Should Some Things Change?

Increasing numbers of the members of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination are coming to understand the perils of our traditional governance structure.  The 19^th century model for managing our denomination has no chance of sustaining our global network. What got us to where we are today is not what will move us to where God intends for us to be in the future.  For too many decades we have treaded water with some kind of wishful thinking that everything will self sort because it is God’s work.

Our God is the creative God who has endowed his creation, humans, with the power to think and innovate, to will and to do. He not only equipped us with these gifts but he placed responsibility on us initially to have dominion and to rule. When here in person he commissioned us with a mandate that is a moral imperative to—go—make disciples—baptize them—and teach those disciples to observe all of what he commanded.

While obedience to this commission has been given voice, and even action in our denomination, today, in a 21^st century world, the system of governance meant to expedite the gospel commission is hampering mission fulfillment, and is at risk of killing it altogether.  The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s utilization of resources in today’s world is immoral if the gospel commission is a moral imperative.

The following data was gathered from the 2013 Annual Statistical Report, which was reporting the statistics as of Dec 31, 2011, prepared by General Conference Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research.  According to their global data there are 26,859 “Evangelistic and Pastoral Employees” and 27,788 “Administrative, Promotional, Office and Miscellaneous Employees”.   These are Full Time Equivalent employees. 

There is the ever continuing call from denominational leadership for greater financial faithfulness from the membership as the primary answer to church economics. There is no doubt that across our denomination members should continually be challenged to honor God with their money.  Also, there is little doubt that almost all of us could be more generous.

But with that said, a system that has a bureaucratic structure with these office to field ratios is not only unsustainable but should be unsustainable.  It would be unimaginable to visit any business anywhere in the world and have a manager standing behind every online worker.

A simple, and I realize it isn’t so simple, change of those ratios could serve as a means for becoming more faithful stewards of the resources we manage on God’s behalf.

Consider the possibilities based on the following assumptions:

• ·      An annual average cost of $50,000 per FTE
• ·      Office to field ratios shift from approximately 1:1 to 1:10
• ·      Give each office FTE 2 FTE assistants
• ·      New office to field is then  3:10

This would mean an annual savings of  $941,750,000.00!

If we only gave each office FTE 1 full time assistant the savings jump to  $1,090,950,000.00 in annual savings!!  Yes, that is one billion! And remember this isn’t a one time savings but an annual opportunity for reinvestment in fulfilling the Great Commission.

The amazing miracle of God’s blessing is that even with our current supervision ratios we are still managing to grow and somewhat maintain the denomination. But the clock is ticking!

May God inspire, give vision and courage that we might be faithful in making the tough decisions necessary now to be able to look back from a future vantage point and know that God’s work is stronger, healthier, and more just because we did the hard work necessary to be a God honoring Seventh-day Adventist Denomination.

Andy McDonald

Resisting New Ways

The Psalmist and Isaiah both recommend singing a new song to the Lord.  I know it isn’t profound, but by its very nature a new song isn’t an old song!

Now I’m not just talking about songs, but practices, procedures, worship practices, and really anything practiced in a 21^st century Christian’s life. We could adopt the idea that, if something is not prescribed in scripture, then it is taboo, but that pretty well throttles any “new song.” Or instead we might adopt a guide that says, “If scripture, in direct instruction, in principle, or by inference doesn’t prohibit a practice, then it is opened to be tried, safe with which to experiment.

Obviously, where scripture is clear in setting up a prescription for the Christian, we would want to follow it.  We can’t try stealing things in more subtle ways or “new ways,” because stealing is prohibited in all of its forms. 

But when it comes to church, the services, the types, the architecture, the location, the colors, the design, etc., so much of the Bible seems to be primarily descriptive more than prescriptive. I occasionally hear people wishing the church today would be more like the New Testament church in Acts.  I’m sure there is much to learn from that early church, but why do we read Acts and so easily assume the story to be prescriptive. We think we should all be like the church in the upper room, all in “one accord” and “sharing all things in common.” We love this description of the early church and think it should be like that today.  But we don’t think Jesus casting demons into the pigs is prescriptive for us, or that just because Paul didn’t die from the snake bite that we should be required to rummage through piles of fire wood, etc. 

The religious leaders were appalled as Jesus didn’t just do things in a new way, but in a way they thought went against scriptural prohibitions. We only need to read through the “Sabbath miracles” to see Jesus ignoring hundreds of years of Jewish teaching based on the “Law of God” as Jesus sings a new song. 

Paul pushes beyond most of our comfort levels but certainly seems to be open to some “new songs” when he writes:

“Everything is permissible—but not everything is beneficial.  Everything is permissible—but not everything is constructive.” 1 Corinthians 10:23 

Even in this very open way of thinking, there are parameters to give some guidance in that new songs (new practices) should at least be seeking to be beneficial and constructive.

In another section of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes about things which, while not prohibited, might not be wise to practice in certain groups.  While we might correctly know that an idol is nothing and, therefore, eating food offered to an idol is of no consequence, we might still refrain in deference to “the weaker brother.”   But remember the weaker brother Paul is writing about is the new believer who hasn’t matured in Christ.  We usually avoid “new songs” to not offend a long-time believer who still hasn’t matured.

I’m ready for change. Ready to “sing a new song” to the Lord.  Because I believe in the Almighty God of the universe, I don’t believe it is too late.  I believe God can inspire us and others to break free of the chains of tradition and offer our current culture, the world today, a new song.  We can learn to sing in a new cultural language. We can hold tightly the truth of God’s love and the story of salvation.  We can simultaneously find a voice, a language, practices, songs to sing that will communicate and demonstrate that love and story to today’s generation.

And God’s kingdom, one not locked in time and space, can find a fresh expression that is new in methods, looks, practices, and experiences, but simultaneously true in its representation of God and that honors all that has come before.

So I join with Martin Luther: “What is not against Scripture is for Scripture and Scripture for it.”

Andy McDonald

When Things Aren't "Right"

Our natural tendency is to want everything to go well. We all want a "and they all lived happily ever after" kind of life.  But it's not to be. At the worst, really bad stuff happens, and at the very least, not all our dreams come true.  How do you face difficulty?  When things go wrong, when bad stuff happens, how do you manage?

Part of the source of anger we feel when things go badly is that our agenda, our plan, our expectation was blocked.  We get married and have all these expectations of life, love and belonging.  Then there's the accident or disease or growing apart, and instead of all our visions of the future, the marriage ends and the anger we feel, at least in part, finds its source in our blocked agenda.  We sign up for a class we really want to take, and we believe that the class will enable us. We imagine painting masterpieces, or becoming a math wiz, a computer game designer, or a wise financial investor, but the teacher isn't very good or the class is at a very different level of expertise than we are.  Maybe we try some of the class ideas, and we just can't seem to master them.  Then we get mad because the agenda of our expectations is blocked. 

When life throws us a curve ball, how do we handle it?

One of the most insightful helps to handling the bad stuff or the good stuff gone bad is something I read about in Jim Collin's book, Good to Great.  He writes about an interview with Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was tortured over 20 times during his eight years in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp.  Jim asked him how he could deal with that incarceration not knowing how the story would end.  Stockdale said, "I never lost faith in the end of the story.  I never doubted, not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end an turn the experience into the defining event of my life which, in retrospect, I would not trade."

When Collins asked him who didn't make it out, I was surprised by the answer.  It was the optimists.  Stockdale said, "The optimists were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again.  And they died of a broken heart."

On page 86 in Good to Great, there is the Stockdale Paradox. On one side—Retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties . . . AND at the same time on the other side—Confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

As one of the farmyard animals in the movie Babe, said, "The way things are is the way things are." When our agendas get blocked—the simple agenda of being to work on time and there's a traffic jam, to our life agenda with a life partner and all that entails ending by the tragedy of death or divorce—how will we handle it?

Hopefully, we will move forward best with both faith and candor. Faith that we will prevail in the end regardless of current circumstances, and without illusion or fantasy, confronting the cold hard brutal facts of our current reality and not live in denial or dishonesty.

Shifting from our personal experience when things aren't right for us, what about where things aren't right in our world? Injustice is real. People get shot—with intention or by accident.  Forty-eight million Americans will experience inadequate food this year.  Young girls are stolen from their African village.  Rampaging extremists kill all the men in a town. Children are sold and enslaved.

With all the evil in the world, we might be tempted to say, "It will all work out," or we might simply be overwhelmed by the badness.

But an alternative in our own lives and in our culture could be to become people of faith who hold tenaciously to the hope that one day all will be set right (God wins) and who, in the mean time, acknowledge the hard cold brutal facts in order to push back and be instruments of peace and justice where things aren't right.  

So, to what place of paradox is God calling you?  Where are you uniquely equipped to hold prevailing faith in one hand and confrontation with reality in the other? 

Andy McDonald

The Non-Negotiable

A religion that changes our mind but leaves our hearts unaffected is worthless. Likewise, a faith, religion, or relationship with God that changes our hearts but leaves our minds flawed is to be expected.  

To have clarity of mind and a good understanding of sound doctrine is a great thing, but a heart changed by God is essential.  For that reason, we must allow liberty of thought while demanding a heart of love.

There is very little doctrine that is critical.  Love is non-negotiable.  

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. 4 Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head,5 Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, 6 Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 7 Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end. 8 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. 9 We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. 10 But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. 11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. 12 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

1 Corinthians 1:1-13, The Message

John Monday

Are You In My Group? by Chad Hess

John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” “Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.

     Mark 9:38-41

Sadly, after 2000 years, Jesus' disciples struggle with the same problem.  We get caught up on which group a person or ministry belongs to rather than working together toward our common goal.  A remarkably sad example of this happened a few weeks ago.

World Vision USA is one of the largest Christian humanitarian agencies that partners with many churches to provide meals and relief to children all over the world.  Recently, they announced that they would recognize employees in a committed, monogamous homosexual marriage.  In doing so, World Vision was not trying to take a stand on the issue of gay marriage. Rather, they were recognizing that different Christian churches have different views on the issue, and they wanted to be inclusive of all of them (the same way they do with the issue of divorce and other issues).  

The response from Christians was swift and overwhelmingly negative.  According to reports, 10,000 child sponsorships were dropped in response to the decision.  This led World Vision to reverse their decision and issue a public apology.  Ten thousand starving children were abandoned by their sponsors because World Vision was no longer "in their group."

Is it more important that someone is "in our group," or that they are working toward our same goal?  I think Jesus' answer in Mark 9 makes that clear.  So why do we struggle with this so much?  Why do we insist on "recreating the wheel" to duplicate the same ministry someone else is already doing?  Why do we put so much focus on having the same beliefs rather than the same goal?  As Andy McDonald so eloquently asked in last week's blog, why can't we be friends?

There are many reasons, I suppose, and each person's perspective is different.  For me, the shift happened when I stopped putting my religious identity in the set of beliefs I ascribed to and put my religious identity in my relationship with God.  My own beliefs have morphed over time, but that's okay because my beliefs don't define my relationship with God; they simply inform my understanding of who He is.  As with all relationships, my knowledge and understanding of the person will grow and develop.  If I can have flexibility of beliefs for myself, I can certainly extend that to those around me. How about, before we tell others to stop because they're not "in our group," we ask ourselves if they are, indeed, fellow followers of the Messiah.  Because, if we are all working toward the same goal, "I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded."

Chad Hess