As Christians, our primary identifier should not be race, ethnicity, nationality or gender, said Dr. Leslie N. Leslie Pollard.
As Christians, our primary identifier should not be race, ethnicity, nationality or gender, said Dr. Leslie N. Leslie Pollard in his July 7 presentation at the Seventh-day Adventist church’s 58th General Conference Session in St. Louis, Missouri. With a global membership of 14.3 million members in 203 countries, the Church is undoubtedly diverse.
“The gospel never allows believers to organize their perspectives around any other center than Jesus Christ,” said Pollard, vice president for diversity at Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center. He spoke from a paper titled “Responsiveness to Diversity,” which encouraged leaders in the Adventist church to understand different cultures but not make it a central issue that separates.
This was the last presentation in a series of five profiling Adventist leadership. Pollard said the church serves a global audience and is subject to the command of reaching “every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.” In addition, he said, the church follows the example of Jesus Christ, whose ministry “reveals a cross-cultural trajectory.” As a result, it is the responsibility of the leadership to effectively deal with the issue of diversity.
Using the example of the Apostle Paul, Pollard maintained that as a Christian leader, personal diversity should no longer be the “defining reality of our existence.” He pointed out that “because existence is a gift…every endowment, including diversity, is a gift to be stewarded, not possessions to be worshipped or protected.” He equated focusing on these things to be synonymous with idolatry.
At the same time, however, Pollard recognized that church leadership must not forget aspects of identity that are diverse. He stated “Christian leaders see difference as opportunity.” The job of a Christian leader is not to “homogenize the human family by invalidating uniqueness. Instead, his suggestions for diversity competency include promoting awareness, providing diversity education, requiring accountability, diversifying, and mentoring across gender, racial, and cultural lines.
Difference and diversity should cease being a reason for separation, but instead, “should be invested in the purposes of God and must be used as a vehicle for God’s mission,” Pollard concluded.
Several delegates affirmed Pollard’s diversity concerns as valid, based on personal experience.
Neville Harcombe, from the Adventist church in North America, differentiated between membership and fellowship. “We restrict our membership to certain differences and diversities,” he said and used the examples of alcoholism and drug addiction. “Fellowship, however, is “open to all those differences…open to sinners of all diversities.”
Dr. Keith Mattingly of Andrews University pleaded with delegates to be sensitive to gender issues. He cited the example of female students called to the ministry who are frustrated because they “hear good words regarding their gender…but don’t experience these words put into action.”
Saintil Brice of the Inter-American region of the church finished the discussion by reminding the audience that the center of the church is Jesus Christ.
“The further we are from the center, the larger our differences. The closer we come to the center, the less are our differences,” he said.
