The Seventh-day Adventist Church must find new ways to present Christian concepts if it is to speak a message that is relevant and effective within secular cultures, said an international group of pastors, evangelists, and church leaders meeting April 16
The Seventh-day Adventist Church must find new ways to present Christian concepts if it is to speak a message that is relevant and effective within secular cultures, said an international group of pastors, evangelists, and church leaders meeting April 16 and 17 at the Adventist Church headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States. The Council on Evangelism and Witness, meeting for the second time since it was established in April 2000, also considered the challenges of cross-cultural mission, urban outreach, youth involvement in mission, and reaffirmed the vital role of local churches in evangelism.
“There is an intense interest among members of this group to see the church re-position itself; to refocus on being a mission-driven church,” said Gerry Karst, a vice president of the Adventist Church worldwide. Karst added that, in the past, the church has sometimes spent too much time “massaging policy and overlooking mission.”
It is time to be “courageous and bold” and to engage in new thinking, Jan Paulsen, president of the Adventist world church, told the committee. He said the Adventist Church must develop a “culture of witness around the world” that encourages “participation by many.”
On the first day of its meeting, the Council focused on evangelism within secular cultures, approving a motion that called on members of the Council to begin developing new, creative proposals for evangelism among secular people.
“To the secular person, God and religion are irrelevant and, if thought of, are compartmentalized; totally separate from real life,” said Dr. Lester Wright while presenting his paper entitled “Reaching the Secular Person.” Wright, who oversees the provision of health care services within New York state correctional facilities, explained that while Adventism has focused on sharing propositional truth, the secular, or postmodern, person trusts experience more than rational arguments.
The secular worldview turns traditional ideas of evangelism upside down, said Council member Wayne Krause, a pastor from the Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia. “We need to learn to listen, rather than just tell; to first offer friendship, before offering answers,” he said.
Gabriel Maurer, ministerial association secretary for the Adventist Church in the Euro-Africa region, said that the impact of the secularism is widespread, presenting challenges for the Adventist Church in many areas of the world, including Western Europe, Australia, and North America.
The Council also voted to encourage young people to become more involved in mission outreach and to provide support for youth leadership and involvement at all church levels. Cesar Gonzalez, who works for the Youth department of the church in North America, said that young people reaching out to other young people represents the most effective form of evangelism among youth. “But this committee can’t vote faith, it can’t vote enthusiasm, and it can’t vote a sense of belonging,” he said. “These things have to be generated at the local church level. Hopefully what we’re accomplishing here will plant a seed.”
The Council voted to encourage the continued and expanded use of media and technology for evangelism, especially in large cities. But the Council also recognized that outreach is only effective when it involves active local churches, where members are committed to personal witness. “Evangelism is the responsibility of the rank and file of the church, not just the professional evangelists,” said G.T. Ng, secretary of the Adventist Church in the Southern Asia-Pacific region.
The Council recommended the establishment of a coordinating committee for the church’s mission in the 10/40 Window, an imaginary rectangle on the world map covering northern Africa, the Middle East and much of Asia, which encompasses the majority of the world’s non-Christian populations. “There is a realization that the challenge of the 10/40 Window is too big for divisions to go it alone,” said Karst.
Other actions taken by the Council included the endorsement of a digital video disk (DVD) evangelistic tool developed by the Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries, an organization of independent, supporting Adventist ministries. The DVD presents Adventist beliefs using pictures and graphics that have been adapted to the local culture in which the DVD is being used. It is intended for use by lay people, pastors, and evangelists internationally.
“The world is so diverse, and cultures and settings are so different, that no one approach to evangelism is going to fit everyone,” said Ted Wilson, a vice president of the Adventist Church and co-chair of the Council. Instead, different regions of the world church will need to adapt the ideas that are brought forward by the Council.
The next meeting of the Council on Evangelism and Witness is scheduled for September 17 and 18, 2001.
To hear an online interview with Ted Wilson, a vice president of the Adventist Church and co-chair of the Council on Evangelism and Witness, go to www.adventist.org.
