The Western chapter of the Hellenic Fellowship (HF) held its annual West Coast meeting earlier this year in Glendale, with a full day of worship, praise and workshops. Thirty members attended from Southern and Northern California, with others coming from as far away as Toronto and Connecticut. Ernest Castillo, North American Division director of Multilingual Ministries, led out.

Ramona Germanis, secretary of the Fellowship, noted, “About 35 or 40 Greek Adventists live in Southern California, many of them in the Los Angeles area.”

The Adventist work in Greece faces fierce opposition from the dominant faith group there, as well as from periodic government harassment and indifference or outright hostility from a nominally Christian, though not church-going, population.

“The Hellenic Fellowship developed from informal meetings held during the late 1980s to bring together Adventists of a Greek heritage”, said George Dialectakis, president of HF.

Organized in 1992, the Fellowship now has more than 300 members, which is more than the entire number of Adventists currently in Greece. The group hosts its spring meetings in California and meetings in the fall in Berrien Springs, Mich.

HF sponsors radio broadcasts and a Bible correspondence school in the Greek language in North American cities with a large expatriate population. Members are also involved in translating and funding the printing of books of Ellen White and the Discover Bible lessons in Greek, as well as holding evangelistic meetings in New York City.

Advertisements are placed in a Greek-language newspaper with North American circulation and fliers distributed in establishments frequented by Greeks. Hundreds have responded, requesting Discover Bible study lessons. New York HF members have formed the nucleus of a Greek-speaking church that meets every Sabbath in a location where the largest North American concentration of Greeks is found. Members elsewhere attend local Adventist churches.

HF members also support Adventist work in Greece financially and provide books and supplies. By providing the Discover Bible lessons in Greek, HF is making available the first new Bible course in Greece in 30 years, along with translated Spirit of Prophecy books, of which only one or two existed previously in archaic translations.

Currently, the group is considering sponsorship of a Greek-speaking pastor to reach the Greek population of New York City. Astoria, Queens, just outside of Manhattan, has a major concentration of Greek immigrants. Members strongly believe that the small core of Greek Adventists already in that area can be the foundation to bring the good news to hundreds of thousands of their fellow Greeks.

The Hellenic Fellowship is supported by contributions of its members and friends, and a small NAD sponsorship. Readers who are Greek, of Greek heritage, or friends of the Greek work can request a free subscription to the HF newsletter, by sending contact information to Hellenic Adventist Fellowship, P.O. Box 67, Madera, CA 93639-0067 or e-mailing greekvoice@mail.com. Fellowship members also welcome prayers and financial support as they seek to reach an otherwise untouched enclave in the largest U.S. city.