Young adults and women are needed in the life and ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, said Pastor Jan Paulsen, world church president, during the fifth global “Let’s Talk” telecast, which originated from Sydney on Sept. 5, adding the words “South Pacific” to the program title. Andrew Robartson hosted the broadcast, which aired via the Hope Channel, the church’s worldwide satellite TV service.

“We need women in ministry, and we are using women globally by the hundreds in ministry,” Pastor Paulsen said. “We have just elected a woman as a vice president of the [world church] for the first time in our history.”

To young adults—who were the in-studio audience and dialogue participants—the world church leader said their participation was vital.

“I don’t know where we are going for the future, unless you and those around you, the young professionals, the next generation of the leaders of the church, also in fact become members of the present generation of leadership,” he declared.

“We ... need to open up the committee structure [so] that those who are young are full members of the Executive Committee,” he added, noting that this was being done in the world church’s leadership council as well as that of the South Pacific church region.

Pastor Paulsen told church pastors they need to incorporate youth leadership in congregations: “We owe it to Christ and we owe it to the church to release the energies and the hearts and minds of those who are committed, committed to Christ, who also want to be active in the life of the church.”

The comments came in the course of a continuing dialogue between Pastor Paulsen, world church president since 1999, and the church’s youth and young adults. Earlier “Let’s Talk” programs have been set in the United States and Germany, with an impromptu session taped at the 58th General Conference Session, the church’s quinquennial business meeting, in St. Louis, Missouri, which featured young adults from around the world.

The Sydney program centered on a conversation with young professionals, and was more of a give-and-take between participants and Pastor Paulsen, with questions and responses moving between each side. Earlier broadcasts were in more of a one-question/one-answer format.

A question about the kinds of music used in worship services elicited a thoughtful response from Pastor Paulsen. “It’s very, very cultural. I think we have to recognize that there is no simple answer to it,” he added. “There is, I think, some music that doesn’t belong in worship life, I don’t care where you are.”

But, he continued, “those of us who are accustomed to the very, very classical music, we also have to recognize that there are a large number of our members, particularly the younger generation, who are able to, in a very meaningful and a devout manner, express worship and witness through a music which is more modern. In Melbourne this past week when we attended a session, the music that I heard was to a large extent, very, very beautiful, yet it had a modern touch to it.”

Asked whether he, on a personal basis, agrees with playing drums in church, Pastor Paulsen said yes, “where that is acceptable.”

Along with music, Pastor Paulsen spoke to the issue of what is the “core” of being an Adventist.

“That has to do with what you believe and the values that you have incorporated into your life. In these areas, are you called Adventist? It’s your identity—what do I believe, and the list is quite substantial and specific: ‘This is what I believe,’” he said.

Pastor Paulsen continued, “What are the values that you hold? You know, what do I say ‘yes’ to, and what do I say ‘no’ to? And therein are displayed the qualities of life which are peculiar to Adventists. ... I suppose also in a sense, music is also filtered into that.”

In a first for a “Let’s Talk” broadcast, Pastor Paulsen’s wife, Kari, answered questions and spoke with participants. Asked about her view of life as the spouse of a world church leader, she said theirs was a united ministry.

“Whatever Jan does, that’s also what I’m doing, especially when you’re a minister, then the wife is just a part of it,” Mrs. Paulsen said. “When you are a [world church] president, one doesn’t really know what it is like until one is in it. It’s all-absorbing, all-consuming, and [there is] very little private life, and unless one has a good relationship where one can understand each other, support each other and really feel for the same thing, it’s not going to work. So I think it’s probably more important for somebody in his position to have somebody who is there.”

How does she respond to criticisms of her husband?

“None of us like to be criticized, but I think you have to remember that that goes with the turf, and everything is relative, and you just say to yourself this is part of the same thing and you have to take the good with the bad,” Mrs. Paulsen said.

She does not, however, regret that her husband is the church leader, despite his being on the road as much as half the year: “When we felt called to the ministry, it was both of us. And in all of the positions that Jan has had, we felt that the Lord led in that, so who am I then to say ‘no, I wish he wouldn’t be doing that?’”

Pastor Paulsen again encouraged young adults in the church to become actively involved in their congregations.

“Don’t be content with being observers,” he said. “Don’t be there, but not actively involved. Just think of all the energies that you represent, and the gift of the Spirit you have. It is meant to be released in the life of the church, it is meant to be used for Christ.”

A continuation of the exchange of ideas can be made through the Let’s Talk Web site, www.letstalk.adventist.org. Future programs in the series are scheduled to originate from Africa and South America, church officials said.