“It’s not easy to be a young person in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but let me tell you, it’s not easy to be old, either,” said Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the world church, in a live Aug. 21 telecast beamed to members around the globe.

But, he added, “The church is a family. We’re not a society—we are a community, a family, we are linked to each other, [and] we belong to each other.” Dr. Paulsen, a 45-year veteran of Adventist ministry, said his vision was for young people of the church to remember their status as “co-owners” of the church and to reach out in their communities to spread the gospel message.

The global broadcast, “Let’s Talk,” was aimed at connecting young people in the Adventist Church—who comprise, Paulsen said, perhaps 50 percent of the 20 million attending weekly worship services (including 13 million baptized members)—with their leadership. Some 50 young people were in the studio audience at the Adventist Media Center in Simi Valley, and questions were submitted via the Internet from around the world. John Torres, a corrrespondent for the weekly “Adventist NewsLine” television program, was the show’s host.

Distributed globally via satellite, the program was broadcast by the Adventist Television Network and was seen around the world, including a major youth congress who watched the live event from the Caribbean island of Barbados.

According to Baraka Muganda, world youth ministry director for the Adventist Church, who was in Barbados for the youth event, 500 delegates and leaders were assembled for the satellite broadcast, and they cheered when Paulsen expressed greetings to those participants.

“The questions that were asked are ones that these youth struggle with,” Muganda said. “They appreciated seeing the world president taking of his time to talk with them. One young person said, ‘Now I know that my church means what it says about the youth of this church.’”

Noting that many of his colleagues in ministry are chronologically removed from their teens and early 20s, Paulsen told viewers he wanted to hear from others in the church’s membership.

“The huge bulk of our church is young people, and as you know, Christianity began with young people. And so, I thought ... ‘why not find an occasion to meet some of the Adventist youth ... and let me learn what they feel strongly for, what are the burdens on their heart,’” he said

Those burdens include things which are normative for teens and young adults—issues of conduct, responsibility, sex, dating and marriage—but also include questions about strengthening their spiritual lives, understanding the standards of behavior the church promotes, and making the hope found in Adventist Christianity attractive to others. Questions were also raised about music styles within the church, as well as on understanding the role of Ellen G. White, one of the pioneering founders of the church.

On the question of sex, along with affirming Bible teachings, Paulsen encouraged his audience to think in terms of lifestyles and goals.

“In addition to spelling out a standard of what is right and what is wrong, one also has to say to one’s self, ‘What is good for me as a person? What hurts me? How can I build my life for the future?’ ... These decisions are difficult. But as long as you are clear in your own mind that you want to build a clear, strong, positive life, you will make your choices with that in mind.”

Acknowledging that the lifestyle advocated by Adventists has its own demands, Paulsen said these elements are often cherished by members in the church.

“There are a lot of very specifics inside the Seventh-day Adventist lifestyle, life value and concepts of what you should and should not do. And that is why I suppose it seems to come through very specifically in regards to issues of conduct as the young people experience them,” he told a questioner. “However, may I also say this—although our communication may not always be very good, [there has to be] the love and understanding, the acceptance, which have got to be there for the church to grow and to be a family.”

In response to a question on styles of music, the world church leader disclosed that a new position paper would be forthcoming later this autumn.

“Over the last year and one-half, we’ve been working on a statement that can be distributed that can reflect both the principles of what should define good music, particularly in worship, and what Ellen White may have to say, and what the Bible says,” Paulsen said.

“Every year the church leaders meet in Annual Council,” he added, saying that at the October event “The document will be presented, published very soon and within a matter of months, it will be in your hands.”

Paulsen said there is a major point to bear in mind when evaluating musical matters: “We’ve got to remember that people are being saved for the kingdom. Christ is in the business of saving people. He is not going to present musical score sheets. Whatever we do with this, we’ve got to relate to one another in the way Jesus would… [and] create in that person a desire for a life in Christ.”

The world church president also responded to a question about the role of Adventist church pioneer Ellen G. White and her writings.

“Ellen White many, many times described herself as a ‘lesser light’ to lead us to the greater light, being the Bible,” he said. “She saw herself very clearly not as a substitute for the Bible, and her writings are not to be understood as something which you read instead of the Bible. If anything, when you read her writings, you are drawn to the Bible.

“I think the greatest appeal, the greatest attraction to the writings of Ellen White is simply to read them,” he added. “There is a wonderful wealth of warmth and spirituality and a lifting up of Christ in it, which you read it and you feel fed, you feel, ‘yes, this speaks to me in my life and in my situation.’”

Young people who participated in the program had favorable reactions to the dialogue session.

“I’ve worked with the kids of our church and they have the same questions,” said Crystal Marquez from the Temple City Seventh-day Adventist Church in Temple City, Calif. “I think it’s a good opportunity, it gives people a wider aspect, a wider view of what’s out there, what are the concerns. I think sometimes we think that we’re the only ones that have those questions, and when we look around there’s other people that have the same ones as [we do].”

Jared Chapman, who attends the Maranatha Seventh-day Adventist Church in Los Angeles, said that having the program was a good idea.

“We had pretty good questions, a lot of feedback and a lot of information,” Chapman said. Dr. Paulsen, he added, “had answers that were straight to the point. It was a good group interaction with the youth. He is a friendly guy, and from what he said, he’s a good person.”

Concluding the broadcast, Paulsen issued a challenge to young people: “Go back to your churches and be assertive in your church. You are an owner of the church, so please be assertive about who you are in the church. You have a role—play it,” he said.