Not Disgruntled, Just Malcontented
Let’s get it right up front… I am not disgruntled, ticked, angry, or bitter. I am probably more dismayed and malcontented above anything else. After being an Adventist for over four decades, I have come to wonder why my church, the Adventist Church, seems to never make a significant impact in many other lives outside of the church. Most SDA congregations think it more important to be unique and separated then they do to be involved and embracing the people around them. Not always is this the case, but every church I have been involved in, this has been true. To make matters seem worse, this idea of being separated, unique, and above all others in the world has seemingly become the focus of our leadership in the highest level: the General Conference.
This moment in Adventist history, significant to many as this is the 150th anniversary of the name”Seventh-day Adventist”, would appear to be one where we must decide as a church if we will go forward into the future, or revert to our “separated from the world” past. Those who would have us “revive and reform” believe that you cannot be in the world and be an Adventist, but must be one or the other. I think the two are not mutually exclusive, but can co-exist nicely. We can believe strongly in our Biblical truths we hold, but yet reach the world in love by existing with those we want to reach daily.
From time to time I am going to share perspectives from the past, present, and future of the church I have called home all of my life. It is not an attempt to destroy or defame the church I love, but rather to hold a mirror up so the defects can be seen in order to make the changes necessary that allow us to love God, represent Christ, and reach others. If we can’t do all three together, we will fail. To many Adventists who have been a part of this church as long, or longer, than I have, it would seem you cannot do all three together. To this generation growing up Adventist, they already are. If they don’t see the church change to model the needs of the world today (while still being Biblical and godly), they will find another church who will. If indeed this is God’s remnant church, called to reach the world in this end-time, than we need to keep this generation who can take us to the finish line, and allow them to continue reaching the world in the ways they know.
More to come. Feel free to share your thoughts as well.
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