Massive Diversity Is Reality of Life for Adventist Faith
By AT News Team, July 3, 2015: The Adventist faith may be the most diverse religion on the globe. It is not clear which religion would rival it on this score. This diversity produces a great many practical problems for the meeting underway in San Antonio.
In a test of the voting system at the GC Session, the delegates were asked, “Do you speak English?” They were asked to respond with a simple yes or no. Despite the fact that delegates have come from the most cultured cities and the most rural recesses of the globe, 80 percent of the census gave positive responses.
The number is surprising and it does not ask how fluently delegates speak or understand English. Nevertheless, it is a marvel in itself as to how such a diverse group could acquire a common language. What contributing factors come into play? Is it globalization? Is it the result of the English Language Schools used in missionary work? Or, could it possibly be the influence of the European and American Adventist churches? Does this number indicate a unified body of believers or does it reflect a loss of identity in some kind of denominational conformity?
Adventist Today has reported on the relative small percentage of young adults among the delegates. During discussion of the nominated committee yesterday, delegate Cecil Perry posed the concern that the session lacked consideration for senior citizens. For example, the 10- to 15-minute walk between the Conference Center and the Alamodome. And the assembly’s projected media display of all pertinent information that was in such miniscule print that even the far-sighted cannot read it from the vantage point of the press box.
A fact sheet distributed by the GC communication department stated that 22% of the delegates are age 60 and older. While Perry’s inquiry did not get an immediate answer, it is now on record to provide future accommodations for the aging and otherwise impaired.