The Greatest Hits of the 2015 NAD Year-End Meetings
by Loren Seibold, November 6, 2015. I’ve been to a lot of church meetings. But there are none that compare to the marathon business sessions that happen at the Seventh-day Adventist World Headquarters at 12501 Old Columbia Pike. They can be a bit of an ordeal: this latest one stretched over 8 days. Like all business meetings, there are bits that are hard to concentrate on—auditor’s reports, for example—but you can’t stop listening because about the time you do you’ll miss something important.
Many of the reports are from departments in the building, telling you what new project they’re working on, what new resource they’ve developed. Some of these resources appear well done. But with every new video or website or newsletter or printed item, I want to ask, “Who requested this?” and “Who will find out about it and use it?” Every division or GC business meeting I’ve ever attended has rolled out great new materials to do God’s work, that you then never hear about again. Paul Brantley, in a candid moment, made a call for departments to deliver materials that churches and pastors really use rather than ending up in a storeroom.
But that’s an embedded problem with Silver Spring: it’s an enclosed, self-referential world, where too little about the real church out here filters through. And too little from in there filters out, too. What happens in 12501 Old Columbia Pike, stays in 12501 Old Columbia Pike. It’s not something I blame them for—there are some amazing people there—but it is an inherent flaw of our organization. (One explanation: years ago, when hierarchical structures still worked, they got used to generating stuff at the top and passing it down. The church no longer operates that way, but they still keep generating stuff, which doesn’t penetrate very far down into the church, and so ends up on a shelf.)
At the General Conference Annual Council I attended two weeks ago, everything had apparently been decided in committees beforehand. There were votes, but I don’t remember a single item where discussion was required. In fact, I don’t recall one difference expressed about anything. I’m not sure that’s entirely healthy, but beyond that, it makes you wonder why you need to spend hundreds of thousands to bring leaders from all over the world (especially in a year when they’d already made that trek just a couple of months earlier) to pretend to make decisions.
I’m happy to say that a meeting led by Dan Jackson with the NAD church leadership is something else entirely. Dan is warm, friendly, funny, and open to discussion. People are expected to speak up, and they do. You can’t eliminate all the tediousness, or the self-justifying reports, or the punctuation prayers, but at this meeting several things came up that are worth sharing.
#1. The Women-in-Ministry initiative. This plan isn’t brand new. A few years back the NAD decided to incentivize local conferences to hire female pastors with the thing they have the most influence with: money. It’s set up as a three-way split between conference, union and division, for three years, to place new female interns. The goal was to double the number of women in parish ministry within five years. (Dan Jackson has a goal of his own: in his opening talk he said we should shoot for 300 female ministers in that time frame.) One year down, we’ve gone from 107 female pastors to 130. To the original $350,000 they’ve added an additional $300,000, and a part-time recruiter.
I love this program. I’ve long felt that if we’d started to hire women in mass quantities the moment we knew this was something desirable, ordination would by now be a moot point. Appropriate cliche to insert here: “Nothing succeeds like success.” Let’s see if we can keep this level of growth for the next four years. It comes at an opportune time, when the stats show that 50% of NAD pastors are due to retire in the next ten years.
Grade: A+. We can measure the progress, and female pastors will change the church.
#2. NAD Strategic Plan. I admire Paul Brantley—surely one of the smartest guys in the room. And I can see why someone would think that by its 25th anniversary, the NAD probably should begin to think about what it wants to accomplish.
Strategic plans may work for big companies that can buy and sell and hire and fire with no thought for how it affects anyone or anything but the bottom line. But I’m skeptical about strategic plans for organizations like ours: mired in inertia, logical decisions overridden by spiritual sentiment and traditions, and difficult-to-change personnel. I’ve never seen a strategic plan in church settings that isn’t a laundry list of everything good that could possibly be done, as though if we write them down with decimal numbers at the beginning of each line we will do them harder, faster, with more enthusiasm.
The most insightful critique came from a pastor, who observed that most of what was in the plan—vague language about reaching today’s public and collaborating and integrated approac
hes and transforming institutions—the NAD was way too far from local ministries to have any control over.
Grade: C, for effort. Although it addresses topics that need attention, there’s little new energy or new direction here. I’ve rarely seen a strategic plan for a church that improves upon the intuition of good leaders. This one has an appointment with a file folder somewhere.
#3. NAD Statement on Human Sexuality. I’ve written about this already, but let me just say again that, while it isn’t going to please those who want to see full equality for gay people, when looked at in historical perspective (it wasn’t that long ago that all we offered were some shady gay-change ministries), what this statement both allows and encourages in the church is astonishing.
Statements like this are meant to set up a fence beyond which we won’t go. And this one does that. But that fence is a lot farther into inclusiveness and compassion than some congregations are practicing now, which is why it will be criticized. And, there’s humility here, a welcome thing among we who have usually purported to have all the answers.
Grade: A-. This statement has moved the fence farther into be-like-Jesus territory. Just be warned that boundaries invite trespass.
#4. The Report of the NAD Education Department. This report was marred from the start by two things: a dark warning that the sky was falling (maps showing all the schools that had closed, including at least one that hadn’t actually closed), and a pitting of schools against churches, which meant blaming pastors for Adventist education’s failure.
I love my church school. I also know that our schools are underused by our own members, and I don’t know why. And for many small congregations supporting a school is like bloodletting: there’s nothing left for anything else. (The average Adventist congregation sends away most of the offerings it collects as tithe, and of the remainder, the church school will get the bulk of it.)
I think that any pastor who won’t use the school for his own family’s education shouldn’t be a pastor where there’s a school. If he won’t, or can’t, then he should leave, or the conference should remove him. Nor is there any good excuse for a pastor not to regularly visit and minister in his church school.
But that’s not the main reason church schools are failing. I would have felt better had Larry Blackmer said, “We leaders take responsibility: we need to do a much better job managing and promoting our church schools,” even though it isn’t all their fault, either.
Grade: D+. We depend on leaders to warn us of trouble ahead. We also expect them to have creative ideas for how we can fix things. A blame game is a weak strategy when there are such clear demographic and financial reasons for dropping enrollment.
#5. The Report of the NAD Church Governance Committee. This was the major presentation of the meeting, and the most ambitious. The discussion apparently started with a meeting at Dulles International Airport in 2014. (A confession: I thought at first they were saying “the dullest meeting,” and was giving them credit for being remarkably frank.) At that meeting, Dan Jackson asked everyone present whether they’d give up their present position if it would advance the mission of the church in the NAD, and 95 percent said yes. It was Dan’s way of telegraphing that we’ve got too much leadership machinery, that office jobs could go away. I think he was being optimistic, but I appreciate the idea.
The current document (110 quite nicely-written pages with lots of full-color illustrations and charts) focuses on two ideas: redistributing tithe away from the top to local ministries, and restructuring denominational governance for savings.
Proposals ranged from 10 percent of the tithe returned to the local church, to 7 percent. The money would come from reducing the amount shared with the GC and the NAD, although I noticed that the chart assigned the GC the biggest hit, reducing their part of the tithe from 7.5 percent to as low as 4 percent.
Restructuring is where massive savings could happen. An analysis written for the committee by Monte Sahlin showed that a “union of churches” model (which basically means doing away with conference offices and administering the territory from the union office) could save the NAD $145,000,000 each year. (That one was titled the “radical plan,” which title, I thought, might be enough to doom it.) It was followed by a couple of less ambitious plans, one where conferences would be combined (the “moderate plan”), and another (“streamlining”) that tinkered with some possible economies here and there.
Everyone who came to the microphone wanted congregations to get more money, and all liked that $145,000,000 savings. Except, “please remember that our situation is a little different, and you couldn’t do it quite this way where we live and work.”
Aye, there’s the rub—why we’ll probably end up tinkering rather than saving $145,000,000. As I looked around at that room full of suits, I realized that the idea of a pyramid of administrative offices is so ingrained in us, so much a part of church culture, that it would take a miracle for us to to flatten that short of some major crisis .
And, as one committee member pointed out, what will be the result if we succeed? A combining of conferences in Mid-America around 1980 wasn’t very successful. Combining congregations rarely works, nor combining schools (this last I’ve personally tried and failed.) 2 + 2 rarely equals 4. In parts of Africa and Latin America, they take pride in creating new conferences and union conferences: it’s a mark of success.
Grade: An A for courage and creativity, but a C for realism. Keep your expectations for this one modest. (Except if your expectations involve more denominational committees and reports and travelling, in which case your dreams may be about to come true.)
I laud both your candor and your perspective, Loren.
This excellent report will set the standard for how the rank-and-file of the church should be informed about what is actually happening within the bureaucracy of the church. This report needs to be compared with how the results of these meetings will be reported in the propaganda-house organs of the institutional church–in the Adventist Review and in the various union papers.
As this report highlights, the root problem is money and how it is spent. Many of these problems would be solved quickly if enough members would redirect their tithe to the local church and make sure it stays there to fund both the local church and the local schools.
The practice of local members redirecting their tithe to the local church budget has been quietly gaining strength for years. And even at that level giving is directly related to how much transparency there is and how much people approve of how it is being spent. Not too long ago I heard a pastor preach on stewardship and actually make the statement that it was the people’s duty to give and the leaders duty to decide how it would be spent and I thought “the last generation that gave that way was my mother’s generation and they are long dead and buried.”
Having survived way too many meetings on restructuring I have come to believe that the only thing that has a prayer of succeeding is to structure a plan where there are significant financial adventages to conferences, churches , schools etc. who arrange voluntary mergers and dramatically change the makeup of the committees to have way more young adult input because they see the problem much more clearly and have less vested interest in any of those structures so they can focus on the practical business aspects easier than older people can. Our current structure is a bit like cancer. If we do major surgery we have a chance of doing well, if we leave it as it is it will kill us sooner or later depending on the state of the economy on the US.
” Dan Jackson asked everyone present whether they’d give up their present position if it would advance the mission of the church in the NAD, and 95 percent said yes.”
Highly doubtful in light of the history of the church in the past and present. Maybe Dan Jackson should be the first one to resign? I really don’t “over expect” on any level of spirituality in the SDA church of today.
Since we are studying Jeremiah in our SS classes, we could wonder how many church leaders or members have an inkling that he is speaking to the SDA church?????
Well, not us, it has to mean someone else. But it is Jeremiah who stated, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?” 17:9 And I think he knew it not only described the people of his day, but he included himself.
But then again, not the SDA church, must be some else…..eh???
Someone else, Bill?
That would be you and me and everyone who writes here, and everyone who reads what we write.
Whenever we point a finger at the church we have a few more pointing back at us.
Someone else, Bill?
That would be you and me and everyone who writes here, and everyone who reads what we write.
Whenever we point a finger at the church we have a few more pointing back at us.”
I don’t get paid by the church, do you, Jim?
Nope – I help to pay the bills.
But for me the church is WE not THEM.
DISCLAIMER – My wife is a church school teacher who receives her paycheck from our local conference. Funding for that paycheck comes in comparable proportions from:
1) Tuition
2) Tithe
3) Local church subsidies
I can honestly say that over our lifetimes, my wife and I have donated more money to various church entities, than she has drawn-out in salary and benefits. So we are net “givers” not “takers”.
Yeah , This comment reminds me of the lukewarm Laodicean tag.
No matter how much we go to church, connect with Jesus in bible study & prayer, outreach to others …we still will be verbally abused with Laodicean label, Jer 17:9 , all our righteousness is as filthy rags.. , there is none good , no not one.yadda yadda yadda
How encouraging…
This is what institutional Adventitis is about.
Evidently the gospel, Holy Spirit, grace is just useless and we always will be lazy, lousy, lukewarm Laodicean deceitful, wicked, filthy clothed evil losers.
Please continue to outreach so we can get many more than 18 million losers!
For years the conference offices have sent reams of programs on paper as suggestions of how to grow the local church as if each pastor is not better informed of needs in his own congregation. One size does not fit all: the churches on the West Coast are not like those in the Deep South or northeast. The conference officers assume that they are great advisors to pastors but often have never visited the churches to really know what is needed.
The “make work” game has always been promoted from a desk to demonstrate that such an employee is actually necessary for the growth of the church and without the advice they send churches would wither with only a pastor.
Tithing has been so drummed into the members that it becomes almost automatic to believe that the “storehouse” is only the conference office and the churches are being robbed of their financial needs to support the various duplicate conferences.
I totally disagree with the remark that a pastor who does not send his children to the church school were there is one should be a pastor there. Many years ago I remember Arthur Maxwell of Bedtime stories, telling of his conference leader in England came to him and scolded him for not sending his children to the church school. Maxwell replied that he wanted the very best education for his children and he was sending them to a great public (private in Britain) school. All his children earned a PhD, and no one has doubted that they did not have the finest education.
Cont’d.
As a PK many years ago I always attended the church school if there was one, or was home schooled. Many times the teacher had very little education and instruction had much to be desired. My dad was responsible for the school, had more problems with the schools than anything in the congregation. I’ve seen teachers quit in the middle of the year and he had to scrounge several conferences away to get someone, anyone to take the job. Of course, travel expenses all paid.
At another school, another pastor, the teacher was told that he would have to teach grades 1-10 by himself, while previously there had been two, and of course, his wife could teach with no qualifications. When the prospective teacher quit, the church hired two teachers from a state 3,000 miles away, moving expenses paid of course.
Some, maybe many very small church schools SHOULD close if they cannot qualify the same as public schools. Parents want the best education for their children and will not pay for substandard just because it’s Adventist.
What a splendid idea to streamline bureaucracy and eliminate the local conferences!
The local conference/Union conference structure dates from the “horse and buggy ” era, pre automobile, pre airline travel, pre interstate highways, and certainly pre electronic communications like Internet, social media, fax, and cell phones. Using these modalities we could probably run the church efficiently from a remote Caribbean island. Stock brokers no longer need to be on Manhattan, but could be anywhere on the planet thanks to these instant message means.
I have long thought that our smaller colleges such as Union College, Southhwestern, Atlantic Union are a duplication dating from the horse and buggy era, when travel from home to campus was lengthy and arduous.
Surely following the Mormon model (they have one major university, BRIGHAM YOUNG) would result in major cost savings and more extensive academic offerings. At the most, we should have Andrews, Southern and La Sierra/Loma Linda.
And maybe only four unions, East, Central, South and West, with local conferences scrapped and the “regional” race based ones permanently abandoned!
Unlikely to happen as most would jealously conserve and preserve their own “turf”.
Maybe church members should earmark contributions to the local congregation, ONLY, until this multi-layered, duplicative and expensive administrative bureaucracy is streamlined and short circuited!
MONEY always speaks louder than words!
Loren,
Thanks for an EXCELLENT report!
(Due to AToday space limitations my specific comments on your report card will be posted separately.)
Re meeting and management styles.
1) In large degree different styles of meetings are a reflection of different styles of management. Dan Jackson does not feel threatened by ideas and people he cannot control 8-). Ted Wilson seems to have gravitated in the opposite direction 8-(.
2) In large degree different styles of meetings are also a reflection of different management challenges. Dan Jackson is leading a much smaller and (relatively) cohesive organization than is Ted Wilson. Throwing anything open for truly candid and divergent discussion before hundreds (GC Executive Committee) or thousands (GC Session) of well-intentioned and well-qualified people is an open invitation for absolute chaos. You cannot have a “committee of the whole” consisting of hundreds or thousands of participants.
3) An important purpose for meetings is communication and consensus-building. There is not only a need to develop and evaluate ideas, but also to “sell” them to a larger audience.
The aforementioned comments reflect many years of experience on my part, in organizing and leading meetings of all sizes, in the church and in industry forums. A substantial component of my consulting career has been getting agreement on complex problems, from many stake-holders. There may be a technical component but there is also a human component to these challenges.
Re strategic planning.
In any effective planning process, it is important to distinguish between your Sphere of Awareness and your Sphere of Influence. There are things to be aware of that are beyond your capability to influence. There are things you influence that are beyond your awareness (eg unknown consequences). Your actual Sphere of Control is bounded by the intersection of your Sphere of Awareness and your Sphere of Influence. These principles are as true for individuals endeavors as for collective endeavors.
Too many planning processes ignore these distinctions. How much of the NAD Strategic Plan lies within the NAD’s own Sphere of Control?
In North America the local church congregation is a voluntary association. Any planning that is intended to affect the local church must recognize the limitations of control. Leadership must be based upon persuasion rather than coercion. Appeals to authority are not effective and often counter-productive.
This is one reason for the major dis-connects in perception between local congregations in North America and some the GC hierarchy. Dan Jackson models the leadership style of North America. Ted Wilson models the leadership style of some other parts of the world. Each fulfills the expectations of their respective constituency.
Regarding planning in the church at all levels, we need to recognize the opportunities God offers us, and plan to respond in a timely and effective manner.
We can focus on threats or on opportunities. One of the things I find most disconcerting about Ted Wilson’s published speeches is the amount of time and space devoted to threats. Fear is only a short-term motivator and evokes negative responses. When we cast a vision of opportunities, people will respond positively.
Moses sent twelve spies to Canaan. Ten reported on the threats. Two reported on the opportunities. Who survived to possess the Promised Land? Is anyone in Silver Spring listening?
Re women in pastoral roles.
Ted Wilson sees this as a threat. Dan Jackson sees this as an opportunity.
Moses sent twelve spies to Canaan. Ten reported on the threats. Two reported on the opportunities. Who survived to possess the Promised Land? Is anyone in Silver Spring listening?
(Is there an echo in the building? 😎
“(Is there an echo in the building? ?”
You can prove anything you want by illustration. By the way, the minimulists in the SDA church are the conservative minority. So there went your illustration right out the window.
There are multiple echoes in the building 8-).
Re education.
One of the first things I noticed on that chart of “closed” boarding academies was that same curious Red Dot that you noticed. Were we both color blind 8-)? Ironically enough, my good wife and I spent quality time with Ralph Watts and his wife last Sabbath discussing amongst other things, the inception and present condition of that very school whose alumni include many friends and relatives of ours (and yours).
And I have my fellow-PK Elaine beat by double when it comes to changing teachers in the middle of the same school year in the same church school. One year I had FOUR separate teachers in a small SDA school (I will spare you the details). But to be fair, the general quality and level of training of church school teachers far surpasses some of what we encountered two generations ago.
The NAD Education Department has expended a substantial amount of time and money over the past how-many years, developing the latest generation of textbooks and workbooks for church schools. And that includes a contract with a (struggling) textbook publisher for rights to publish same. And now trying to get church schools to throw-away old textbooks and buy the new ones.
Meanwhile, my wife has spent decades scouring every available source for curriculum ideas, both for church schools and for home schools. Imagine a grand-motherly Kindergarten teacher who stays-up at night searching the Internet for new ideas and materials. And many other church school teachers do likewise. And some post their own lessons online for their students.
I harbor no malice towards the NAD crew. But really, given near-universal availability of the Internet to church schools and home schools in North America, why not expend that same amount of talent and energy and $$ developing and publishing our curriculum online? Not having to pay for all those textbooks and workbooks could help make Christian education more affordable.
Instead we are feebly propping-up a declining textbook-publishing industry.
DISCLAIMER – To the credit of NAD they do engage “master teachers” on these committees, as well as education administrators. But almost everyone who serves is on a 12-month pay scale rather than the 10-month standard teacher contract.
My wife declined the opportunity to serve on the NAD committee that developed the new Kindergarten curriculum. Like most other church school teachers she routinely works 60+ hours a week during the school year. So she opted not to “volunteer” her summers for this assignment.
She is now actively engaged in rolling-out this new curriculum in the NPUC and mentoring other Kindergarten teachers. Whenever she complains about a problem with the materials (and nothing is ever perfect) I gently remind her that she chose not to participate in their development 8-).
I do salute all those teachers who have contributed to the NAD curriculum development process. It is an endless and thankless labor of love.
I just wish that NAD would choose to leverage the Internet to publish the results, rather than signing-over exclusive publishing rights to a paper-publisher. The traditional approach is far more costly to the church schools, though not to NAD itself.
Loren, this was an excellent report and I enjoyed reading and studying it.
How do you change the culture of schools? When it comes to lasting cultural change, two essentials are consistent across many leadership contexts.
First, define what you will not change. Identify specific values, traditions, and relationships that you will preserve. Rather than make every change a battle that exhausts political capital and diminishes trust, effective church leaders must place change in the context of stability. They take care not to convey the message, “Everything you have been doing in the past was ineffective, and your experience and professional judgment are irrelevant.” A more thoughtful message is, “I am only going to ask you to engage in changes that will have meaning and value for you and every church member we serve.” For example, many schools have cherished traditions of excellence in athletics, music, or art—traditions that can be threatened when the leader says that academic achievement must be the top priority. Effective
Second, recognize the importance of actions. Speeches and announcements are not enough. To lead challenging reform efforts, you must be willing to make personal changes in decision-making policies.
This was an outstanding report Loren!
Interesting, Sam Geli, and thank you. I struggle with change: that it is sometimes so clearly called for, yet making the most logical changes, in the church setting, don’t always bring corresponding results. Church schools are an illustrative example. I think the little church school in my district is excellent: if I had a small child, he/she would attend there, and be very happy. Good, sensible teachers, small size. There would be not only good education, but good socialization, a mix of social classes (important to me, being a social liberal), children helping other children, an attitude of learning to love learning, all of which I value. But that doesn’t seem to appeal to a lot of our church members, which is why most of the children in the school aren’t church members. What are we doing wrong?
” What are we doing wrong?”
We do a lot of things wrong, but probably the thing we do wrong the most is to assume if we can figure our some “magic formula” we can keep everyone in church. NOT.
So we patronize sin and evil in the hopes this will keep people in church, or, maybe get them to join the church. If and when we teach the truth “as it is in Jesus” and live it in our lives, then we can “by all means, save some” as Paul stated.
But not the SDA church. We have to “keep up with the Joneses” in making numbers of converts, no matter what format we follow to do it.
So the question “What are we doing wrong?” in the context of the question is a “false dilemma.” We have a false standard to judge success. And the false standard is what we are “doing wrong.” So we advocate a “false gospel” to patronize as many as possible in the hopes we can “keep up” and be considered successful.
This false spirituality is bringing a curse on the church that can not, and will not be removed, until and unless there is a real repentance and return to the word of God in doctrine and application. And now you know, although in many cases it will not produce the results necessary for God to use the SDA church to finish what He ordained the church to do.
But God is not hampered nor defeated by human rebellion. He will yet create a bible community He can use for His intended goal, with, or without the SDA church.
Loren, Don’t know the size of your church, but at the church i attended, we
created a special fund to help any church child to attend, so that all who the parents permitted were in our elementary school. We had members able to sponsor a child not their own. There were quite a few retired people who had the means to do this.
What difference does it make to local congregations when they understand that like politics: it’s always local?. Suggested evangelistic campaigns and fund raising for certain departments fall on deaf ears when the members know much more about their own church needs: something that a conference thousands of miles away cannot possibly know.
Keep the tithe local! Contribute to your own church’s needs first, it your mission field. This could cut out large portions of the bureaucracy and produce more results. The “storehouse” is your own local church.
Then don’t solicit.
Simplest form; Christians believe in GOD and the BIBLE (internal definition).
Christ said there were two Great Commandments that all the Law and Profits hang; Love God and Love your neighbor. He who keeps and teaches is the greatest in the Kingdom and he who does not is least.
None of the issues addressed have anything to do with GOD or helping the failing Church; mostly NAD issues to start with. Are you capable of even reading your BIBLES? Why then would we care about your individual interpretations or ideologies? I really do not think you are able to teach or solve any of your problems; only perpetuate the same ignorance.
Are you aware that GOD does not join outside of marriage; so there are two individuals and not a single body involved? There are at least two sins that violate both Great Commandments; and in many cases innocent bystanders greatly are impacted? The blunt questions have to be asked; because in many cases it seems many cannot see past their own blinders.
Maybe you are not there to help with these issues; but is that an excuse of ignorance or an excuse for not helping? Are you caught up in your own little world that you forgot about HIM? Why would we want you around our children or families as such? We are all obligated by command to ensure these things do not happen; not to condone, sanction or allow such.
Would someone provide something to ease or justify these concerns?
It’s not at all encouraging to see so much of NAD’S resources devoted to Jackson’s apparently favorite endeavor — promoting the feminist agenda — while giving no apparent thought and support for the SDA family.
Can you imagine how many children could attend church school, for example, if the millions devoted to NAD moving from the GC building to another location. The federal government is not alone in its waste of resources.
Wake up NAD!!
“if the money devoted to NAD moving from the GC building to another location were employed to pay church school tuition for pupils who do not have the financial resources.”
Missed my conclusion!!
I think this is a direct analogy to what is happening in SDA education:
“We think that consumer bifurcation has been an important driver,” Hershey CEO John Bilbrey said on an earnings call, referring to the growing gap between upper-income and lower-income consumers.
“Upper-income consumers are buying more premium treats, while lower-income individuals are purchasing discounted chocolates, he said. Hershey’s has been losing market share, as a result.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-disappearing-middle-class-is-threatening-major-retailers-2015-10
We should not even compare the leadership of Dan and Ted Wilson. Wilson is a leader by coercive and this is no longer working because people have gone to the standard of understanding what they want and what they don’t want dispite of the coersion. Unfortunately Ted is not prepared to change hence he should resign.
Again the GC leaders are not visionary, they would not have engaged themselves in refusing the women to be ordained because their urguments were baseless as far as the Bible is concerned. What was the outcome, division has come up in church! If the women have been serving as Pastors in some parts of the world like China and USA and the reports are that the work is advancing steadly, why Ted has closed his eyes not to see sample? Again if NAD is number one to support the GC financially why was no consultation before Ted would take the decision he took in Texas? Now is he going to win the battle? He can’t!!!!!! Why can’t the GC Leadership advise him!
The youth of today are educated in the Sciences as never before. Unless the GC permits every SDA child to attend SDA schools, from K-GRADE 8, underwriting the cost for those parents unable to pay the whole amount, there will be a vacuum of youth in the SDA Church in the next 20 years, should the government permit, and the Lord is delayed. Also the GC must recognize the teaching of Science courses that accepts the present day knowledge our children are privy to outside of the 6th FB, in it’s fullness, as nature has revealed, are the youth will desert the ship of SDA anyway. The moral Family life of SDA is so valuable for our youth living in the 21st century. Let’s do all we can to save our children in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is utterly amazing to me that the GC so totally lacks the vision of these end times, in which we live. They are sacrificing our children on MOLOCH’S altar, to preserve their votes from the Developing Nations. Will the Divisions, Unions, and Conferences follow blindly the GC, or rescue the youth of the church?????
A Caribbean man like me will not be able to appreciate or understand some of the problems of, and solutions to, the financial life of the SDA church in North America. Here, when finances are running low, the local or district pastor simply comes to the churches and reads appropriate passages from E G White, or/and texts from the Bible to claim that members are witholding the tithes, and depriving the Lord’s work of funding. They would advise that if such an act or practice continues, God would blow upon what is in the possession of the offender,and bring poverty and a curse on the offender. In addition, such wilful sinners will not see the Pearly Gates of heaven. This action often brings heartening results. If the leaders in NAD and the GC try this simple tactic they will not need to expend lots of energy and sleepless nights to solve their money problems. When a society becomes too sophisticated and modern they grow out these primitive short cuts.
I always knew that the SDA denomination puts too much more emphasis on preaching and its pastors, and too little emphasis on its schools and its teachers. The tithe income is spent largely on the needs of the clergy, and a grudgingly minimum is applied to the schools. For the benefit of those who would hasten to to remind me of the urgent need to spread the gospel to all the world, let me remind them that the school is a more potent agency of giving the gospel than the pulpit. My years of experience in the classroom tells me
Nathaniel,
In North America it is customary to subsidize about 1/3 of elementary teacher salaries from tithe. Whether or not that is more than a “grudging minimum” is a matter of opinion.
My years of experience in the classroom and in the church tell me that. Establish schools, and have them well equipped with libraries and laboratories; associate industrial and farming programs as parts of the process; every school will have its devotional time and space. In teaching do not hide any truth from the students, no matter how unpopular or ebbarrassing it might seem. The truth can always take care of itself. The Bible urges us to train a child in the way he should go. Trying to hide truth from children under the guise of religious discretion is nothing but deception. When our students are exposed to sound,critical education they cannot go wrong.
Well educated students would defend their faith anytime, anywhere, without fear and without any apologies. The church will have intellectual, high earning members who will better be able to finance its programmes.
Nathaniel,
In North America there are almost no jobs left in agriculture. When Ellen gave her advice over a century ago, about 80% of jobs were in agriculture. Now it has become so highly mechanized that a relative of mine works 1,800 acres almost by himself, with one part-time helper during sowing and harvest.
Furthermore, a large portion of the industrial work has been exported from North America to lower-cost regions.
Our schools need to train students in those fields where they will actually be able to find gainful employment. Otherwise we will become like the Amish.
Your description of the Caribbean method of increasing tithe and offerings from members apparently work well there, but it is most most doubtful that such tactics would have other than members’ disgust. Threatening loss of entrance into heaven would backfire and worse. To resort to fear has been effective throughout most of Christianity, but only where ingrained fear may be in their DNA. This would have the opposite results in the U.S. and most first world cultures. m
I admire the insights and wisdom of Monte Sahlin, but I’d like to ask him why the choices for administrative streamlining of Adventism considered doing away with Conferences instead of taking out the middleman? It seems to me that local Conferences have some practical utility for local churches. We know these people and see them once or twice a year, and they are closer to the practical problems of each area they serve in.
The Unions on the other hand are “the middlemen”. I can’t think of any benefits to ministry and coordination if they would just disappear. The conferences can meet in a Division to coordinate work at national or continental levels.
As others have written “combining” rarely works, but strengthening the local church and local church school budgets, by eliminating the middlemen, might solve several problems.
The strengthened conferences could have more resources for primary and secondary education. All the Universities could be under the Division. Was this suggestion considered by Monte’s report?
Jack,
I agree with you here. My wife and I discussed this very question after I told her about this article. We both agreed that the local conferences provide the most support services to local churches. Take these services away and the results would be very detrimental. Or merge conferences and try to maintain the same level of services and the “savings” will prove illusory.
I would write much more on this topic but it will have to await another time.
We reverence our Heavenly FATHER in absolute and in understand we are nothing without HIM. We are thankful for the pain and agony of the of the Blood Sacrifice for us sinners; understand we had nothing to do with or anything offer for such Love.
GOD has a PLAN that does include us, but not our worldly attachments or ideologies; why would HE have need of such? The BIBLE is explicit in all the outlined issues and the Church as has policies addressing most of the areas listed.
We can all read our BIBLES; if you do not have one there are many Churches out there (including ours) that can give you one. If you are unable to read; there are many schools that are funded (including ours) that can teach. Otherwise, I have no idea what the excuse might be.
How many times can you bang your head against the wall; continuing to promote ideologies that continue to fail? Then wonder why they fail?
Again; how does any of this serve GOD or even pass as wisdom? Again; maybe we should just follow HIS PLAN? Only rebellious children would think they could come up with a better plan (while we are unable to even teach children). Maybe that is the problem?
If you think that HIS PLAN is not in motion and the multitudes that serve HIM are not executing within such; think again. Do you think that HE would provide wisdom or any Gift and not expect return? Think about it.
i have suggested several times the need to remove one layer of management from SDA. The local churches and the Conferences is where the Gospel message is presented, and can be intelligently, culturally, presented to constituency. It can also be continually evaluated as to effectiveness, and audited. This where the leather hits the road, in local neighborhoods. i recommend the cutting of hierarchal largess be clean and precisely removed by eliminating “both the GC, and Unions. Maintaining only NAD, Latin American, Brazilian, European, African, and Australian, Division Offices, with minimal personnel. This would put the manpower and resources power firmly at the local level. The Conference constituency would be the
ultimate authority. The Divisions would be subject to the Conferences, serving as business auditors, liaison with Universities which stand alone, and other World Division offices, which meet to exchange expertise but have no power collectively. Think about it, the largest control of tithes and offerings is the GC celebrities, and Union offices, which do not know or provide local intelligence needed to evangelize local areas, but instead provide general recommendations of across the board thinking that
is not in touch with local methods and needs. The BODY of the church is the local churches, its Pastors, Elders, Deacons and members. The largest
cost of the total mission is the GC, which produces paper.
Offices and Universities
Many congregations are accomplishing this without big conference combined committees. They simply give their tithes and offerings to their local church.
Mission Accomplished!
What mission?
“It can also be continually evaluated as to effectiveness, and audited. This where the leather hits the road, in local neighborhoods.”
Continually evaluated how?
I agree about oversight but what criteria is to be used?
What is to be evaluated?
If someone gave you U$250,000,000 next week, would you share the gospel with your neighbors? You wouldn’t have the excuse of being too busy making a living. You wouldn’t have the excuse of not having the wherewithal to do it in the particular way you would prefer. You wouldn’t have the excuse that you aren’t well enough educated. You could afford tuition to the finest schools.
What would you do if you had three close friends who shared your concept of what “the gospel” includes and how to best promulgate it. You could invite them to help you spread the gospel.
What would you do if your three close friends each had two or three other friends, Ditto. Ditto. Ad ifinitum. That is how the church started out–as a fellowship of the believers helping each other share the good news about the nature of the kingdom and the nature of the king. The Lord can as easily inspire the humblest saint as he can inspire the president of a General Conference!
Organization has the potential of being a useful tool of the church. It also has the potential of wasting precious resources. The more hierarchical it is the greater the potential for waste.
If you are content to be merely a follower of other men’s thoughts, by all means support an organization or its leaders.
If not, tell your friends about your vision for evangelism (or for education or medical missionary work) and expect miracles.
The best method of sharing the Gospel is living and putting it into action. I am familiar with a church nearby that has never had an evangelistic campaign or sponsored one but has grown each year. They have many community services: collecting used clothing for one of the poorest high schools, participating in the community food bank and gathering food for distribution. Is there a better way to share the true meaning of the Gospel?
Was it St. Francis who said: “Spread the Gospel wherever you go; use words if nothing else works.”
“Was it St. Francis who said: “Spread the Gospel wherever you go; use words if nothing else works.””
Definitely didn’t come from St. Francis, nor did he live it. The actual disputed quote is “Preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words”, not works; first showing up in the early 1990’s.
He did state “To all those men and women who are not living in penance, who do not receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who practice vice and sin and walk after the evil concupiscence and the evil desires of their flesh, do do not observe what they have promised to the Lord, and who in their body serve the world through the desires of the flesh, the concerns of the world and the cares of this life: They are held captive by the devil, whose children they are, and whose works they do. They are blind because they do not the the true light, or Lord Jesus Christ. They do not possess spiritual wisdom because they do not the the Son of GOD, the true wisdom of the Father.” (Early Documents, Volume 1, p. 43.)
“They see and acknowledge, know and do evil, and knowingly lose their souls.
See, you blind ones, deceived by your enemies: the flesh, the world, and the devil, because it is sweet for the body to sin and it is bitter to serve GOD, for every vice and sin flow and proceed from the human heart as the Lord says in the Gospel [Mt 15:19; Mk 7:21]”.
You may want to look for another source to prove your ideology. We can provide you a BIBLE in countenance.
“The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian.” EG White
Ask why to that statement.
Share the Gospel?
What is the Gospel?
I bet that church preacher was not like most SDA preachers constantly harping that his flock were Laodiceans and were robbers of tithes.
Yep they probably grew because the leaders got the people working for others instead of griping at each other over WO, LGBT, creation, conferences, IJ, LGT, EG White errors, food fights.