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By Ed Barnett

One of the most exciting parts of my job is visiting a different church in our conference almost every Sabbath. The opportunity to experience what our churches are like is rich—and believe me, each has its own special character. Not only are our pastors unique, representing different personalities and styles of ministry, but the churches themselves all have different makeups and designs.

Over the years, I have often wondered, “Is church a place to massage saints or to save sinners?” I have come to the conclusion that it must be a bit of both. Another question worth asking: “Is church sometimes just a ‘country club,’ exclusively for saints?”

Occasionally, I have had the privilege of golfing at a country club. It is always a thrill to play on these courses because they are very well-maintained, beautiful, and just plain fancy. Believe me, I always get nervous on these courses because I don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb on the green. I don’t want to do something unacceptable at one of these posh clubs, something that marks me as an outsider.

If we do church for our own benefit alone, I believe we are missing the boat. There is the danger that we become so comfortable in our own Christian culture that we don’t really touch visitors when they come into our churches. Many of them don’t understand the “Adventese” language we use, for example. Many don’t feel accepted by us because our church appears so different from what they may be used to. They may be afraid of sticking out in our group, and feel anxious that they might do something wrong or say something out of place or offensive.

There is another possible way of approaching the way we behave in church. It’s important for us to ask whether—in a world fed by fear and wrapped in the language of confrontation—those who choose to visit our churches will find a language of kindness and an attitude of acceptance. Many individuals are looking for a community of hope and safety. How different are the words we use than those offered by the media? Even more important: how different are our actions? Do they reflect the Spirit of Christ?

What am I getting at? Is your church relevant to those who walk in on a Sabbath morning? How about for those invited to other church events, outside of Sabbath worship? Is your church real and meaningful, not only to the members, but also to visitors?

Frankly speaking, at times I cringe when I hear certain comments in our churches and realize that the congregation may contain a number of first-time visitors. Sometimes we use old “musty, moldy” language that was commonly used 50 years ago in church, and hasn’t been heard much since. I am afraid that you would have to be an Adventist to even guess at the intent of the presentation.

I would like to invite each of the pastors and members across our wonderful conference—no matter how big or small your church may be—to try to help your church be more relevant and real to whoever may be in attendance on Sabbath morning, or at a prayer meeting or other event.

Since churches are made up of people, the only way I see us becoming relevant is if each one of us does better at relating to others. This includes updating the way we talk and socialize. Recently, I saw a TV commercial in which a father and son are working on their property when a neighbor drives up in a nice car and says: “How are you doing?” The father responds: “We are just getting our crop in.” The neighbor gives them a weird look and goes into his house. The father says to his son, “We are settlers, and this is the way we do things.” You can’t help but wonder how this family could ever relate in the world all around them. Sometimes I wonder if we’ve become antiquated in the way we live our lives—and if it doesn’t make it hard for our churches to be attractive to the people who live around them.

The ultimate model for us all is Jesus. He could talk to a Pharisee, a prostitute, an outsider, such as a Samaritan woman, a tax collector, a leper . . . you name it. And he could relate to them and address their needs. He could draw them closer to God. May we try harder to be more like Jesus, listening to Him, and being led by Him.

All of our churches should be open and welcoming to anyone who enters. May they feel blessed because of their time spent with the Lord in His Holy Temple. May they feel that they have been listened to and cared for with kindness, openness, and a welcoming response. I hope this happens not only in church on Sabbath morning, but on the sidewalk, in shops, at school, and in our homes.

Real and relevant church happens when each of us, as individuals, make a concerted effort to be a community where people find solace. Can we recognize ourselves as purveyors of hope, the community He would want us to be—safe, relevant, and caring children of God, a people announcing and living as those who await His return?

Ed Barnett is RMC president.

By Ron Price

You may have heard the story of the young eagle who was wounded and brought back to health by a local farmer. The farmer cared for the eagle and fed him chicken feed every day—right along with the rest of his chickens. Even after the eagle regained his strength, he never attempted to fly. He would sometimes look wistfully up towards an eagle soaring across the sky and think to himself how wonderful it must be to be able to fly like that.

Was he an eagle or was he a chicken? My answer is that by position he was an eagle, but by condition he was a chicken. So now let me ask you—are you a sinner or a saint?

When I ask this question in various churches I find people most reluctant to state they are saints. I think we have somehow come to believe that a saint is a person who is so old that he or she couldn’t sin even if they wanted to. We seem uncomfortable taking that moniker for ourselves, for reasons that far exceed the word limitations of this article.

My concern is that while our position in Christ is that of a saint (note how many New Testament letters are addressed to saints)—our condition is that we are sinners. And I dare say that is a far greater problem than semantics.

When we first hear the Good News of all that Christ did for us and we repent of our sins and ask Him to come into our hearts, we typically go on a journey to try to live for Him. Sounds good on the surface, but whose efforts are we relying on? If our own, we might as well stay in bed. If it’s His life-transforming efforts at work within us, then why do we  deny what He is doing and still call ourselves sinners? Now I realize that this side of Heaven we will all fall short, but I prefer to focus on God’s viewpoint of who I am rather than my own or anyone else’s. He says that I am a saint. He says that the Robe of Righteousness covers me. He looks at me and sees the perfect Image of His Son Jesus Christ. How do you spell WOW?!

I don’t pretend to be a theologian or claim that I fully comprehend the import of that last paragraph. I don’t need to understand it all. I understand enough to say, “Count me in.”

Let me leave you with a statement by Ellen G. White: “The forgiveness of sins is not the sole result of the death of Jesus. He made the infinite sacrifice, not only that sin might be removed, but that human nature might be restored, rebeautified, reconstituted from its ruins, and made fit for the presence of God” [Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 537].

So the next time I, or anyone else asks you if you are a sinner or a saint, I hope you’ll be prompted to declare, “By the grace of God I am a saint!”

Ron Price is a member of the RMC executive committee from Farmington, NM.

By Rajmund Dabrowski

“Find your voice, shout it from the rooftops, and keep doing it until the people that are looking for you find you.” —Dan Harmon

John Hunt is a recognized author and advertising guru. His claim to fame is as co-creator of a partner company with the TBWA advertising agency whose international success is driven by the mantra, “Life’s too short to be mediocre.” What he has to say seems at once poignant and challenging to many a Seventh-day Adventist church member, leader, and communicator (in that order): We don’t know what we don’t know until we do what we don’t usually do.1

Mr. Hunt’s comment brings me to an unrealized vision from more than a decade ago—one from which some of us are yet to wake up. The vision has to do with an intentional focus (one would hope and assume) on improving the public perception of our church.

This was rekindled in my mind by a recently exposed public image perception Seventh-day Adventism has in the United States. In spite of efforts by the church, recognition of who we are apparently had to be prompted by the presidential bid staged by Dr. Ben Carson, a renowned neurosurgeon and a member of our church. Religious identity issues were similarly addressed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) when Gov. Mitt Romney was running for the presidency of the United States in 2012.2

I’d like to start a conversation about how we can approach our public image. Are we ready to be frank about our own self-assessment? How should we approach the need to be seen as a group of people who are worth getting to know? The result of answering these questions is that the  Good News about Jesus Christ will be better known.

Are we actually in the marketplace? Seventh-day Adventists may not be as affluent and politically minded as other faith communities, but we have our own successes. We seem to be doing rather well in our splendid isolation, seeing some growth in mission, while resorting to moaning about our poor public perception.

Don’t you cringe when someone confuses your religious affiliation with that of someone else?

Adventists are mostly absent where others are present in engaging the public with their causes. To start with, by clinging largely to a view that this world will soon end, we are equally timid at “shouting from the rooftops.”

As members of society, all of us have similar communication tools at our disposal. These methods are actually neither sacred nor secular. The content and what propels our communication is different. For Seventh-day Adventists, the apocalyptic in its varied expressions, we argue, is the coin to spend. Yet our communication efforts and the attractive and persuasive messaging required are relegated to the “tried and true” methods that worked before, but are effective no longer. The world and its marketplace continue to move on and old ways of communication are left behind. But how ready is the church to jump into the notoriety created and required by contemporary media?

You and I are participants (or at least observers) in the era of new communication and its technological advancement. Religion has not disappeared from the social realm and media jumps on religion with gusto. Religious words that once were carefully considered, and the name of God, which was held in reverence, now seem to be, at best, ignored and all too often ridiculed. Christian churches, when they speak, are hardly listened to, except when they are prompted to react to some wrongdoing. Religious verbiage spoken by religionists is not understood and the fact that one uses many religious words does not mean one is held in awe. Religious media is craving to be relevant, yet today’s audience wants simplicity—show me what you believe, but don’t overwhelm me with your talk.

We need to step forward, forsaking timidity, and engage content development with a clear identity and media messaging focused on the future. The media is already there. In the marketplace. He who is not present, a proverb says, is not right.

Going back a few decades, I recall a meeting in the office of an ambassador whose windows were overlooking St. Peter’s Square. At some point in our conversation, he pointed to a timely difference Adventists represent in a religious marketplace. You are a contemporary Christian community with a message the world is searching for, I heard him say. We are all dealing with issues of living safer, better, healthier lives, and we all need hope, he continued. Then he added, “But, you are timid about it. Why?” Such was his opinion about us, a group claiming to be a people of hope. He obviously valued the messages which Seventh-day Adventists hold as true and lasting. Among the lessons I drew from that conversation was that we might just have a problem with our own identity as a church. Moreover, what we do have, we keep largely to ourselves.

In my view, Adventist identity increasingly goes beyond its Millerite roots. Designating Adventism as a homemade variety of Christianity in America, Paul K. Conkin, professor of history at Vanderbilt University recognizes a tension in knowing who we are. He writes rather favorably about our church’s growth and mission.

Regarding our beliefs, Conkin states that Seventh-day Adventists seem very close to the Christians Paul addressed in Thessalonica in the early days of Christianity, and close to the apocalyptic expectations of Jesus and his disciples.3 But, in his well-researched thesis, American Originals, he describes the struggles of the church’s founders to establish Seventh-day Adventism’s distinct identity. He writes, “One tension that has been most basic and enduring involves Seventh-day Adventist identity.”4

This very issue seems quite enduring for Adventist communicators. Many a church functionary is eager to connect our identity with the group that came before us—the Millerites. This is done at the cost of defining us today. In dealing with such questions as “Who are you?” many a communicator will roll out a list of comparisons or differences with other religious groups, thus giving a license to declare that in this or that we are special, unique or distinct. Some- how this distinctiveness has yet to release dividends in image clarity or greater interest from the public.

It is hardly useful to generalize. There are many examples of individuals and communities making a difference, creating change, and responding well to the mission objectives of Adventism. In the area of name recognition and public relations, there are parts of the globe where Seventh- day Adventists are actively improving the church’s public perception and they seem to know how it works.

In Australia, communicators know how to enter the PR game and begin by engaging with communication experts, as well as by identifying an audience for specific communication. No wonder that the Aussie Adventist communicators are attempting mainstream social discourse when their brightest communicators aim at employing imagination and creativity. The conference, “Manifest: Our Call to Faithful Creativity” brought together a dozen artists, communicators and media experts to dream and act.

One other Aussie innovation is in the area of research. Several times over the years, our church in Australia has probed the public perception of Adventism. Similar research was done years ago in the U.S. We can hardly build a credible assessment of how others see us based on anecdotes.

We seem to rely on wishful thinking, based on a “we know the answers” attitude. We have a few relatively well- known examples of Adventism that may lull us into complacency. AWR is a well-known brand among those who follow religious radio broadcasting. Loma Linda University and Oakwood University score public recognition, and we smile at being recognized, even if only in small and local doses.

If communication were taken seriously, image-building would be an asset to everything else we do. In Poland, in the 1980s, the public-interest issues of social pathologies were explored with a media-rich communication intentionality that brought rich results.

Just a few years ago, in Romania, the church took on Biblical illiteracy in this Christian country and used the traffic-heavy streets to invite citizens to discover what the Holy Bible is. Ads were everywhere.

A somewhat different example comes from Jamaica. There, the church was challenged by the national media to be on top of the PR game of being prominent. A known newspaper publisher-editor stated that Seventh-day Adventists have graduated from a minority to the largest faith group on the island. “What are you going to do about it?” he asked. “You are now in the driver’s seat and we will be look- ing toward you to be a leading moral voice,” he added.

Apart from stressing the apocalyptic themes throughout our history, Conkin states: “It is worth noting that no other American-based denomination has ever attempted to transform itself so fully into a worldwide fellowship. No other American-based denomination has turned so fully to modern communication technology, including the use of the Internet.”5

It is one thing for us to recognize our own importance; another when others offer an appraisal of how they see us. In 2012, the church celebrated the 100th anniversary of Seventh-day Adventist corporate communication. It may be well to recall Ellen G. White’s forceful communication counsel. She was known to favor newness in the way the church approaches communication efforts. She commented that, “The character and importance of our work are judged by the efforts made to bring it before the public. When these efforts are so limited, the impression is given that the message we present is not worthy of notice.”6

This founding leader of the church stressed the relevance and importance of caring about what we say, how we say it, and how we listen to the world. In another statement, Ellen G White states that, “We should remember that the world will judge us by what we appear to be.”7

Our brand may be clear; our communication, however, is timid, resulting in part from our lack of clarity over our identity. Our message lacks public relevance due to a preoccupation with communication that primarily focuses on discussing the past, and messages geared mostly at ourselves rather the general public.

Ellen G. White also wrote:
Truth will be made so prominent that he who runs may read. Means will be devised to reach hearts. Some of the methods used in this work will be different from the methods used in the work in the past; but let no one, because of this, block the way by criticism.8 In one of his books, Paul Arden of Saatchi & Saatchi, wrote: “Your vision of where or who you want to be is the greatest asset you have.”9 To translate his comment so that it applies to Adventist mission, we could simply say, “Adventism is the opportunity we already have.”

In Arden’s parlance, “When it can’t be done, do it. If you don’t do it, it doesn’t exist.” Today’s generation knows this. This generation is not ashamed to articulate it. Just observe what is on display on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, those relational social communities. Those who “live” there also seem to be saying: If your present is expressed in the past, it will not be found in your future.

Whether a new communication strategy for the Adventist world church will replace the current one,11 there will continue to be a need to try out new creative approaches to improving church awareness in society, globally and locally.

The vision statement the world church agreed on two decades ago continues to offer a useful point of reference for branding efforts or for relevant communication programs: Seventh-day Adventists will communicate hope by focusing on the quality of life that is complete in Jesus Christ.

Is our brand hope? Principles of the Adventist faith notwithstanding, is there a present in Adventist identity? Or is it locked in a formula from the past which was never intended to last forever? In the words of a musician Peter Gabriel—“As always, the rest is up to you.”

This article was adapted from “Adventist Present [Media] Truth—a Vision to Be Realized,” originally published in Spectrum, 12 December 2011.

Notes:

1John Hunt, The Art of the Idea, and How it Can Change Your Life,  (New York: powerHouse Books, 2009), 115.

2 Campaign Trail,” New York Times, November 17, 2011. Laurie Goodstein, “Mormons’ Ad Campaign May Play Out on the ’12

3 Paul K. Conkin, American Originals, Homemade Varieties of Christianity,  (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 145.

4Ibid, 138.

5Ibid, 144.

6Ellen G. White, Evangelism (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 1946), 128.

7Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church Vol. 6 (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing, 1948), 397.

8 Ellen G. White, Evangelism (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 1946), 129, 130.

9Paul Arden, It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be, (London: Phaidon Press, 2003), 4.

10 Ibid, 46.

11“Seventh-day Adventist World Communication Strategy—Report” was adopted at 1995 General Conference Session, Utrecht, Netherlands. Implementing what was to be known as “The Hope Strategy,” it identified tasks for the church on all levels and through institutions.

Rajmund Dabrowski is RMC communication director and editor of Mountain Views.

By Jessyka Albert

To be honest, sometimes being a 21-year-old young adult is like reliving that awkward middle school stage all over again. You’re never quite sure when someone is going to treat you like a child or expect you to be a responsible, omniscient “grown up.” It’s a confusing and frustrating time. Some of the biggest life transitions are lurking around the corner all while you’re balancing learning to do taxes, pay bills, and figure out your purpose in life. The metaphorical teeter-totter between child and adulthood wavers from side to side, and keeping it balanced seems like a full time job.

Even though there is much anxiety that comes with walking this tight rope into the future, there is a beauty that young adult leaders can bring to the table. At the beginning of Matthew chapter 18, the disciples naively ask Jesus who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus, the greatest teacher of all time, really wanted this to stick in their minds, so he brings in a visual aid. He calls a child to Him for all the disciples to see. Then he blows their minds saying, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Obviously, Jesus is talking about having the heart of a child, but who better to understand a child’s heart than someone who is only years re- moved from innocent heartfelt questions, fort building, and imaginations that surpass all reality? This is the double-edged sword that our young people in the church possess but don’t always understand its value. That teeter-totter that tests and stresses us is also used to bless us.

The best leaders I have ever encountered are the ones that do not slowly walk from the child side of the teeter-totter to the adult side, but that work hard to keep harmony between the two. As young people, we don’t really have the choice to be there, we’re just stuck in the middle of tests and stress sometimes forgetting to let it bless us.

The middle of the teeter-totter is the most effective place for leadership. It is never comfortable because of the constant wavering and alertness it takes, but creates a Christ dependent life. It can sometimes feel frustrating, but it is also humbling. It is a place where the child’s heart meets wise eyes.

In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul writes, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”

So whether you are 16, 21, 47, or 95, don’t let anyone look down on you for your young heart, but rather pursue it! Brave the shaking teeter-totter, pick up the double edge sword of youth and wisdom, be the leader God created you to be, and join the children entering the Kingdom of heaven.

Jessyka Albert is completing theological studies at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is joining the Boulder Seventh-day Adventist Church in May 2016 as pastor for young adults.

By Jim Wibberding

Before you take that title and sign me off as apostate, please hear me out. Oh, I’m not about to walk it back. I am convinced that we have lost our direction in too much of North American Adventism. I name that sad reality not to discredit the church but because I hold a deep belief in what it once was and can be again.

The Seventh-day Adventist faith emerged in the 1860s as a movement driven by a passion to speak God’s wisdom to the questions of its time. They called that pursuit an exercise in “present truth”—a phrase indicating both its developing nature and its contemporary potency. A pair of companion concepts that gave present truth its direction were life trans- formation and the Second Coming of Jesus. In sum, it was about the restoration of humanity, starting today and with that final fix in view.

This restorative bent led early Adventists to get behind correctives that would improve life for fellow human beings. In a time when education was hard to come by, health practices were debilitating, women were routinely treated like children, and alcoholism was the norm, Adventists started schools, built health centers, fought for women’s rights, and advanced prohibition. It wasn’t perfect but the purpose was abundantly clear: Partner with God to restore humanity.

Tragically, the end of Adventism’s first century found us still answering the last century’s questions without significantly expanding the pursuit of truth to the present. It also found us maintaining the early adversarial approach to institutions and ideas that inhibit the restoration of humanity, but with more focus on naming the enemy than on lifting people up. Moralism with little focus on love.

The next half century has moved us away from loveless moralism toward an uneasily generic Christianity. But, people don’t stay long in something without purpose. The vacuum will be filled with the nearest thing of substance or we wander away.

Many have wandered away, leaving North American Adventism with its first decline in the population to membership ratio since it began. Others have gravitated back to the moralism of the last century and redoubled efforts to answer the questions of that time. Larger numbers have adopted the wider evangelical political agenda, walking party lines on abortion, gay issues, the ten commandments in government, and the like.

To their credit, those who return to the moralism of yesteryear can claim a distinctive Adventist purpose. Those who parrot the current evangelical agenda can claim con- temporary relevance.

But . . . something is missing. The soul of the Advent movement is missing. That passion for the substantive restoration of human beings.

At a time when Jesus predicted that the love of many would grow cold (Matthew 24:12), we can’t afford to let our faith be a justification for cold treatment of sinners. At a time when big questions have been raised by the human struggle for a more abundant life, we can’t be passive either. We must learn to love first and to share God’s vision for a better life as an expression of that love.

How? The global solution is a local solution. It starts with loving those in our neighborhoods and those in our churches. Restorative love will lead us to the next steps and, within the warmth of those relationships, plenty of chances to share a better way will emerge.

So, unload that burden to decry someone’s sin from afar or to tweet about how Starbucks celebrates Christmas. Instead, love your neighbor and the restorative spirit of Adventism will begin to stir in you.

Jim Wibberding is lead pastor at Journey Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kelso, Washington. He writes at jimwibberding.blogspot.com. This article is used with permission.

By Elia King

“How can we get our church to be more relevant?”

“How can we get our church to be more welcoming?” When was the last time you heard one of these questions come up in a conversation about church? When was the last time you asked? Usually these questions are followed by responses that fall into one of two categories: so-called practical steps that often fail to take local context into account or broad philosophical foundations that can be difficult to implement in “real-world” situations. In my conversations with friends and colleagues, I have to admit to a sense that we may never reach a long-term, universal solution to the problem of how to reach our neighbors.

Sometimes the questions are attached to some other agenda. When we say words like “welcoming,” what we really mean is that we wish certain people in our congregation were friendlier or more open-minded. When we wish for more relevance, we are really saying we’d like others in our church to be as in-touch with the real world as we are.

If our goal were simply to be relevant, we could study what is popular and create worship-like performances that reflect the values of our culture (and in fact, some do). But the likely result would be little more than a commercial for Jesus that doesn’t really stand out above the static. If our goal were simply to be more welcoming, we could adopt a model of community that shimmers of acceptance on the surface, but neglects the real needs of everyone who walks through our doors, regulars and visitors alike. The challenge of being more relevant means we have to learn to be in conversation with the stalwart supporters of irrelevance. The difficulty of being more welcoming is that we must also welcome the unfriendly.

When we talk about being more relevant or welcoming as a church, more often than not, I believe we are looking for ways to express a much deeper question: how are we, as a church, creating and sustaining a culture where individuals and families in our neighborhoods can connect with God?

Of course as a worship pastor in a local church, I do believe there are some practical things we can do and systems we can put in place to create a culture that is both inclusive and seeks to present the beauty and truth of the gospel in meaningful ways for our communities. Strategies like avoiding “in-speak” and thinking about each service through the mindset of a visitor can be extremely helpful in planning an inclusive worship service. And what church couldn’t use a few more friendly greeters? But at some point and on some level, we have to be OK with the idea that we are not just providing people with quick-fix solutions to their problems. If we’re really interested in being part of a shared journey following Jesus, then we should, as churches, be looking for ways to overflow into the streets and homes in our neighborhoods and not simply trying to get our neighbors to fill our pews.

I love the story of Oasis, a ministry that begin in 1985, when Steve and Cornelia Chalke launched a hostel for homeless young women in South London. Oasis now has over 40 different sites around the world, including churches, hostels, schools, and medical clinics. When asked about the secret of their growth, the couple answers that they have always taken seriously Jesus’ call to serve “the least of these.” Every time they are presented with the opportunity to launch a new initiative, they ask the question: what are the greatest needs we can help with in this community? By looking for the greatest needs surrounding them, Oasis discovered the most meaningful ways to be part of the lives of their neighbors, and in turn, they have experienced community that is both relevant and inclusive.

In our local churches, we have opportunities every day to be part of the communities around us. Block parties, bike races, neighborhood garage sales, online forums—each of these offer their own opportunities to be involved in the lives of the individuals and families around us. But none of them follow a specific formula.

And that, I believe, is the main problem with formulas: they promise a shortcut to authentic, Christ-filled community. But there are no shortcuts. There is only the life-long work of a journey together, following Jesus.

Elia King is pastor for worship at the Boulder Seventh-day Adventist Church.