Dear Elder Köhler: Will you make room for people like me in the church?
18 July 2025 |
Dear Elder Köhler,
I was not in physical attendance in St Louis, but I have followed closely what happened during the ten days of the 2025 General Conference (GC) session.
I have spent my entire working life in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I was baptized as a teenager, and almost seventy years later I am still an active church member. I attended seven general conferences and 17 annual councils, along with countless other church meetings. And now, in retirement, I am still anxious to know what is happening in my church.
Looking at the agenda for the 62nd session of the General Conference, I was initially rather disappointed. There seemed to be no major decisions that merited intense debate—no major changes expected. The selection of new leaders was apparently the key decision of the meetings. Together with many people around the world I expected you, Elder Köhler, to be a likely candidate for the presidency.
Yet I confess that I had, before the meetings, expressed my hope that the nominating committee would look beyond the small group of incumbent top administrators, and surprise us with someone who could open the windows of the church, so that a fresh wind could begin to blow through our denomination.
But—as many had predicted—the nominating committee chose from the small group already in leadership. You will lead the church, for the next five years at least. I should perhaps be disappointed, but I am not. So let me begin this letter by congratulating you, and wishing you the divine blessing, the energy, the wisdom and creativity that you will need in ample measure.
I was encouraged by your comments during your first press conference and other public appearances, and to your two Sabbath services. It made me wonder: Will this 2025 GC perhaps, against my expectations, mark a shift towards a different kind of church—the kind of church that so many of us have hoped for?
I say “so many of us….” With this expression I am referring to the segment of the church with which I identify. It is often labeled “progressive,” “liberal,” or “left-wing,” though these are not especially helpful adjectives. But whatever labels are used, there are in fact so many of us who long for a church where we can feel at home and where we can make a contribution to the life of the community that we all (conservatives and progressives) love.
Please, give us space
Of course, I realize that it is not easy for such a complex global organization to change direction, and it cannot be done overnight. The church has often been described with the metaphor of a ship—not a small sailing boat that can easily be turned, but rather a massive oil tanker that needs time and room to alter direction. But with a new captain and a fresh crew, I believe the route can be adjusted.
In your first press conference, you seemed to say that you do not want to be compared with Ted Wilson, who led the church as its president during the past fifteen years. However, whether or not you want to make that comparison yourself, others will. There has been widespread appreciation for the commitment and personal integrity that was part of Wilson’s leadership. But there has also been a lot of concern about his understanding unity mostly in terms of uniformity. Again, so many of us have been deeply hurt by his repeated appeal to actually leave the church if we cannot agree with some of its doctrinal views, or his current interpretation of them. So many of us have felt that we had to keep quiet rather than having the opportunity to engage in serious dialogue.
I realize that trends in the church do not change overnight. It takes months or even years for plans, strategies, documents, and recommendations to filter down to all levels of our organization. But it would be wonderful if we would soon see the beginnings of a new era, and the actual realization of what you hinted at in St. Louis—namely, space for diversity, dialogue, and a willingness to also listen to voices that have long been ignored—or even demonized. We will be looking for signals that this is happening in the composition of committees, the selection of speakers at important events, the possibility for publications of authors who in recent times often saw their manuscripts rejected, and a greater degree of academic freedom.
Inclusivity
You know, Elder Köhler, that in many parts of the world large numbers of church members—and their leaders—feel that being “grounded in the Bible” does not justify inequality between men and women. For too long, female ministers have been denied the same status as their male colleagues. During the long Theology of Ordination Study Committee deliberation, a majority view emerged that the Bible definitely allows the ordaining of women to the gospel ministry.
I do not know what your own theological conviction is at this point. I know you realize that there is a widespread desire that at long last things must begin to change. I appreciate that it will not be easy to ignore previous decisions by the world body. But I hope and pray that you and your team will see that we must move forward on this issue. Many people—and certainly a majority of our young people—simply do not understand why their church maintains its present position. I pray that you and your team will have the courage simply to allow divisions and/or unions that feel ready for this step to move ahead with fully recognizing female pastors, without facing any repercussions. It will be a tremendous blessing for the church.
Again, so many of us believe that the gospel also demands from us that we take inclusion a step further: to ensure that people who—through no choice of their own—have a non-heterosexual orientation feel truly welcome in our Seventh-day Adventist Church. Can we explore together what the controversial texts may mean in 2025 for same-sex couples who love Christ and want to be full members of our church? I realize that such an endeavor will not be easy, but if things remain as they are, we will continue to drive many away from our faith community.
May God grant you and your team the wisdom to find a way of somehow demonstrating the love of Christ in a more concrete way in making our church more inclusive.
Our human prophet
You mentioned in various statements in St. Louis that you continue to be inspired by the Spirit of Prophecy through the voice and pen of Ellen White. What you said gives me the confidence that you will relate to the ministry of Ellen White in a more balanced way than your predecessor did.
Anyone with some knowledge of the origin and development of Adventism is aware of the pivotal role Ellen White played as one of the co-founders of the Adventist Church, and as a person with a spiritual giftedness that continues to bless many. But those who keep abreast of recent Ellen White studies know that the traditional understanding of various aspects of her life and work does not match the research of the last few decades.
It is of paramount importance that church members are educated with regard to these findings, and that trust in the ministry of Ellen White can be rooted in reality without recourse to myths or historical falsifications. I hope that you and your team will start a process to bring this about. Permission to release the book Reclaiming the Prophet could be a first step in that direction. Reconsidering the massive global distribution of The Great Controversy would also bring relief to so many of us who do not believe that handing out this 19th-century book, without providing the context in which it was written, is an appropriate way of acquainting the contemporary public with the Adventist message.
Bible-grounded, mission-focused
Elder Köhler, I, and the aforementioned so many of us, are happy with your repeated emphasis on the need for the church, collectively and individually, to be Bible-grounded and mission-focused.
However, much depends on how we are to understand these terms. If you want us to implement the words “Bible-grounded” as consistently following a literal reading (the so-called “plain reading” we have repeatedly heard about) as the only valid hermeneutical approach, without any room for further discussion, you will leave many good and faithful Adventist theologians out in the cold.
The different theological streams in the church will need to engage in a renewed conversation about how the principle of Bible-grounded truth may be applied when alternative positions emerge. Does it mean that we can disagree, in good faith, on how we may interpret some crucial biblical passages and understand some doctrinal issues? Or must just one view ultimately be accepted by all?
A similar question arises with regard to the expression “mission-focused.” Will this allow for dialogue with all segments of the church to determine what this means? Do we, the progressives in the church, also get a place at the table as the denomination seeks the right methodology to reach the secular post-Christian (often urban) men and women—those who are at the fringes of the Christian church or even at the margins of our own church, in particular in the large Adventist ghettos around our major institutions?
And can we together think of ways to bring our own children back to the church? Moreover, may we have some input when the discussions center on the content of the message that we want to share: what we want to prioritize, what language we must use, and how we must structure our message, so that it will sound compelling and relevant? Can we also be part of the conversation as we seek to ensure that the “I will go” initiative will not lose its spiritual focus in a frenzied activism, but will be rooted in an authentic and deep spiritual commitment?
Rekindling our hope
Unfortunately, Elder Köhler, so many of us have lost our confidence and hope in the church, and also in its leaders. In his statistical survey Dr. David Trim showed us worrisome data, in particular with regard to the large numbers of people who leave the church. I wonder whether the reality is not even darker than his graphs indicate. When we look at our local churches, we miss many who at one time attended faithfully. When I look at pictures of church committees and of the boards of which, through the decades, I have been a member, I see numerous persons who are no longer with us—some because they died, but many because they lost their interest in the church.
And so many of us saw our children leave the church, disappointed that it had so little that attracted them. I plead with you and your team, on behalf of myself and of the so many of us who call ourselves “progressive,” to rekindle our hope and restore our confidence in the church. I pray that the GC session of 2025 will prove to be the beginning of a revitalization of our church, and that you will invite the so many of us to have an active part in that process.
Your brother in Christ,
Reinder Bruinsma
Reinder Bruinsma lives in the Netherlands with his wife, Aafje. He has served the Adventist Church in various assignments in publishing, education, and church administration on three continents. He still maintains a busy schedule of preaching, teaching, and writing. He writes at http://reinderbruinsma.com/.
His latest book is Adventists and Catholics: The History of a Turbulent Relationship.
