Are We Nearing Scturctural Change? - Options for Structural Flexibility

Today we continue our look at the documents provided by the Commission on Ministries, Services, and Structures.

At that site we see a document entitled: Principles, Possibilities, and Limits of Flexibility in the Design of Seventh-day Adventist Organizational Structure. I would encourage anyone who is interested to read the document.

In it we see 5 patterns of organization proposed. The authors of the document seem to want to allow flexibility in the world church structure so that in any area we could select one or another of these patterns that may be more helpful than our current structure.

For those who do not know, the current strcuture that is followed by most of the world church is a local church level. A number of local churches make up a local conference. A number of local conferences make up a union conference. These unions are adminstered under the General Conference by Divisions. Each of these levels has roughly the same number of personnel. So the local church has a religous liberty leader and the local conference and further up the chain.

Our current structure is pattern 1. A slight modification of this is described as pattern 2. In this structure we would cut out the number of departmental directors. Here the local conference ant he union conference would not necessarily have overlapping jobs. For example, if there is a youth department leader in the union conference the local conference would not have a full time youth department leader.

In Pattern 3 there would be a more extensive staffing modification. Here at the local conference level you would have a president and a very limited staff. The Treasurer work would be handled by the union treasurer. The Nowegian Union and the Japan Union use this pattern today.

Pattern 4 unifies the local conference and union conference level into one level that is sometimes called a "Union of Churches." There are 6 of these unions of churches in the world church today. The authors of this document wish to see the union of churches model to be used more often in the world church.

Pattern 5 takes pattern 4 and creates district leaders who would supervise groups of local churches. A sixth alternative would be to combine various functions. An example of this might be the movement of religous liberty into a consolidated organization that many consituencies would use. A Seventh alternative would be to merge or reclassify organizations fo rthe express purpose of futhering ministry.

There are many options out there and we should consider them. It is my hope and prayer that the members of the local church will become aware of the things that are being discussed and will not be left in the dark. I thank the church for making these documents available for anyone to read. Now let us read them.

Are We Nearing an Adventist Structural Change?

Harold Lee has a vision of how the church will look in 2025. You can find that post at the AdventistReview site. All of this information available on the web makes me wonder if we are nearing a proposed major structural change in the Advnetist church.

In another article, Less gives several proposals for restructuring the Adventist church.

The first of Lee's proposals is the centralization of services. He notes that the technology that is available should reduce the amount of personnel needed for paperwork, accounting, and even mangement in our church. One wonders if much of the Secretary/Clerk work could be done by some excell macros.

Another proposal is the hiring of bi-vocational pastors. Lee notes that the Potomac Conference has 19 bi-vocational pastors right now. In this setup the church would give a stipend to a "part-time" pastor who would have other employment. My concern would be that we not expect that the bi-vocational pastor does as much as the full time pastors, but that concern does not do away with the validity of attempting such a change.

Lee also talks about creating resource centers. Becuase the internet has made it much easier to move information around, we can create websites and the like to help people with their problems. Instead of having a Stewardship director in every conference why not have a Stweardship resource center that would make pertinent information available on the topic to the world church?

Lee also speaks of networking ministries that are small and nimble that don't have the encumbering components of a larger organization. He notes that the church should prmote such endevors.

Interestingly Lee notes that the NAD in 1995 voted to request that the union and the conferences restructure and cut out departments to save money. One wonders if this happens as more and more personnel are being hired by some conferences to work in their office.

An important idea of Lee is metropolitan area collaboration. Why would you have 3 adventist churches in 1 city with 3 pitiful community service programs when you could unify them and create a larger better one. It would require working together across churches and accross conferences.

There are a few more interesting ideas like direct delivery training where we train people through the web an the like. To put it bluntly, we cannot continue to do what we did.

We will continue looking at these subjects on the blog so stay tuned...

Annual Council examines Church Structure

The church is considering "flexibility in the church denominational structure."

Specifically they are examining a concept called "Unions of Churches." According to the article these are “a united organized body of churches within a territory having similar status to a union conference or union mission and a direct relationship to the division.�

In short...no local conference between the church and the union level. Interestingly there are already six unions of churches in the world church. Interestingly one of those interviewed for the article stated that we may need more than one organizational pattern in the world church. Interestingly on the web you can find a 99 page document entitled, Union of Churches: An alternative organizational model for the Seventh-day Adventist church. Here is a link to that document and a few more documents on this subject. Let us pray for our church as it seeks to move forward into the realities of our contemporary situation.

Pie in the Sky or Present help

As the preacher, congregation, and the Spirit interact to create the preaching event the core beliefs of the Christian community are reaffirmed. The preacher presents a word that at times calls for radical confrontation with the powers of this world that are against God’s way. The preacher also presents a word that strengthens the resolve of an oppressed people reminding them that God is on their side and they can make it through. Thus the preacher is not speaking of “pie in the sky when you die� but empowerment in this world to take whatever the world gives and yet still work for God’s ideal on this earth keeping in mind that there is a judgement to which all must stand.

This perspective does not deny the future that God has promised. This perspective recognizes that the future promise is important to living today and it actually can guide us in present living. God's future is a great compass that provides us with guidance. To quote Kendra Heloviak:

* Because God's future will be an earth full of justice, worshippers seek justice now.
* Because God's future will bring peace on earth worshippers act for peace now.
* Because God's future will be an earth with plenty for all, worshippers act to end hunger now.
* Because God's future will be existence without tears, worshippers act to comfort and to heal now.
* Because God's future will be life without death, worshippers act to fight disease and death now.Peacemaking Remnant, pg 69

The preacher facilitates this understanding of making the future present in this world among the congregants.

Looking at the Sanctuary like a Black Preacher

The next time someone speaks about the Sanctuary or the Sanctuary message, before you think about mathmatical calculations, choreography, or architecture, just think about it being the place from which God sends help to God's people.

This full post is located on my blog. The Sanctuary is not primarily about math or celestial architecture. It is the base of God's operations on behalf of humanity.

A long while back I applied Henry Mitchell's Soul Theology to fundamental Adventist Doctrines and created a document. Here is a piece of that document, the only changes I make is to make it Gender Inclusive.

Sanctuary
This belief has some application to providence, justice, omniscience, grace of God, and perseverance of persons. Providence – Here the Sanctuary must be seen as the center of God’s work on behalf of humanity. In the Old Testament, the sanctuary was where God did God's work on behalf of man. God's justice and grace come from there. The Sanctuary is God’s place from where he takes care of business.

Justice – Good can only win in the end when justice is served. Justice is an important concept in African American thought as well as other oppressed peoples.

Grace of God – God’s grace can be seen in that the judge is your defender. Much can be made of God’s grace in allowing us to go to God. God’s grace can be seen, as the sanctuary is the center of God’s forgiveness. We know of the lamb and we know of forgiveness. Christ is a symbol of the High Priest on our side and the lamb on our side.

Finally Perseverance – One could emphasize Christ as your brother who came as we are so he knows what we are going through (Omniscience). Not just from his Godship, but also his experience. You can make it! In fact how can you not make it with the Father, Son, and his Holy Spirit working on your behalf from the Sanctuary above and on the earth beneath.

The Sanctuary message can be presented using doctrines that are already deeply held by most Christians and have helped Black folk make it through their problems.

Prophetic Voice or an Echo?

Preachers cannot fall into the trap of preaching only what people want to hear. We all have heard sermons and experienced worship that was not relevant to our situation. To counteract this we sometimes seek to ask the question what to people want. What questions do our people want addressed in a sermon. While such questions are valuable, they can never blunt the prophetic witness.

While we ask what the people want to hear or what the people want to have addressed, which are important and valuable questions, we also must ask what do the people NEED to hear? It is easy to get caught up into preaching things that will tickle the ears of congregants.

We should always remember that we don't always desire to hear what we need to hear most. The gospel always confronts the world we live in in creative ways that need to be explored by the preacher. There are some aspects of the gospel that are always fun to preach. There are aspects of the gospel that people want to hear all the time, but then there are aspects of the gospel that confront us and the world in uncomfortable ways. Let us preach the gospel and let it confront the world. Let us not just preach what sounds good and feels good to preach.

Is it possible to talk about the Sanctuary without 1844?

Yesterday I wrote a post that was still not able to be heard by many. Some saw it as an attack against the Sanctuary. Others saw it as a defense of the use of 1844 in ministry.

I think what is interesting is the inability to even conceive of a Sanctuary message without calculation of 1844. Can we discuss the implications of the sanctuary message without speaking of 1844? Can we speak of what the lamb of God means today? That is sanctuary imagery. Can we speak of what it means for Christ to be a high priest without even dealing with the Sanctuary? Some kind of way we must contemporize this symbol, can you do it without referring to the Sanctuary message of the Bible?

I am beginning to come to the conclusion that it is not possible to even say Sanctuary message without mathmatical calculations popping into our minds. Whatever ones view of the calculation of 1844, we must recognize that this is not the sum total of the Sancutary message.