Global View
Identity, TMI, and Christ’s Method Growing the church
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ome years ago Seventh-day Adventists were thrust into the spotlight when a prominent newspaper, USA Today, proclaimed Adventism to be “the fastest-growing Christian denomination in North America,” in an article titled, “Adventists’ Back-toBasics Faith Is Fastest Growing U.S. Church.”1 Comparing the growth rate of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to other denominations in the United States, the article suggested that our growth rate was owing, at least in part, to our distinctive beliefs. The author wrote: “With Saturday worship services and vegetarian lifestyles, Seventh-day Adventism owns a distinctive niche outside the Christian mainstream. But being different is turning out to be more of an asset than a liability.”2 At the time of publication (2011), the Adventist Church had 17 million members. Today we praise God for more than 21 million brothers and sisters around the world. Far from being just a statistic, the numbers represent precious souls who have given their hearts to Christ. And while we rejoice with many joining the church, we recognize that others are leaving. 18
May 2019 AdventistWorld.org
What contributes to church growth? How can we retain members? I suggest three factors for consideration. 1. Identity. The search for identity is real. The online genealogy industry has exploded into a multibillion-dollar business as millions of people pay to learn more about where they have come from and what clues the history of their ancestors might reveal. Even in cultures not as engrossed in online research, ancestry is important in determining one’s identity. For Seventh-day Adventists, our identity matters. Who we are, where we have come from, and why we exist are undeniable factors in determining our mission. Markus Kutzschbach, executive director of Adventist Heritage Ministry, wrote: “An understanding of our past—no matter if it is our own past or that of our ancestors—gives us a sense of identity. Understanding our past helps us to know who we are. If we do not know where we come from, how will we know where we are going? Understanding one’s identity is crucial for knowing one’s destiny. A sense of our identity gives us a sense of our future.”3
The Seventh-day Adventist Church was born out of a deep conviction that the Bible is God’s Word and can be trusted. Those who believed prophecy and pointed to the soon return of Christ were willing to be ridiculed by society and disfellowshipped by their churches rather than ignore the Bible. Even when Christ did not return on October 22, 1844, these faithful Bible students returned with faith and prayer to God’s Word. They soon came to realize that “cleanse the sanctuary” in Daniel 8:14 depicted a new phase of Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, of which the earthly sanctuary was a type. Encouraged, Adventists continued to study the Bible diligently and pray fervently that God would reveal His truth. Their prayers were answered, and by 1850 the foundational beliefs (or pillars) of what would become the Seventh-day Adventist Church were established. Ellen White describes these pillars as (1) Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary; (2) the three angels’ messages of Revelation 14 (including the gift of the Spirit of Prophecy and the Second Coming); (3) the seventh-day Sabbath; (4) the non-immortality of the soul.4 Image: Remi Walle
