Treasurer of Estonian Conference).
The Baltic Union expresses gratitude to David Nõmmik, who served the Union as its President for the last five years; to Guntis Bukalders, who has served the Union for 26 years, including last five years as the Executive Secretary; to Zigurds Laudurgs, who has served the Union for 27 years, including 21 years as the Treasurer.
The journey of three different Baltic countries together continues helping each other in finding ways how to make God known in Baltics and grow.