Editorial: “Why do you let people who aren’t Adventists anymore write for Adventist Today?”
Someone wrote me a note recently: “Why do you let people who aren’t Adventists anymore write for Adventist Today?” she asked.
It’s a good question. The answer goes to the heart of the Adventist Today philosophy.
There is an official understanding of what makes someone a Seventh-day Adventist, of course: your name is recorded on the church books, you subscribe to the Fundamental Beliefs, you go to church on Saturday, and you eat and live in a certain way.
But we at AT have deliberately chosen to draw the circle wider: to include not just those who are active Seventh-day Adventists, but those who may once have had a part in our community and still have interest in and appreciation for what this church is, and what it could be.
One of the big weaknesses of our church is, to quote a recent AT article by Dr. Charles Scriven, that the church only wants to talk at us, not talk with us. They’re all apologetics and “hooray us!”—an echo chamber of the same old stuff repeated in different words, different media.
Meanwhile, the problems don’t get solved. Problems such as the graying of the church, the exaltation of Ellen White over the Bible, the failure of our eschatology, our overgrown church structure, and a long-standing fear of the gospel of grace and mercy.
We at Adventist Today believe that we need to hear from people who are on the edges of, or even outside of, this community. Many times they can see who we are more clearly than those who are fully invested.
Our church spends a lot of time looking inward. There are so many big problems in the world, and many of them we ignore while we debate about what God lets you do on Sabbath afternoon, or whether you should eat cheese, or if it’s a sin to wear something shiny on your ears. I’m embarrassed to say that we’re still passing out anti-Catholic literature from a century-and-a-half ago!
Those who lead the church don’t necessarily appreciate what Adventist Today does. But they should. We are flinging open windows and doors, trying to make this church we love part of the world we live in now, not the world of two centuries ago.
We are right now in the midst of our summer fundraiser. Do you appreciate Adventist Today? Have you given to keep the ministry going? Would you go to our donation page right now and share something with us?
Please don’t put it off. This ministry means a great deal to so many people. Thank you!
Loren Seibold
Executive Editor, Adventist Today
24 August 2024
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Today’s ATSS class (1:30 PM Eastern US) with Ron Graybill
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