Lake Union Conference Apologizes for Church Failures Regarding Race
AT News Team, June 22, 2015: Don Livesay, president of the Lake Union Conference (LUC), apologized for the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s racial failures in a speech given at the Lake Region Conference camp meeting on June 20. At the end of the confession, Lake Region Conference president Clifford Jones accepted the apology and called for Adventists to “aggressively and vigorously and intentionally” work together to “to eliminate this scourge of racism that is so prevalent and pervasive in our land, yea even in our church.”
Lake Region Conference president Clifford Jones accepts the apology and calls for united efforts against racism. (Credit: LUC video screen grab)
The Lake Union Conference is made up of five local conferences—Illinois Conference, Indiana Conference, Michigan Conference, Wisconsin Conference, and the Lake Region Conference, a historically Black conference that covers all of the territory of the other state conferences. The camp meeting was held at Camp Wagner in southwest Michigan.
Livesay’s apology, which was given in the context of a celebration of the Lake Region Conference’s 70 years of service, spoke to historical and present factors in the Adventist Church and in the broader U.S. society. He explained that in addition to effectiveness in ministry, a major factor leading to the formation of Regional conferences was racial injustice in the Church. “A simple, honest look at the segregated Church of the past—the segregated General Conference cafeteria; the Negro Department of the General Conference that was first directed by white men; the segregated hospitals that led to the death of Lucy Byard; the dismissive attitudes and actions. These and more issues were also major contributors to the establishment of Regional work,” he said.
Livesay continued, “Some might attempt to excuse the behavior of the Church through those years because of the culture of society of that specific time. One could say that the white church, the white members, the white leadership, merely reflected what was going on around us. But God has not called His church to reflect the evil of the world. God has called the church to reflect His character, to treat each other in love, with the Golden Rule, in respectful ways, and to honor each other as all of God’s children.”
Livesay honored the success of the Lake Region before making his formal apology. “As we celebrate 70 years of the Lake Region…I come to you with my fellow officers of the Lake Union with a heart that compels us to not only bring our joy and the success of the Lake Region, but also to bring a personal and an official apology to our brothers and our sisters of the Lake Region Conference on behalf of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Lake Union.”
The official apology included a number of general and specific elements. “We apologize with sorrow for the failures of the Church in regard to race, for individuals disrespected, for lack of time taken to understand, for the mistreated, for the leadership marginalized, and for students of our college who were only able to sit with black students in the cafeteria, for Lucy Byard, and for the slowness, reluctance, and the stubbornness to do the right thing. We are sorry that we as a Church did not rise above the sins of society that day, and we are sorry for the lack of progress our church has made in the last 70 years.”
The complete apology and response can be seen in a video posted by the Lake Union Conference. Currently, the video can only be viewed on the LUC’s Vimeo page (click here).
No real substance. Just a lot of political hot air. All this to patronize society and pretend we are in agreement with their agenda. In the first place, he has no authority to “apologize” for the church. The best he can do is apologize for himself if he feels he has been at fault in some way. Who gave him the authority to speak for the whole church on this issue? No one is elected to office in the church to take the freedom and authority to speak for all church members about this sensitive issue.
It is nothing but “usurped” authority that is contrary to the word of God. When the asked Luther if he believed in church authority he replied, “Yes, but I believe this excludes the whole Catholic church.”
Instead of our leaders doing what they should be doing, they pontificate about issues they would do well to basically leave alone and instead “Be about our Father’s business.”
Jesus never got involved with the politics of His day. Civil laws and justice will never cure the sin problem nor the human dilemma of sin and sinfulness.
Shame on you Bill Sorenson.
Why?
Why? For following the worldly attitude of white supremacists, of anti-Samaritan Pharisees, of good old boys in the South, and grumbling Apartheid losers in South Africa. For standing up in this open forum as an Adventist and sounding like the guy who prayed, Oh Lord I thank thee that I am not as those other second class worldly men. Mr. Sorenson obviously doesn’t know how he sounds, so in Christian love Mr. Christiansen is trying to let him know how his holier than thou, no apology needed, we’ve never made any mistakes attitude sounds to the world. It is sorrowful, shameful, and worth the rebuke so that others reading these pages know not all Adventists are proud, hard, self-righteous, who would rather be right than kind… Who are more interested in defending their past than in getting over it, with apology and humility and generosity. We’re not all guilty of those sins, but we are all guilty of not opposing them. White headship, male headship, American headship, Age headship, all need to fall broken on Christ’s headship. And humbly asking for forgiveness is a great place to start.
Thank you Jack.
I didn’t know your other name was Arnold Christiansen?
“all need to fall broken on Christ’s headship”. Does that include female headship? You left that one out.
By the way, no hard feelings regarding those previous posts.
Peace.
Jack,
We all think we have the answers to the world’s problems; and because we all understand the Bible in different ways that doesn’t make us right in God’s eyes. How did Job’s three friends go? They thought they were right. Everyone here makes all sorts of comments. But who sits here as adjudicator to determine who is right or wrong?
” who would rather be right than kind…”
I assume, Jack, that you would rather be “kind” than right.
So, who is claiming to be “holier than thou?”
The fact is, anyone who is “right” by way of the bible is also kind. You liberals always claim you are “holier” than those who defend the bible faith. So, perhaps you are the “pot, calling the kettle black.”
All I have to do is read the bible and see how those who have abandon the bible hate those who defend the kingdom of God. So, as the saying goes, “You can deceive all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you can’t deceive all the people all the time.”
In the end, God will judge who played the part of “holier than thou.” And you may find that it is yourself.
Bill and Daniel, you are right this is clearly a pot calling a kettle black. I admit I may be missing log in my eye while getting angry at the mote of your criticism of this warm hearted apology. So I offer my own apology for overstating my feelings.
Jack you should be ashamed. You do not know of understand your bible and instead are reactionary which occurs when you shut out the holy spirit. Males were created to be the head and high priest of the family. And your idea of white head-ship is nothing but feminist liberal racism mascurading as moral thinking. The family is dying because men have been forced out of the head ship. What satan did in heaven is what he taught eve in the garden is what modern eve’s are doing on earth. Casting off the role they were created for. We need to follow Christ, not satan mascurading as christ. Your ideas are counter to the bible so cannot be of god. The whole bible is god’s word not only the bits and pieces ypu want to hold to. The pope apologizing for the actions of others is as senseless as an adventist following suit. The devil used subtlety and lies in the past and he has not changed. These apologies are usually done to give their current message sympathy and credibility; it is the same tactic the devil used to fool the angels and then eve in the garden. We are very adept at using satan’s tactics because they work so well.
BS:
Being about our Father’s business IS peacemaking, apologizing, forgiving–it’s not politics!
Bill-
I could not have said it as well and you are definitely on target.
A pundit remarked astutely the other night that people think they *must* do something and you know the outcome.
It’s all the rage now to engage in speeches and acts that have little or no relation to reality. I’m sorry Livesay fell for the current pastime of obsequiousness.
Bill. I am a white pastor who has served our Church in all parts of North America except the North East. With all due respect, the incipient racism in your statement does not do justice to the situation. While prejudice is nothing new in our church – all manner of Europeans who emigrated to the United States faced tragic discrimination (especially those from primarily Roman Catholic countries and Jews), while most Asians (the ethnic Chinese we imported to work in the mines and on the railroads and the Japanese Americans interred during WWII have experienced much racism) – and while it continues to show it’s head in the treatment of Latinos, Vietnamese, Hmong, and others, none were more egregious than our treatment of Native Americans and African Blacks. We massacred literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of Native Americans during the settlement of the North American Continent by Europeans who eventually became Americans under the banner of “manifest destiny, destroyed their culture, stole their children and put the rest in virtual concentration camps scattered across America. And, we ripped millions of Africans from their homelands, subjugated them, enslaved them, brutalized them and then set them loose after emancipation with no compensation or help. We as Americans should apologize – especially those of us who call ourselves Christians – ti all of them! So, I laud Don Livesay for having the cohones to do so when he knew there would be a backlash!
I need to clarify the above. It should have read, “While prejudice is nothing new in our country . . . ”
And, I should have added that all of those mentioned above generally faced the same kinds of treatment in our Adventist Church along with most other Christian churches.
While apologies such as Don made can never undo the horrible and tragic actions of the past, they at least are an acknowledge of what happened – which is the first step in reconciliation as has been shown in the experience of South Africa and its reconciliation commissions under the leadership of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
And, it hopefully will pave the way for many in the African American community and church to admit the racism which often exists in their culture and church.
There is a difference between groveling and honest apology which is what Don did.
This statement does much help me embrace the Lake Union Conference leadership as more fully reflecting my sense of history of not just of the Seventh-day Adventist church in general, but the churches of the Lake Union Conference. I became a member of the Seventh-day Adventist church in 1957 a two-minute walk from the Lake Union Conference offices, and have been a member continuously since 1975.
It is to the credit of the Lake Union Conference executive committee that they did not put this action to a vote of the constituency or otherwise risk watering this statement down.
Well done, Elder Livesay.
I realize that the race situation including slavery as well as ongoing prejudice is certainly sinful and evil. But anyone could ask, “Where is the protest against abortion, the Gay movement, government gambling….and a host of other evils in this world?”
The church does not sponsor marches or participate in such as a church community. As individual church members we can protest any civil rights issue or any other civil issues such a drinking and drugs….etc.
But as an official church community, we don’t sponsor these activities or participate in them as a church activity.
If you preach and teach the word of God in the spiritual context of defending God’s kingdom, and remind people they must answer to God for any activity in this world, it will cure all the above evils without some civil law protest.
We don’t want the state meddling with church authority, and we don’t want the church meddling with the authority of civil righteousness. Many don’t bear arms in any war, even though we support civil government when they deem it necessary for the safety of all our citizens.
We need to maintain the difference on various levels.
Bill – hot air is the NAD president issuing press releases about race relations and crimes when his own administration affirms duplication in administration based on race. At least Livesay is acknowledging the history for what it is. Hopefully he keeps moving forward and proposes a consolidation of conferences based on geography and not race.
Historically, the black people asked for their own conference so they wouldn’t get swallowed up in the shuffle. Just as today we have Hispanic churches, Asian, and other groups who feel the can witness and communicate better in their own language and culture.
We have a young black assistant pastor. He is well qualified and in a learning position. I don’t anyone who disapproves. We also have some black families. They participate like everyone else. So I say some of the “cry baby” mentality is just that.
SDA Christians accept other SDA Christians on the same spirituality no matter what their race. In some cases, there are more divisive issues in our church than the race issue.
And in some cases, those who agitate the issue are more guilty of creating a problem than the issue itself.
I recently joined Lake Region as a member about 3 years ago and I have a unique perspective as I and my family are one of the only white members of an nearly all Black church (I grew up in predominately white churches). I believe this apology is being made to try to pull the Lake Region into all the other conferences and then I would say that doing this would be a terrible mistake. I have a good friend at church who grew up on the west coast and he has told me of the that the problems are still evident today where the conferences have united. Out west where regional conferences have been dissolved, Black churches which used to have 2 pastors, now only have 1 and churches of similar size where the congregations are white they have 2 pastors. This shows that the issue of racism still exists. Simply having a black pastor doesn’t address any issues. Bill, you’d have to be a member for a while to really understand what I am saying but white churches simply don’t have the same feeling of family and community you find in White churches. Black churches are necessary because they outreach in a way that can’t be done by white churches and need to be given at least equal standing. Because of this inequity alone the church should take no action to dissolve any regional conferences until it can show it can address the current inequities. As the saying goes talk is cheap and an apology is/was needed but if it isn’t followed by action then it is meaningless.
I think it’s a sign of good social intelligence on the part of the Lake Union not to try to apologize for matters over which it has minimal control. Ideally when we apologize, we should confine ourselves to areas in which we know ourselves to have seriously come short—unequal treatment of minorities within the Adventist faith tradition is clearly a historical fact, and egregious mistakes have been made that have grievously offended and reduced the effectiveness of our message in reaching out to the world. Government and other forces have not “forced” us to treat our brothers and sisters in this way—we ourselves have so ordained it, and we ourselves should accept that blame and seek expiation from God and from those against whom we have institutionally transgressed.
“… and egregious mistakes have been made that have grievously offended and reduced the effectiveness of our message in reaching out to the world.”
Proof, Ed? We can say anything we want but how do you back up your statement?
I started my ministry in the South – Georgia and Tennessee. I have seen the prejudice first hand. I have seen Black families met at the door of the church and told that “their church” was across town and that they should go there.
I have known a very prominent Black pastor who, when he got married in the South, spent hours looking for a motel where he and his bride could spend their wedding night – finally being forced to sleep in their cars. I pastored in a town in a rural Tennessee County that until just a few years before I arrived had a billboard on all roads leading into the County that read: “N—–, don’t let the sun set on you here!” And they meant it! I was the chaplain in the Adventist hospital in that town as well as the church pastor and wondered why my office had no heat in the winter. When I asked the administrator I was told that that room had traditionally been reserved for Black patients.
While I decry the necessity of Black Conferences through the years, it has only been recently that African American pastors were treated with any dignity and equality in most North American Conferences.
Tragically, while we are facing that past and present, we are largely ignoring the other minorities who we have treated the same way and who deserve the same apologies and better treatment!
Is there a Regional Savior?
It is interesting to read the various comments from people who did NOT grow-up in the lake Union, and some I wonder if they have ever lived there?
I DID grow-up there. I DID have friends in both the White conferences and also the Regional conference (officers, pastors and lay persons). There is much that I could write here on this topic but it would only upset people on both sides to no benefit. There has already been far too much animosity on both sides.
I am glad that Elder Don Livesay issued a formal apology. As the ranking SDA officer in the Lake Region he certainly is the person who would speak for the church. Apologizing for past wrongs is an action of strength and confidence, not weakness.
Baptized in 1941, I was there in the mid 1940’s when “Regional Conferences” were born. While there is some truth in the fact that fifteen years before 1945 some black leaders asked for their own conference the over-arching fact and truth is that “we as a Church did not rise above the sins of society of that [the mid -forties] day. Better late than never. Elder Don Livesay is to be commended for his courageous action, current political ramifications notwithstanding.
There were many of us who viewed the church’s history with sadness and disillusionment. We wrote letters asking that the equality of all be one of our fundamental beliefs. It should still be boldly and without vagueness. We sent letters to editors and administrators. (I still have copies of most of them.)
I can’t understand why this should still be affecting our church so many years later other than we are following the world. If leaders like Livesay had been around, perhaps it wouldn’t have happened. We needed leaders who would speak up against this sin. To call sin by its right name.
I am glad he gave this speech now to let people know what we stand for–now do away with the regional conferences! Admit too that profiling comes from both sides and forgiveness is necessary. Send missionaries to the poor areas of our cities (and rural areas)to bring love, education, and a Christian lifestyle.
If the Pope has guts enough to apologize to representatives of a group of Protestant churches in Turin, Italy meeting in a Waldensian church for the Catholic church’s past sins then I think it’s well past time that we stand up and do the same!
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell050515.php3
Most unfortunate that a Union President would ride on the coattails of the hysteria surrounding events that have been paraded on liberal venues. It is sad.
The pathological cult of victimization is prevalent and promoted in the liberal media such as NPR and CNN for example. Just observe them.
Most unfortunately this ethos has invaded the SDA church. Some justify the preoccupation with the warts of USA with a realistic view of history. When such pathology predominates then it reflects an agenda not merely attempting to give a more objective view of history.
Where is the balance? Sure many groups coming to USA had it tough but not all of them wallowed in it. Those who came on the Mayflower had it tough. In the final analysis why do so many attempt to migrate to USA?
To how many groups is it now necessary to issue some sort of belated apology? I find the exercise mainly an evidence of political correctness with questionable substance.
(Secret) Interested Friend,
Why is it considered “liberal” to either acknowledge the reality of racism or to apologize for its evils?
What I’ve witnessed, Secret ‘Friend,’ is that racism in the 21st century is now deftly couched in terms of anti-liberalism; so that racists and racism can continue to deflect and offer racist apologetics by proactively accusing those who decry racism and acknowledge its history of being of ‘The Left.’
Please try to address the question posed; and of course you are free to offer commentary on the preceding paragraph’s observation.
First of all, let me say that I am glad that we live in a country and time when we can have this kind of conversation. While I may disagree with you (let me say that better, while I really disagree with you!), I will defend your right to express your opinion. At the same time, let me tell you a short story.
A while back my wife asked our Australian brother in law why Americans had the “ugly American” reputation around the world. He said, “You don’t! Most people around the world just consider Americans naive and ill-informed. You get all your news from one place and only hear the views of a few. Listen to the BBC, Al Jazeera, and other non-American news media, talk and actually listen to people with a different point of view and become more informed.”
When your primary source of information is outlets like Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and Shawn Hannity (they are entertainers who do not believe half of what they say, but have, like other “shock-jocks,” discovered the way to garner listenership is to spew out the invective they do) you are going to come off believing what you have been saying. Again, I will defend your right to believe it. I just think that you are sadly mis or uninformed.
Name-calling does not help our nation, yet it comes from both sides. But much more from the so-called “liberal” who are not really liberal at all. Their accusations against any one who thinks differently is causing more division and among Christian it clearly is bearing false witness. Logical people who have solutions for today’s problems are called “racist” by those with a social agenda that is harmful and really is racist.
We need apologies, and they are not “liberal” or “left.” Use common sense.
Both the writers above could learn something from a book by C. Powers (a Democrat) entitled THE SILENCING. There is another similar called END OF DISCUSSION. Broaden your horizons.
Now that EM has tipped his/her hand as to what he/she thinks about liberals, perhaps EM can answer why it is considered “liberal” to either acknowledge the reality of racism or to apologize for it?
Read this! It was written by a Black man. Not by misguided liberals.
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell050515.php3
I’ve been around a while and have observed the back and forth on AToday as well as Spectrum. A not unusual tactic is the straw man. Another one is misconstruing exactly what one has written.
I’ve made my point and anyone can choose to agree or disagree. I have *no* interest at all in endless debate.
Yeah, but unless and until you can answer why it is considered “liberal” to either acknowledge the reality of racism or to apologize for it, my point stands.
I understand that some people seldom have their assumptions challenged, especially by black people—and they don’t like it (at all). But if you can’t defend your assumptions perhaps you should consider reconsidering them; IJS.
I don’t respect the likes of Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, et al, because they spend practically no time talking to blacks. They talk to the few blacks who see things as they do, but make their living talking to (white) anti-liberals about blacks, and otherwise merely affirming their assumptions. (I’ve been around a while as well.)
Bulls Eye!!
WOW!
I’m glad I missed all that racism, it would have been enough to send me running for the door.
I live in So WI and I have never seen racism in the Beloit, Janesville, Milton, Madison, or Monroe church. Gee, maybe those churches were out of touch?
I remember seeing Native American people there. Even had some African descent people teaching sabbath school. GASP!
IF, and I mean IF, there was segregation in our church’s past it is good that someone is willing to step up and tell others, “That was wrong”.
I didn’t see it. I never heard it mentioned. If it truly happened it must have been in the 1940’s and 50’s.
I currently see people of “color” (is it PC to use that word now?) in most of our churches. We have a pastor from India who is darker than most of my other African descent friends. No one complains about his “tan”.
I’m glad I missed all that racism.
As I posted earlier, it would have sent me out the door.
Racism doesn’t have to be overt to be racism. What you’re missing is the fact that not all races and cultures cannot be effectively reached in the same manner and when we don’t devote the equivalent resources to other means of reaching people then that is covert racism. It is in a sense saying my culture and way of doing things is better than yours and yours doesn’t need as much attention. True, some people will cross over both ways because God is God however neither way is a “right way” but they are just different and appeal to different people. By not devoting the same resources in the same situations to the different approaches and cultures you are saying they don’t matter as much and that is racism. I have a unique perspective on this that you can read above. The reason the regional conferences were created is because the Adventist church was, and still is, guilty of covert racism and not addressing the culture needs of the black and other communities with equality. Until the Church can prove that it is ready to apologize for this and make corrections for where this is still going on today then this type of response is a step in the right direction but it’s just a starting point in reconciliation.
Oops. I neglected to mention another tactic — baiting!
Interested ‘Friend,’
Is asking a challenging question, one that may require some introspection, now considered baiting?
It would be a great help to me in helping me to better understand your mindset if you would kindly answer why it is considered “liberal” (as opposed to perhaps conservative, or anything) to acknowledge the reality of racism and to apologize for it and its effects.
Just one more comment:
Most Black pastors are very happy they currently are in Regional Conferences. The Regional Conferences opted out of the Adventist Church retirement program and started their own. They do not have the huge backlog of retired pastors drawing from the fund, so their retirement right now is amazingly good! Many of the rest of us who were in the old system for part of our ministry, were assured that the Church would balance out what we would have gotten if we had stayed on the “defined benefit plan,” (something that they have now reneged on), and who have not had the time to accumulate what is necessary for retirement under the “defined contribution” – 403B program have significantly less retirement than those who are completely under either the old or the new plan.
The reason the NAD had to change plans was not bad actuarial work as some have claimed. Rather, a former General Conference President felt that it was wrong to have all of that money sitting in the bank for retirees and that if we just spent it on evangelism, Jesus would come and we wouldn’t have to worry about it. So, our retirement funds were spent – and, unfortunately, Jesus isn’t here yet.
The Regional Conferences, because of their decision to withdraw from the North American Retire Plan, have it much better than their White counterparts – which some might say is poetic justice of some sort!