Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International (SDA Kinship) is an affirming and inclusive community for LGBTQIA+ current and former Seventh-day Adventists, their families, friends, and allies.
In March 2024, three members of SDA Kinship’s Board of Directors received a report of an unethical sexual encounter between a pastor and a Kinship member that occurred at the European Kinship Meeting in September 2023. The member made a report to the Hanseatic Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, where the pastor was employed at the time. When the conference leadership received the report, they followed their protocol for allegations of sexual misconduct by pastoral staff, which includes an investigation, interviews, and confidentiality. Kinship commends them for this process. The president of SDA Kinship followed the counsel of Kinship Germany and the Hanse Conference to not make public statements during their investigation. The pastor resigned shortly thereafter and is no longer involved in Kinship Germany’s activities or communication.
Recently, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor in the Hanseatic Conference in Germany, Saša Gunjević, publicly identified as bisexual. In an act of bravery, the conference, on March 19, 2023, voted to retain his ministerial credentials
An Open Letter From a Former Director of Women’s Interests, Former Vice President, Former President, Current Region Coordinator, Current Member At Large Board Member and Current Chair of the Nominating Committee for SDA Kinship International, Inc.
Reinder Bruinsma has been a Seventh-day Adventist conference president for the Netherlands and for Belgium, General Conference administrator, pastor, and author - among several other things. In what he loosely calls his "retirement" he continues to write, speak to Adventist leadership and laity conferences and, attend other meetings around the world.
by Debbie Widmer, Family and Friends Coordinator
It’s been a busy couple of weeks and it’s not over yet. First was preschool graduation, with those adorable children in miniature caps and gowns waving their hands, unashamedly, at their parents. Next came eighth-grade graduation a week later. These young people tried out their adult looks—awkwardly child-like one moment and boldly confident the next. Today was an academy graduation. These graduates are on the brink of adulthood, making adult decisions about their futures.