World Church: Paulsen Calls For Christ-Centered Attitude in Annual Council Sermon

October 7, 2006 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States …. [Mark A. Kellner/ANN]

“Who defines our attitudes? Clearly Jesus Christ alone does it — He who never sought favors and never became politically indebted to anyone! That is how it must be in our church.”

With those words, Pastor Jan Paulsen, world president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, challenged a global Sabbath congregation to model their attitudes and actions on those of Jesus, whose “attitude of service” is the central focus of Christianity, and whose life should be the primary motivation for believers.

His remarks were made on Saturday, October 7, during the world church's Annual Council, where close to 300 leaders from around the world are in attendance. The Hope Channel, the church's satellite television network, also broadcast the service internationally.

“It is important for you and me to remember that the church is not a domain to be controlled and ruled; it is a community which functions best when we are able to counsel together and defer to one another,” Paulsen said in his message, titled, “Service – An Attitude,” which drew on the message of the Apostle Paul in Romans 12, verses 9 through 21.

Paulsen, in his eighth year as president of the world church, began his message by noting the numerous “Let's Talk” televised conversations with teens, college students and young adults in the United States, Europe, South America, Australia and, most recently, Africa. He said that beyond messages about some lifestyle questions, the discussion becomes more substantive, and centers on both the church's role in the world and the access young people have to leadership roles.

“I feel while we will take seriously what youth say to us, we need to pay particular attention to what the young professionals are saying, for among them we should look for both today's and tomorrow's leaders,” he said.

“Over half of our global community is under thirty years of age, and they need to be heard and have an active presence in our church,” Paulsen said. “They have perspectives, they have hopes, they have dreams, and they have visions for the church which need to be considered seriously. If we don't, they will feel disenfranchised, as many of them already do.”

Paulsen said that at the top of the concerns of this rising generation, one centers on the vision the church has for the world around us.

“Does leadership nurture a church which is so focused on spirituality and eternity that they have no feelings in their hearts for what is happening to society today, except to condemn decaying morality,” he said. “Do they think about the environment; do they care about HIV [and] AIDS; and what about poverty? Do they understand what poverty really is?”

He said particular emphasis is placed on issues of poverty and how the church addresses these.

“They asked me in Africa a few weeks ago: 'Have you ever been to the home of a really poor family?' And they follow it up with a 'Why not,'” he said. “And they ask me: 'Does the message of Matthew 25 about Christ's presence in the poor, making the point that what you do to one of these you do to me, does it say anything to us as a church?'”

These members are also asking the church to recognize and celebrate cultural differences, the world church president reported.

“'Diversity' is a word we often use; it covers many things, and it is more than racial,” he said. “The Seventh-day Adventist Church must not only tolerate differences – and what they are talking about are differences which are not hostile to historic Adventism and historic Adventist values – we must also exercise discipline to accommodate them. The church must be good at affirming many kinds of differences.”

Paulsen said one duty of Adventists is not to make others into “cultural replicas” of themselves, but to “receive people you meet with kindness.”

He added, “It is a fact that while we, as a global and multi-cultural Seventh-day Adventist family, have the same spiritual DNA, we do not have to have the same 'fingerprints.'”

A third area Paulsen touched upon involved is the need for institutional and personal integrity within the church.

“The other big issue which young adults want to hear from us on is the matter of 'integrity'-of openness and honesty. And they remind me of the words of David in prayer just before he died when he said: “I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity,” Paulsen said, citing 1 Chronicles 29:17.

“Integrity, honesty, openness, which are so abused in the secular public service sector, are rated very highly by our youth as they look to leadership. As I suspect does the Lord, they don't expect you to be perfect, but they expect you to be honest. They don't expect you to have all the answers, but they expect you to have integrity,” he added.

While recognizing the contributions of those who are his peers in terms of age as well as those adults in “middle age,” Paulsen said the church must recognize the need to share responsibility with the coming generation.

“Ownership in the life and future of the church is shared. Only when we are able to communicate that as a genuinely held conviction or mind-set can we safely hand over to our youth the trust which we have been given, and know that they will faithfully care for it until our Lord returns,” He said.

The Sabbath activities at the world continued in the afternoon with a program focusing on mission activities. General business sessions for the Annual Council are expected to begin on Sunday morning, Oct. 8, 2006.