Orlando, Florida, United States …. [Mark A. Kellner/ANN]
Continued growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is gaining the attention of the general public and political leaders on a movement once viewed as an “obscure little sect,” said Pastor Jan Paulsen, world church president, in a pair of addresses to delegates at the International Health Summit just concluded in Orlando, Florida in the United States. The North American and Inter-American regions of the church sponsored the seven-day event, Jan. 30 to Feb. 5, attended by 500 church leaders, church members and health specialists. [See ANN, Feb. 1, 2005.]
At the same time, Pastor Paulsen said, new believers in Africa and India need to be provided with an infrastructure that includes a church where they can find nurture and schools for the children of new members. These, he said, are essential to keeping members who would otherwise “be lost in 12 months after they are baptized.”
“Here we are, as a family of faith, living in the end time, with a very specific identity, a very specific profile,” Paulsen told delegates during the morning worship. “As we grow, people become increasingly aware of who we are. Fifty years ago, we were an obscure little sect.
Today, people by and large know Seventh-day Adventists well.”
That awareness in society brings rewards such as public esteem, he said. During a recent convocation in Villahermosa, capital of the Mexican state of Tabasco, an audience of perhaps as many as 10,000 worshippers attracted the attention of many neighbors, including the city’s mayor, who attended the entire service even though he is not an Adventist.
“He wanted to see the people, and he wanted to deliver a message, which he did very nicely,” Paulsen said.
That mayor, he added, recognized the impact Adventists can have in a community. “We are loyal citizens, we are creative members of the community, we are known for many things that we stand for,” Paulsen said.
The Adventist emphasis on health is not merely for members, he explained, but also “for the community.” The church’s long commitment to religious freedom, he noted, “is not just for ourselves, but is for everyone,” and is appreciated by the world at large.
Such visibility magnifies the scripture’s demand that Adventists “consider what kind of people you ought to be,” as reflected in the second of Peter’s epistles, or messages, to the church, Paulsen added.
“What is it that God expects of us today?” Paulsen asked, answering, “
… He speaks for Himself and He has spoken through His word.”
Referring to Peter, the Adventist leader exhorted his audience to be found in God as people “in peace, without spot, and blameless.”
He added that “your service as ministers of health care has an assignment that is specifically tied to the second coming of Christ,”
citing the counsel of Ellen G. White, a founder of the Adventist movement, who said “…our medical institutions are to stand as witnesses for God. These institutions will be a means of bringing a knowledge essential to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord.”
In afternoon remarks, Dr. Paulsen noted the wide reach of the church in Africa, in China and in India. In the last five years, membership in India has soared from 300,000 to 900,000, and could hit 1 million members by the June 29 opening of the 2005 quinquennial world church session in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States. He said that if sufficient resources of buildings and personnel were available, it’s possible that 8 million of India’s one billion population could affiliate with the church.
The summit’s theme was “Empowering Health Leaders to Reach the Unreached,” and brought together an array of experts and approaches to address the church’s ministry of health. The courses offered at the summit addressed healthy cuisine, emotional, mental, physical, spiritual and financial health. Instruction and certification was also offered on such topics as vegetarian cooking, forgiveness, regeneration, depression, coronary health improvement, as well as lifelong weight management, fitness training and other topics.
With this year’s theme to “reach the unreached,” church members and their faith communities can follow Jesus’ method of meeting community needs before being involved in other outreach activities, according to DeWitt Williams, director of the church’s North American Health Ministries department and coordinator of the event.
Copyright © 2005 by Adventist News Network.
