Adventist and Mormon Leaders Meet, Agree to Collaborate

by Monte Sahlin

From ANN, April 29, 2014
 
Top leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were hosted last week by leaders of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Silver Spring, Maryland. The meeting convened to preview a planned social media campaign on the Internet.
 
The “Faith Counts” campaign was produced by a multi-faith group and encourages people to seek religious faith. Short, professionally produced videos make the case for why faith, family and religious freedom need to be preserved in society.
 
“We’ve got to find a way to keeping faith alive in the 14- to 35-year-olds so that faith will grow with them, so they’ll have a foundation for their life,” said L. Tom Perry, who is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon church. A test video distributed for Easter, titled “Because of Him,” was viewed more than 5.3 million times in recent weeks. “The goal is to provide content for our Millennial friends, so they can take it and pass it along,” Perry said.
 
Perry said the campaign was launched to counter what he sees as a waning of spirituality throughout society. The campaign will launch within a month.
 
During the meeting, leaders from both denominations pledged to continue promoting religious freedom in the face of what they saw is an increasing marginalization of people of faith and the concept of freedom of conscience. The Adventist Church maintains sponsorship of the International Religious Liberty Association, and the Mormon church operates the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University, which is its flagship educational institution.
 
“In a world that needs more faith, more focus on family, and now a defense of religious freedom, we are trying to join with people of good faith like you to help fight these very basic battles that are going on in the world,” said Ronald A. Rasband, senior president of the Mormon church’s Presidency of the Seventy. Pastor Lowell Cooper, a vice president of the Adventist General Conference, said Adventists honor the Mormon church for its “public discourse” of its beliefs and values. “We have found that it’s good to have you as neighbors and partners,” he said.
 
The Adventist News Network (ANN) is the official news service of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination.