ATSS: Michael Scofield, “180 Years of Waiting”
13 November 2024 |
Three weeks ago, October 22, 2024, marked 180 years since the Great Disappointment. The pioneers—James White, Joseph Bates, Loughborough, and others—would be aghast that we are still on earth 180 years later. Ellen White died 109 years ago. Over and over, from the American Civil War onward, Adventist writers have interpreted every major conflict or catastrophe as a sure sign of the end: “It won’t be long now.”
Since James White began publishing the Advent Review & Sabbath Herald in Paris, Maine, in November 1850, so many aspects of the Adventist experience have changed. The astonishing candor in finance and leaders’ activities in the first 20 years is all but gone. Canvassing (colporteurs) expanded in the early twentieth century but now has all but disappeared. Obituaries of the saints are fewer and much shorter.
Grass roots theology has diversified in the past 70 years particularly. The market for printed material has collapsed; Adventist book centers are closing. North American Division (NAD) colleges and universities are experiencing significant enrollment decline. The traditional evangelistic message is competing for audience with an explosion of alternate media channels. Membership growth in the NAD has already gone negative, and the trend for the world church suggests membership shrinkage in the next 3-5 years. The nature of macro-community and micro-community is evolving.
In the minds of many members, the congregation has become more important than the conference or institutions. And of course, in healthcare, sanitariums are mostly gone, replaced by large hospital-holding corporations with complex ties to government and third-party payers.
Surveying the major journals, we see that doctrinal emphasis has changed through the years. The digital church now co-exists with the congregational, institutional, and primitive Adventist modes.
Teacher:
Michael Scofield, M.B.A. is a retired expert in data asset management and a speaker in that field for professional audiences across the U.S. and in Australia and the U.K. He is a sixth-generation Adventist.
Moderator:
Linda Nottingham is a retired businesswoman living in Florida.
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We look forward to getting acquainted with you!
YouTube channel:
You can see all of our previous ATSS recordings here.
Coming up:
- Lena Toews
- Warren Trenchard
- Denis Fortin
- Mark Carr
- Skip Bell
