Future prospects for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in what is called the "global South" may be very good, said Philip Jenkins, author and distinguished professor of religion and history at Pennsylvania State University in Pennsylvania, United States.
Future prospects for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in what is called the “global South” may be very good, said Philip Jenkins, author and distinguished professor of religion and history at Pennsylvania State University in Pennsylvania, United States. That’s because parts of the world where the Bible is read and taken seriously are prime candidates for the church’s presentation of prophecy, as typified by the books of Daniel and Revelation.
Defining the “global South” as including sub-Saharan Africa, South America and Asia, Jenkins said that Christians in these places have a different relationship with the Old Testament than do many mainline Christians in North America and Western Europe. For believers in the global South, “every word in this book is true,” he said, referring to the Bible.
“African Christianity, for various reasons, takes the Old Testament very seriously indeed,” Jenkins, an Episcopalian, said at the 24th annual G. Arthur Keough Lectures held April 8 to 9 at Columbia Union College, an Adventist institution. His 2002 book, “The Next Christendom: The Rise of Global Christianity,” won top honors from “Christianity Today” magazine and USA Today newspaper, the latter calling it one of the top 10 religion books of that year.
He said that Africans, in particular, are drawn to discussions of sacrifices in the New Testament book of Hebrews, and that “when people read the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis in Africa, they thought they were reading their own stories,” coming from cultures where nomadic lifestyles and sacrifice were well known. In many independent African churches, Jenkins added, “the Old Testament wins versus the New Testament,” including such areas as Sabbath-keeping.
Religious strife and persecution in much of the world leads Christians to close identification with Daniel, Revelation and even Ruth, where famine plays a role, he said. Even “Psalm 23 acquires a political relevance that it does not have in the West.”
All these conditions make an evangelical message based on Bible prophecy all the more appealing, Jenkins said. Coupled with the role of Ellen G. White, a pioneering founder and author in the early Adventist Church, it becomes “a very appealing package” in cultures where women take leading roles in independent churches.
Responding to Jenkins’ remarks, Pastor Pardon Mwansa, president of the Adventist Church’s Southern Africa-Indian Ocean region, said “I think Africans find it easy to accept the totality of Scripture because Africans believe in the power of darkness and light. Africans believe in miracles because they have seen miracles.”
Mwansa added that “the challenge we will have is how to adjust one to the other,” referring to global “Northern” and “Southern” churches. One adjustment may well be in worship styles. During a question-and-answer period, Mwansa noted that while Adventism is growing in Africa, Pentecostalism is outstripping Adventist growth. He said many young people in his area would go to an Adventist service on the Sabbath, or Saturday, for “the truth,” but also attend a Sunday church service for the worship experience, wanting “something different.”
Pastor Charles Bradford, former president of the Adventist Church in North America, received a warm response from the audience when he declared Adventists “must realize we are part of the greater Christian world. We’ve got to look into the future and stop being mad” at other churches, he said.
Added Pastor Charles Sandefur, former head of the church in Mid-America who now is president of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, “The church of Adventism is not changing—it has [already] changed. The church is now emerging overseas; it is growing so fast, with 20,000 people baptized [daily].”
Sandefur said Adventists must “move from being known for what we say to being known for who we are.”
Both Jenkins and other speakers at the two-day event also noted that the emerging “Southern Christianity” is to be found in countries of the North as immigrant groups gather and form their own congregations.
“We have ‘Southern Christianity’ in Europe,” declared Pastor Bertil Wiklander, Trans-European region Adventist church president, citing as an example an enthusiastic Ghanaian Adventist congregation in London. While rejoicing in Adventist prospects in South Sudan, Pakistan and among immigrant groups, he conceded, “our church is losing membership in Scandinavia.”
However, Wiklander added, “we would not be Christians and believers in God if we didn’t have hope” that native Europeans will take an interest in the gospel.
Wiklander also said that he was “very encouraged” to hear Jenkins talk about the emerging role of women in leadership of independent African churches. “I believe we have sinned in the way we have treated women,” he said, noting the role of women in proclaiming the resurrection of Christ to the disciples, as well as Ellen White’s pioneering role in Adventism.
The Keough Lectures are held in memory of a much-loved former professor of religion at Columbia Union College, G. Arthur Keough. Dr. Zack Plantack, chairman of the religion department at the school, organized this year’s program. In 2006, the series will mark its 25th anniversary.
