How to Stop the Never-Ending Youth Exodus
Happy monday story-tellers!
This week, I want to focus on my fellow millennials.
Yes, I am one of them. But the sad truth is, so many of us who grew up in church are no longer in it! And just in case you are tempted to think I’m just peddleing the timeless youth exodus myth, allow me to share some stats from the experts:
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Now here is what makes this youth exodus thing so exhausting - everyone thinks they know why they leave and how to stop it. And of course, everyone has a different opinion. Navigating through all that can be pretty annoying for those who are looking for a solid foundation.
However, there is one resource that I feel outshines every other and can offer the most balanced and wholistic perspective to this issue. Its the book “Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church” by Brad Griffin, Jake Mulder, and Kara E. Powell.
What makes this book cool is that rather than asking why young people leave, the researchers went on a journey to understand what makes them stay and the results of all their digging are these six essential keys that have proven time and time again to keep young people engaged in the kingdom of God.
In this weeks podcast, I share a recent sermon where I explore these six essential keys with one of my local churches. Give it a listen below and make sure you get yourself a copy of Growing Young from Amazon or wherever you bookshop!
Metamodernism & It's Impending Challenge
Postmodernism is dead…
- David Guterson, Novelist
To start off with, I want to focus on the death of postmodernity and the emerging metamodern oscillation that is already in full swing all around us.
If you want to read about this in more detail, make sure you get the ebook “How to Study the Bible with Postmoderns” here.
Now here is why I think its so important to talk about the Metamodern arrival.
Adventists started talking about and responding to the postmodern challenge when postmodernism was already on its death bed. Since the 70's, a new perspective has been arising to take postmodernisms place: metamodernism.
My hope is that Adventists invest in understanding this emerging vision of reality and find ways to reach this culture today, not 70 years from now when its old news.
Listen to the podcast episode below!
Is Your Adventism Beautiful?
Is your Adventism beautiful?
Or is it ugly?
Does it attract the seeking heart to God?
Or does it repell it?
Hang with me here.
In Isaiah 61:10 the Bible says,
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Notice the imagery here. The text is saying that God adorns us like a bride adorns herself in jewels. Picture that for a moment. A bride getting herself ready for her wedding. She is careful to comb and braid her hair just right. Her skin is brushed to perfection. She hangs a necklace around her neck and earrings that match. The jewels themselves can’t be just any old jewel. They have to be just right—not so strong that they steal the show and not so weak that they look out of place. They have to compliment her eyes, her dress—even the shape of her jaw and the length of her neck. It’s a work of art intended to enhance her beauty and draw attention to her joy.
The Bible says that this is what God does for us. He adorns us. He clothes us in his promise of salvation, in a robe of his perfect life and love. The picture Isaiah is painting is clear. God isn’t interested in dragging us into a religion full of rules and weird standards. The exact opposite is happening. God courts us romantically and then, the day we embrace him, he adorns us in all the beauty heaven has to offer.
And God adorns us in this for one reason: He wants us to be beautiful.
But it’s deeper than this. In Psalm 90:17 David wrote,
“Let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us…”
In other words, its not simply that God adorns us with his grace and forgiveness. According to David he adorns us with himself. He is like a jewel that enhances our beauty and draws everyone’s attention to his heart.
And yet, it gets even deeper! God is not simply an adornment upon you and me that others see when they interact with us. Instead, the Bible paints an even crazier picture. Notice what Isaiah says in chapter 62 verse 3.
“You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.”
Did you catch that? Not only does God adorn us with himself, Isaiah goes so far as to say that he adorns himself with us!
Imagine God placing a crown on his head, or a royal ring upon his finger. That crown and that ring represent you and me. It’s not that God needs us to make himself more beautiful because he is the height of beauty. However, in some weird way I don’t fully understand God still describes his people as jewels he wears upon himself. I would suggest that because the great controversy is a battle over the character of God—Is he good or not?—then the biblical picture of God wearing his people as jewelry has theodical significance. In other words, when we live beautiful lives we beautify God in the eyes of people who think he is ugly. Our lives are the jewels that catch their attention and enable them to see the true beauty of his heart.
Zechariah also captured a similar picture when he wrote,
“The LORD their God will save his people on that day as a shepherd saves his flock. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.” (Zech. 9:16)
And speaking through the prophet Haggai, God said to Zerubabbel,
“I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you…” (Haggai 2:23)
So let me ask again. Is your Adventism beautiful?
Is your faith like a jewel that God would want to wear?
Because here’s the pain truth: Countless people have turned away from God because supposed believers live lives that make God look ugly. Judgmental, arrogant, disconnected, sectarian, holier-than-thou, argumentative, critical, fault-finding, condemnatory, negative, obsessed with rules, traditions and mindless customs, tossed around by conspiracy theories and full of hatred toward those different from themselves. That’s the sort of stuff that makes God look ugly.
So my question today is, is your Adventism beautiful? Is your life beautiful? Are you adorned with the character of Jesus? Are you kind, fun to be around, and encouraging? And on the flip-side, if you were a jewel would he put you on? Would your life be filled with care for the poor, the vulnerable and the lonely? Is it the kind of life that would make others say—“wow, God really is beautiful.”
The answer to these simple questions is the difference between a life of missional effectiveness and failure. And the point here isn’t to stress you out with the pressure of “being beautiful enough for God to wear me” because the truth is, the beauty God is looking for isn’t all that complicated. Its simple. Its relationship. Its caring for others, defending the weak, advocating for the oppressed, and loving your neighbor.
So today I want to invite you—stop and think if you are adorned in the beauty of God and if, in turn, God would adorn himself with the beauty of you. Because the world doesn’t need more religious people with the right answers. It needs believers adorned with the beauty of God’s heart.
How to Keep Your Fire When Your Church is Frozen
I talk to people all the time who are seriously fed up with the state of their local church. They preach, teach, admonish, rebuke and inspire the members (or try) with zero results. It seems, no matter how hard they work, the church simply will not change, evolve or revive. And if they manage to take a few steps forward, its only a matter of time before the church slides back into its old habits. Transforming our church culture feels like dragging a giant boulder up a soggy, muddy cliff.
Cynicism sets in. They keep attending church but have lost faith in the people. From time to time they run into someone who feels like them but for the most part they feel alone.
Over time, these people lose the capacity to say anything positive about the church. Everything is bad. Everything sucks. There is nothing redemptive. Their fire isn’t necessarily going out but its burning for the wrong reasons. What was once a flame ignited for mission and love, is now a raging inferno that burns with anger and disenchantment. If they have anything positive to say, its minimal compared to the long list of church-fails they have compiled.
I know these people because I meet them all the time. I also know them because from time to time, I am one of them.
I’m human. And despite my faith in God I must admit, sometimes I lose hope in the vision of a vibrant, meaningful and world-transforming local church within Adventism. I hear stories of toxic church after toxic church, pastors uninterested in making a difference, church members vehemently opposed to anything remotely different and fear-mongering ministries derailing missional churches into pointless debates over nonsense that I wonder - are we simply too far gone to turn around? Its not simply our structure that needs to change after all - its our culture! Structure is easy. Culture is a whole other monster. Changing our culture from fundamentalist argumentation to relational servanthood could take another two generations at the least! What are we to do in the meantime?
Some people I talk to just give up. The SDA institution is simply incapable of generating missional churches designed for interacting with and reaching post-modern societies, they say. So they walk away from the church altogether. Others stick around, but they are not happy - sowing seeds of discontent wherever they go. And fewer still keep pushing against the grain, pacing themselves so they don’t get exhausted, but patiently waiting on Gods timing to do what they know can only be done by his Spirit.
Its a tough scenario, I know. But in the midst of this I have found that they key to keeping your fire when your local church is frozen is to recognise that the current state of the church is no surprise in the narrative of redemption. In fact, God revealed that our day would be marked by churches that think they are all that - but are “miserable, poor, blind and naked.”
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. (Revelation 3:14-18)
So what do these verses say that can help us keep our fire despite the Laodecian state of the church? Here are five key points that I have found.
They show us that the current state of many local churches as a program-centred, relationally lacking, culturally disconnected, tradition obsessed, mission-less clubs was foreseen by God over two millennia ago. In other words, our current experience is meant to be this way. It’s been prophesied. So before you get all bent out of shape and walk out, keep in mind - this is the way its currently prophesied to be. God is not in heaven surprised by our coldness so we shouldn’t act surprised either.
They show us that our current disgust with the state of the church is shared by God. He goes so far as to say that the Laodecian vibe makes him want to puke. So if church ever makes you want to puke (or like, leave, run, hide, hit the snooze button) then you are not alone. In fact, its the people who are comfortable with the church’s condition that should be worried. But if you are uncomfortable with it you’re probably feeling a tiny bit of how God feels. So you’re in good company.
They show us that we are not the solution, but part of the problem. God’s solution to the Laodecian church is not, “I counsel you to listen to pastor Marcos, subscribe to his podcast and download his eBook.” And his counsel is not, “pay attention to all those people sick of the way you do things and let them redesign your church.” And for good reason! You and I are not the solution. This means despite all our good intentions, we remain part of the problem. So before you run off thinking you are better off without this messed up church, stop and remember - you’re pretty messed up too. Let that humble you and balance you in your journey.
This is a big one for me because my main focus is speaking truth to Adventist tradition with the goal of a redesigned Adventist local church. But I have to remember that the solution remains Jesus - not church strategies, methodologies or structures. Realising I am part of the problem also helps me to avoid cynicism and enables me to look at our broken church with enthusiasm, noticing the good things that are happening and not just the bad. Among those good things is a generation of passionate young people rising up as well as a generation of older leaders empowering and inspiring those young ones. I want to recognise and celebrate this as often as I can.
They show us that Jesus is the only answer. He is the only one who can give us that gold, white garment, and eye salve that we need to be reborn in his image. And the result is spiritual wealth, health and vision. Now imagine a church filled with spiritually wealthy, healthy and visioning Christians! That would be awesome. But the answer is not the next trendy church growth book. It’s Jesus.
They show us that Laodecia is not the end. After the church of Laodecia, the very next thing we find in terms of a church is the remnant of Revelation 12. That remnant are a group of people passionate about Jesus and living for him alone. In a world locked in an apocalyptic struggle over empire, there emerges a community of simple people who are all about Jesus and they stand alone against the darkness. Laodecia is not the end. Its just a chapter in the story. We are in that chapter today. But don’t be discouraged by it. Instead, look to Jesus and remember, he has a final remnant of people who are so in love with him they don’t have time for anything other than lifting him up for the world to see. And this is what our focus should be “in the meantime”.
If you are frustrated with church I want you to know, I get it. I sometimes get super jaded as well. But the solution is Jesus and I take comfort in knowing that he has a remnant in the end. So long as I lift him up in Laodecia, he will use those efforts to gather his true lovers into a final community that will walk through the injustice of beasts and liars reflecting the beauty of God’s heart of love in the midst of a generation that has lost the capacity to love. So focus on Jesus. Lift up Jesus. Be comforted in Jesus. And keep the vision of an “Adventism. Redesigned.” alive in him.
Top 3 Reasons Why Some Adventist Churches Thrive
Some years ago I spoke with a pastor about secular outreach, missional culture and the challenges faced by Western Adventism. At one point in our conversation, the pastor dropped a massive bomb. “There are close to 60 SDA churches in the region I work,” he said. “Only two of them are healthy.”
I was bummed out by the news, but not surprised. In my experience, many local SDA churches are struggling to stay alive. The membership is aging, the mission is nonexistent, and the youth are leaving. Adventist Record editor Jarrod Stackelroth described tackling this crisis as dealing with “the very survival of the Adventist Church.”[1]
But the good news is, within this discouraging environment, there are some churches that thrive. Why do they thrive? What is their secret? We’ll get to that in a moment. But first, we need to wrestle with why these struggles are so normative accross our churches. Here are my top 3 observations.
We have convinced too many people.
Suppose you write a book. The purpose of the book is to convince everyone that New York Pizza is the best pizza in the world. You do this in a very simple format. You state your case in the introduction and then, for the next 12 chapters, you argue one point after another. Chapter 1, the cheese is richer. Chapter 2, the base is thinner. Chapter 3, the sauce is more authentic. And so on and so forth.
By the time you get to the end of the book, you have argued 12 reasons why New York Pizza is the best pizza in the world. Along the way, you have demonstrated how Boston and Chicago just don’t compare and, of course, how Atlanta and Los Angeles never stood a chance. Your book is published and becomes a huge hit. After a year, a massive convention gathers in Manhattan to celebrate your best seller. Thousands of people who agree with you attend to celebrate with you. You now have a “New York Pizza-Only” cult following that sweeps across the globe. Congratulations.
The above scenario is pretty much how Adventist evangelism has historically worked. Adventists have approached the great commission as a great debate in which we argue for our theological brand. “Here is why Adventism is the best denomination in the world!” we cry. Chapter 1 - We go to church on the right day. Chapter 2 - We alone can explain what really happens when you die. Chapter 3 - We have got end time events figured out way better than everyone else.
When we win people with these kinds of arguments, we fill our churches with those who are convinced by our arguments. And they join our movement because they think we are right and everyone else is wrong. They are not necessarily converted (will come back to this) but boy, are they convinced we’ve got the truth. And what do you get when you have reached people by arguing them into the church? You get a church culture more interested in arguing than in serving.
I’m not impressed by gigantic post-evangelistic baptism numbers. What I’m interested in is, how many of them were won with love and to love? Because so long as we keep winning people with arguments we will win them to arguing. And this, I believe, is one of the main reasons why so many of our local churches are struggling.
2. We have freaked out too many people.
Let’s use our imagination again. Suppose you decide to start a business selling insurance but no one sees the need. Eventually, you discover a marketing trick that works like a charm and with it you are able to scale your business and put food on your table. The trick? Sell to peoples fears. If you market how good your product is, no one cares. But if you market how urgent it is “or else”… well now you have the phone ringing off the hook.
In his article “Why Fear Sells: The Business of Panic & Paranoia,” Martin Lindstrom stated clearly that “fear is a powerful persuader…. [w]hich is why the marketing world uses scare tactics to sell us everything from antidepressants to condoms...”[2] Using this handy information you switch up your marketing campaigns and sell to your prospects fear of death, disease, and financial ruin. And caching! You are rich.
But what does this have to do with why so many local Adventist churches struggle? Because this method of selling to fear is precisely what many ministries use in order to get you to buy their products. Add to this the difficulty of a small Adventist market and a ton of competing ministries, and you end up with new start ups having to develop unique selling points. One ministry exists to warn you about the dangers of x, the other to warn you about the dangers of y, and if that’s not enough a new guy is on the scene raising the midnight cry on how if you don’t understand z you and your children’s souls will be imperilled.
Adrian Zahid captured this issue well when he wrote:
Because they are often competing with other independent ministries for the same number of churches who are open to such speakers, they have to differentiate and establish their “unique selling point” against that of another independent minister. It is a zero-sum game. Either they are invited to churches and they quickly establish urgency in the minds of the members regarding their topic and sell materials at the end of the weekend series or they and their family will starve. Enormous pressure, is therefore put on the independent minister, to present information in such a way as to create a thirst in the mind of the member that can only be quenched by buying the materials on sale after the series is ended. The member then adds the materials to their ‘threat-matrix’ system so that they can see this latest ‘spiritual danger’ coming at them a mile away. Often the member does not have the time to really study the materials in any organised fashion or depth because the next weekend another speaker is ready to present yet another ‘testing Truth’ or ‘threat’ that they have to be vigilant about. And the cycle repeats itself.[3]
This process, Zahid argues, has a “tremendous effect on the local church” in which (among other issues) “every person views the other as a potential spiritual threat to their salvation”. Such a culture quickly degenerates into toxicity. Add to this the already existing foundation of argumentation and you end up with a nucleus of people too freaked out about existing to have any meaningful impact in the world. The church quickly becomes a fortress rather than a hospital.
3. We have short-sold too many people.
I want to go back to point one here. When we win people by convincing them with arguments we can publish fancy reports about how many baptisms we got, but in the long run, it all backfires The truth is, belonging to the church is a passage that takes place on the heels of conversion. When a person receives Christ and is born again, the Bible says they pass from death unto life, from the headship of the first Adam to the second Adam, from humanity 1.0 to humanity 2.0, from the kingdom of men to the Kingdom of heaven. This conversion experience transcends a shift in worldview. It involves being born a new from above and this is a miraculous, divinely initiated metamorphosis.
But this rebirth doesn’t happen like a physical birth. In a physical birth a person is conceived and then born into the world. But for a rebirth to take place a person must experience death. Death to self.
In other words, we must die before we can be reborn. And this death experience is imperative in the Christian life. It is death my way of being and my way of walking in the world. Death to the old way of power, control, and pride. Death to my nasty temperment, my judgmental moods, and my desire to dominate. But its this death that is, in itself, the portal of rebirth into an entirely new experience as a child of God. And you cannot accomplish this by convincing people that we are right. And while this is certainly the least popular thing I will ever say, I maintain that the reason most of our churches are struggling year after year is because they are filled with people convinced by the truth but not converted by it.
To put it differently, most of our churches are not filled with men and women who have died and been reborn into newness of life. Instead, they are filled with men and women who have re-branded their worldview via Adventists theology. Mixed with the argumentative spirit of our historic evangelistic style and a constant bombardment of fear based sales pitches and you end up with a culture that is unhealthy and unable to have a meaningful impact in the world.
Now, as widespread as the issues above are, there are certainly local Adventist churches that buck these trends and are able to thrive in beautiful and relevant ways. Here are the 3 reasons I have observed for this:
Thriving churches focus on Jesus because he is the source of true rebirth. These churches preach Jesus not as a nice idea, but as a living person who is calling us to death and new life.
Thriving SDA churches are filled with believers who have experienced Jesus and are in absolute awe of who he is. They have died to the ways of empire, the ways of coercion and control. They have laid their wounds, insecurities, and fears on Jesus. And while far from perfect, their gaze is consistently fixed on Jesus. There is no argumentative spirit, but the beauty of compassion and kindness. Christ lives in and through them.
Thriving churches focus on emotional health and protect the flock from fear based religion. This is not a difficult thing to do when Jesus is the main focus of your culture. But I have noticed that healthy churches have leaders who simply do not play games with toxic religion. Like faithful shepherds, they constantly point to Jesus and are not afraid to take on the wolves of legalism, dogmatism, or fear-driven theology.
Thriving churches focus on the good. Years ago, I interviewed pastor Robert Stankovic about restoring churches high-jacked by fanaticism. He said something so wise I never forgot it. “Focus on the good and eventually the bad will discover it doesn’t fit in anymore.” I think that’s an awesome bit of practical advice. Thriving churches follow this principle intentionally. Focusing on good things like service, mission, intergenerational community, youth empowerment, creativity, diversity, and, of course, the centrality of Christ seems to have a double effect. It builds up the people and it scares off the toxic folk who like to cause problems. Win-win.
The above picture is Christ-centred, emotionally healthy, and focused on good works in the world. This doesn't mean thriving churches ignore the tough stuff like repentance, rebirth, accountability, or prophecy. What it means is that thriving churches filter everything through Jesus and to Jesus for the glory of God and the betterment of humanity.
For them, repentance, rebirth, and accountability are not mere religious exercises, but keys to cultivating safe communities for the vulnerable and thriving families that exemplify love.
For them, prophecy is not a window to conspiracy theories and cynical apocalypticism, but fuel for social justice, humanitarian action, and resistance of cruel pictures of God. This prophetic focus nurtures communities that work to heal the wounds of injustice and protest the parasitic postures of empire and religion.
The end result may not necessarily be a church with 900 members, but it is a church that is full of life, vibrancy, and authentic community. A place where believers and seekers find belonging and restoration. What more could anyone ask for?
So there you have it, 3 keys to a thriving Adventist church.
Do you have any thoughts to add? Feel free to comment below!
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[1] https://record.adventistchurch.com/2018/06/08/growing-young-how-to-save-our-church/
[2] https://brainworldmagazine.com/fear-sells-business-panic-paranoia/2/
[3] https://thecompassmagazine.com/blog/beyond-the-one-project-the-war-over-the-local-church-5b
5 Things I Love About Adventism
One thing I do often (and by often I mean very often) is challenge the Seventh-day Adventist church - particularly in the West - to… well, to do better.
Whether I am calling our local church structures to be redesigned for mission, provoking our cultural quirks and questioning their utility, or disputing unhealthy theological frameworks that exist among us the message is fundamentally the same: we have to be better.
But this week, I decided I would pause the revolutionary broadcast to share 5 things I love about Adventism. So here goes:
I love our theological trajectory. I could go on and on about this, but in short Adventism is a theological narrative that is not about Adventism and I love that. Instead, Adventism is a story about God, his heart and his love, centred and strung together in Jesus. But the best part about it is that our theological narrative is not set in stone but constantly unfolding and developing. Yes, there are those among us who would prefer a more stringent, creedal kind of Adventism but its just not in our DNA. As a result, we remain committed to scripture rather than a statement of beliefs. And that commitment, I believe, has enabled us to develop an understanding of the love of God no other theological system around can match. No, that’s not a very politically correct thing to say. But hey, I wouldn’t be an Adventist if I didn’t believe there was something eccentric about what we have to say.
I love that we are Historicists. Historicism has been challenged for forever by people outside and inside of our church. Today, there is a whole new gang of voices repeating the century old attacks (with some new developments I must concur). And that’s fine, I mean, everyone is entitled to their own thing right? But for Adventism, Historicism is an apocalyptic interpretive method that has transcendent efficacy. Now, I don’t pretend that it’s a perfect method, that we have it all figured out, or that it can’t be misused (because it can and is). But Historicism provides us with a kind of sociological significance unmatched by alternative methods. For example, Historicism gives us a narrative that manifests the injustice of religio-political empire in a way that is not immediately self evident. This gives us a foundation to diverge from the collective pursuit of utopianism and the ever trending move toward social reform via church-state legislation. Instead, Historicism calls us to a kind of theological and ideological remonstrance on the one hand, and social preparation (as opposed to reformation) on the other. This approach is rooted in our view of human empire, which even when united with God’s kingdom ultimately self destructs as Daniel and Revelation so aptly reveal. It is also rooted in the denial of a coming golden age for humanity. Instead, Adventists see a coming catastrophe that cannot be averted by political manoeuvres. Our mission is therefore, to prepare the world for this climactic zero-hour in which the only righteous Kingdom will abdicate the throne of humanities global res publica. Sadly, other common interpretive methods of Daniel and Revelation point in the opposite direction by envisioning a coming era of righteous human dominion which in turn leads to political power grabbing in the name of righteousness. This, Adventists believe, is the precursor to a manifestation of religious intolerance and injustice of apocalyptic proportions.
In addition, Historicism is the only prophetic interpretive method that unveils God in action throughout the entirety of human time. Even during the Dark Ages where it appears God took a vacation (as Morgan Freeman put it in the movie “Bruce Almighty”), Adventisms apocalyptic consciousness helps us understand his presence and movement even in the darkest pages of the church’s sordid story, including the chapters yet to unfold. It’s also cool that we are the only Historicist denomination left. Some people see that as a sign that we are the only idiots left in Christendom. I see it as a sign that we are the only anti-conformists left. Of course, at the end of the day my love for Historicism is rooted in the text and not in whether I think its neat or not, but explaining that will take more space than I allotted for this short post, so I’ll move on.
I love our global structure. Despite all the challenges created by having an intercontinental and cross-cultural institution I honestly can’t think of anything better. Now some of my more post-modern, anti-institutionalist friends find this appalling. They wonder how someone as forward thinking as me can be so fond of our global structure. After all, all those super cool non-denom churches are as neat as they are because they keep all the tithe in house. Why can’t we do the same? My answer revolves around the pragmatic idea that while cynical anti-institutionalism has some value it falls flat when it comes to the practical needs of a global mission. The fact is, Adventism has a message that must go to the entire world. If you believe that, then you need an institution to facilitate that mission. Those who reject the institution are often only interested in reaching their immediate, local region. But Adventism doesn’t have a regional message, it has a global one - for every person on earth. So the bottom line is, we need a global structure. Now of course, I applaud the voices that say the institution needs reform. It definitely does! But that doesn’t mean we should abandon it. The fact remains that if we have a global message, we need a global presence and the level of organisation needed for that sort of thing demands an institution. And because I accept the premise that we have a global message, then I embrace our global structure as a needed tool to that end.
I love our health message. Yeah, there’s always the annoying people who are like super gung-ho and fanatical and no one likes them. I get that. Even non-Christian vegan hippies have their weirdos who will chop your head off for daring to eat your sweet potato quinoa salad in a plastic container (HOW DARE YOU??). But despite this wacko-reality, the health message is one of the coolest things about Adventism. It’s rooted in the idea that human beings are holistic creatures whose spiritual, emotional and physical nature is intertwined like the rhythm, melody and harmony of a musical composition. When they flow well together, something beautiful happens both at the individual and collective level. Even other denominations have started to pick up on the value of a holistic approach to the human as opposed to the dualist approach that has governed classical theology and given birth not only to generations of Christians with little care for physical well being, but also to doctrines like eternal torment that have driven scepticism to the heights of influence it enjoys today.
I love our potentiality. Because of Adventisms theological trajectory, its apocalyptic consciousness, global structure and holistic view of man I believe its future potential is beyond anything we have yet imagined. While our beliefs exist outside our church, they do so sporadically - here, there and everywhere. But in Adventism, each of these elements coalesce to form a movement and a story unheard of in the world. And the moment that we lock into that, get excited about it and refuse to allow tradition, fundamentalism and narcissism to get in the way of it that is the moment that we will sweep the world with something grand. Our potential is overwhelmingly exciting and I pray and hope for the day it is unveiled for the world to see.
What are some things you love about Adventism? Share your thoughts below!
3 Steps Toward a New Adventism
I love Adventism.
I love our theological narrative complete with our passion for Daniel and Revelation. I love the health message. I love the writings of Ellen White. I love the history of our church and its legacy. I love our sanctuary hermeneutic, our global structure, and haystacks. And most of all, I love the way authentic Adventism lifts Jesus up. There’s just nothing like it.
Because I love Adventism I have a passion to see it thrive, not for its own sake, but for the sake of those searching for a liberating and healing picture of God. Our church exists to communicate this picture to the world.
Which is why its so sad when I attend an Adventist church that is youth-less, lifeless, stuck in a bygone era, and filled with its own brand of toxic theological messaging. But the thing that hurts the most is that this kind of church is not rare. In fact, it's the most common type of local church I have experienced in the various places I have lived throughout my life.
And I’m not the only one whose noticed. Research shows us that “our churches are growing older,” and “[m]any young people are leaving the Church once they reach independence.”[1] The primary reasons why people leave our church continue to be “hypocrisy, conflict and lack of friends (especially while going through life trauma such as marital problems")”[2] A 2013 retention summit “revealed the denomination has lost one in three members over the last 50 years. Additionally, for every 100 people the Adventist church gains, it loses 43 previous members…”[3] with one of the main contributions from the church being, “not helping people through their tough life experiences.”[4]
As a pastor who dialogues with other pastors and mission minded members, the conversations always revolve around three main points. First, why do our churches struggle so much? Second, why do 80% of the members do nothing while the same 20% do everything? And third, "how can we keep our youth and reach the culture, when our churches are in such a bad state?”
No one really has the answers to these questions, but we must continue to agitate the conversation because the truth is, the story of God that we tell is desperately needed by the culture. We cannot rest while our churches continue the same unhealthy behaviours year after year. We must raise our voices and inspire the birth of a new Adventism. Here are three steps I believe can get us started.
1. Rediscover the centrality of Jesus.
The message of Adventism isn’t about Adventism. At least, its not supposed to be. Sadly, over the decades thats what it has become. But if we look at our movement throughout history, our message has never been about us. It's always been about Jesus.
As heirs of the radical reformation in the Arminian and Wesleyan traditions, our heartbeat has always been a true revelation of God’s character of love. When that focus gets replaced with a revelation of “us” our movement loses the very reason for its existence. And in my experience, every struggling church I have ever been to is a church that has lost sight of Jesus as the center of our message. Instead, they have gotten caught up in talking about themselves, their uniqueness, and their identity. But the world doesn’t need Adventism. It needs Jesus.
Of course, this doesn’t mean Adventism is a pointless phenomenon. I believe with all my heart God has raised up this movement at this moment of earths history for a very specific task. I have written about this extensively in my books. But here is my point: our task isn’t an addition to the message of Jesus. To the contrary, in the midst of a Christendom dominated by coercive pictures of God, theological constructs that are abusive, and theocratic nationalistic tendencies that fuel social injustuce, God has raised up a people passionate about his heart and his Kingdom of love. That makes our message very important, but only to the degree it keeps its focus on Jesus. Without him, we are just another religious group with nothing truly useful to offer our hurting world.
2. Reorient the focus of the church.
Imagine a race track where the cars stay in maintenance bays with mechanics constantly oiling the engine and warming the seats, but never actually racing. As bizarre as that scenario might be, thats what lots of our churches do. We are maintenance minded instead of mission minded. This means that most of our energy goes toward keeping the church engine (programs and departments) oiled instead of getting out there and serving the city for Christ. In order to change our trend and bring about a new Adventism, the focus of the church has to change from “keep the engine running” to “hit the race track.”
What this looks like at a practical level is beyond the scope of this simple blog. But if you are interested in tangible missional steps, join my online training school, The Mission Collective, here.
3. Redesign relationships.
When it comes to the research, the one thing Adventists consistently score lowest in is “loving relationships”.[5] In short, we lack authentic connection with one another. This is a symptom of Christless religion. And its also a symptom of Western hyper-individualism and consumer culture. Only the Holy Spirit can truly restore us to his original design as a church. But there are some practical things we can do to co-create with him.
The most important: start focusing on relationships. The way to foster relationships in your church is to create spaces where people can build memories together. A church mission trip. A church camp. A church service project in the community. Church picnics, fundraisers, and holistic small groups—all of these activities are out of the ordinary and help foster memories that in turn raise the level of intimacy among your members. If this is combined with a focus on Jesus and a focus on serving the lost, the results will be beautiful.
Perhaps few have captured our current state and future potential as well as Danny Bell in his article, “North American Adventist Church Growth: The Untold Story”, when he wrote:
“The reality is that the Church in western society has become insular, self-centred, and unconcerned about a suffering, dying world. We prefer to stand at church doors and call out to the public rather than go out and get involved in the dirty business of befriending the scum of the earth. The fortress mentality is alive and well in our churches and until we realise that it’s not all about “going home to heaven” and “wishing Jesus would come,” the sooner we can properly engage in the Master’s business.[6]”
The challenges we face as a global church are big, especially in the Western context. But the solutions are not as complex as many imagine. The centrality of Jesus in our message, missional-priority in our structure, and relational intentionality in our culture are simple things, but with them we can get the journey toward a new Adventism started.
And honestly, if you think about it, this new Adventism really isn’t new. Its a return to the way it was always meant to be.
[1] https://record.adventistchurch.com/2018/06/08/growing-young-how-to-save-our-church/
[2] https://www.adventistarchives.org/why-did-they-leave.pdf
[3] https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2013/december/seventh-day-adventists-assess-why-1-in-3-members-leave-sda.html
[4] https://news.adventist.org/en/all-news/news/go/2013-11-19/at-first-retention-summit-leaders-look-at-reality-of-church-exodus/
[5] This statement is in reference to the Natural Church Development Survey
[6] http://atoday.org/north-american-adventist-church-growth-the-untold-story/
Why Truth is Bigger than Doctrine
Years ago, I had a run in with a church member who was very passionate about sharing “the truth.” For him, the biggest and most important task of the church was to “get truth out there.” Forget all this relationship stuff—we don’t have time for that. We have to share the truth!
I corrected him by sharing the following thought: If truth is only information, you're right. Forget about relationship. If truth is just data, the most important thing is to share that data with others, right? But what if truth isn't just information or data? What if truth is a person? If truth is a person, then for people to understand it, they need to get to know this person. And how do you get to know a person? Only through relationship.
Of course, I didn’t make this up. I was working off of Jesus’ own definition of truth when he said, “I am the truth”. (John 14:6) According to him, truth is not a series of doctrinal ideas that we disseminate. Truth is a person. And a person can only be known through relationship.
And that’s good news because the world doesn’t need more information on the Sabbath, end-time events, or the sanctuary. What the world needs is a personal encounter with the Jesus that Sabbath, prophecy, and sanctuary point to. Without him, these doctrines might have factual value but they are not truth in the fullest sense. Truth—the kind that melts the heart, rebirths the soul, and heals the world—is found only in Jesus.
This means three things.
Love is evangelism: Jesus said, "By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35) This means authentic love is the strongest demonstration of truth, not arguments. Of course, I am not saying good theology is pointless. I am, after all, a huge theology nerd. What I am saying is that love authenticates our message. Through it, not our doctrines, the world comes to know that we are his disciples.
Connection is truth: Truth is not just a set of ideas; it's Jesus. Everything we say and teach must point to him. If it doesn’t, all we are doing is pumping religious information into the world. And the world has plenty of religious data as it is. It doesn’t need more. What it needs is Jesus. And Jesus said it best when he stated, “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me…” (John 5:39)
Relationship is discipleship: In a post-truth world, truth is most effectively conveyed through the beauty of relationships and shared lives. The culture is fed up with religious know it all’s who want to push their doctrines onto everyone else. What people need is someone to sit with them and build authentic relationships.
Ellen White put it this way:
“You will meet with those who will say, ‘You are too much excited over the matter. You are too much in earnest. You should not be reaching for the righteousness of Christ, and making so much of that. You should preach the law.’
As a people we have preached the law until we are as dry as the hills of Gilboa, that had neither dew nor rain. We must preach Christ in the law, and there will be sap and nourishment in the preaching that will be as food to the famishing flock of God. We must not trust in our own merits at all, but in the merits of Jesus of Nazareth.”-The Review and Herald, March 11, 1890.
The bottom line: truth is bigger than doctrine, bigger than 28 fundamental beliefs, and bigger than our systematic theologies. Truth is more than data, more than information, more than propositional ideas. God did not send a dissertation to humanity, a philosopher, or a scholar. He sent his “only begotten son”. (John 3:16) He became “flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)
And this truth is the only truth that can redeem the world.