This Is the Real Secret to Making Adventism Matter in 2025
I love talking about the beauty and relevance of authentic Adventism, because I believe it matters deeply in the world today...
But there's another conversation I love more.
It doesn't go as viral. It doesn't get as many likes and shares. It doesn't rile people up in the comments section.
But it's THE conversation that makes THE ultimate difference—because without this, the beauty of Adventism remains an abstract idea with zero impact in the real world...
So let's go ahead and say Adventism is this incredible theological tradition with a prophetic voice the world needs now more than ever,
And let's assume it answers the anxieties of the age with a relevance no other theological system possesses,
And let's agree that, properly articulated, its message can lift Jesus up in ways that theological systems rooted in power, control, and dominance have failed to do...
The question is—how will people not only hear this incredible message, but how will they be discipled, empowered, and equipped to live it out?
There is only one answer: the local church.
Yeah, I can run a podcast talking about this stuff... but that won't do it, because in a podcast, we share ideas but not life...
I can publish more books on it, but that won't do it either. A book might be great, but it only has thoughts, not presence...
I can write more articles and do more live Bible studies and even start preaching sermons and become an international speaker... but that won't do it either.
Because I am at a distance. You might hear me on Sabbath morning, but I'm not with you on Tuesday evening, in the midst of life's chaos, in the mundane moments, in the laughter and tears.
True discipleship is NOT the dissemination of content. It is not the proclamation of ideas. In fact, forget discipleship; truth itself is not content or ideas. Truth, Jesus taught us, is a person.
"I am the truth."
If truth is an idea, then yeah, let's shove ideas down people's throats all day long.
But if truth is a person, then... how do you get to know a person?
Only in relationship. In proximity. In "Withness."
So I come back to my earlier point: all of this Adventism is beautiful and relevant and consequential and needed and so on...
It's all good. I believe. I promote it. I'm here for this.
BUT... if the local church is not living that out? It remains a cute idea with no tangible reality.
And the truth is, over 40% of SDA churches in North America are in decline. The rest are treading water. Only 2–3% are actually growing, impacting, planting, and harvesting.
And what's true in North America is often true in the rest of the West.
Which is why, as much as I love talking about the relevance of Adventism, our message, and its beauty... I have to come back to the core of TSCP: the local Adventist church.
Because if we don't get these churches into motion... the rest is just cute theory.
But the beauty of Adventism can't stop at cute theory. It needs flesh and bone. It needs blood and guts. It needs bodies and minds. It needs neighbors and friends.
Søren Kierkegaard once wrote that Christians were like a man who observes a mansion. He comments on its beauty, its artistry, and its magnificence. He ponders its windows, rooms, and spiraling staircases. But he doesn't live in the mansion. He lives in a shack overlooking the mansion. The thing he adores then is a mere idea as opposed to a lived experience. He is not in the house to truly inhale it. He is outside of it, offering nothing more than commentary.
This is the danger Adventism faces today, even among those of us who see its beauty. We are in danger of celebrating a theological mansion that we don't actually live inside of. We pontificate on its brilliance but do not actually inhabit it. Because the only way to inhabit this message—to truly be cradled by it—is in the local church.
Our local churches must be revived, awakened, empowered, upskilled, and reimagined.
For some, that means reactivating dying local churches with renewed mission, functional structures, and invigorated leadership.
For others, that means planting new ones with fresh teams, fresh cultures, and a fresh vision.
Whatever it looks like in your setting, know this: if the local Adventist church doesn't thrive, Adventism doesn't thrive. Because this movement does not touch the streets, the neighborhood, or the city via conferences and unions.
It touches it at the local church.
To quote from Jefferson Bethke, "The church is plan A. There is no plan B."
