Trinidad: Seventh-day Adventist address top church leaders during Facing the Issues program
June 11, 2009 – Port of Spain, Trinidad…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
Seventh-day Adventists representing more than 500,000 church members throughout Belize, the Caribbean and the West Indies voiced their concerns and posed questions to Inter-America's Seventh-day Adventist Church President Israel Leito during a special June 6 live program called Facing the Issues. The program, which took place at the University of Southern Caribbean in Port of Spain, Trinidad, was the fourth in this series of unedited and unscripted conversations between top church leaders and a select panel of church members. The panel represented the English speaking regions of Inter-America.
More than 800 were in attendance during the two-and-a-half-hour program, along with hundreds of online viewers. In addition, Inter-American Division's (IAD) website received a record 111,369 hits during the webcast. Because of this, church leaders are convinced that the membership cares strongly about the outcome of these meetings.
“This program is a modern way of surveying by using a focus group and from what you get from that group you generalize the general population,” said Pastor Leito at the start of the program. “It's scientifically done expecting to get questions and reactions from them [focus group] in order for us to learn things we can work on.”
Accompanying the Adventist president during the program were top administrators and departmental leaders from the IAD.
“I don't pretend to have all the answers,” said Pastor Leito to the group. “If your question is such that a departmental director can answer, they will come forward.”
The 17-member panel comprised of children, young people and adults asked their own questions on issues about church planning, youth initiatives, health, Christian education, growth consolidation and social issues.
The first question, asked by Joan Wint from the Central Jamaica Conference, dealt with the large percentage of members in the church who are not actively participating in church programs.
“One of the problems is that they [inactive members] see the church as a place to go to, but not something that belongs to them and we have to help it push forward,” replied Pastor Leito. “We are endeavoring to…create this awareness among church members that this is their church and it will be successful to the degree of their participation.”
Many questions dealt with initiatives available to the youth and their leadership development, as well as challenges the youth face in and outside of the church.
“Is there a youth development strategy that includes the empowering of young people fully participating in policy making decisions?” asked Andrew Francis from Kingston, Jamaica.
Pastor Leito responded that the Division has included youth representatives at its executive committee meetings every year for the last four years, where young people have had the opportunity to observe, comment and vote on issues affecting the church.
“Our job is to provide an environment for our young people to be involved in church administration to help in planning,” Pastor Leito said. “We want young people to feel that this is their church and this is the message we preach hoping that it trickles down so that when it comes to the local congregations the youth are not set aside and they can be an integral part of the church.” In addition, church leaders mentioned the youth program Life Management-a developing youth leadership program available throughout the church in Inter-America.
Curtis Henry from Guyana brought up a concern with the dropping of moral standards in our society today and the need to uphold a certain level of morality in the end times.
“How do we deal with it [keeping standards] without chasing the youth out of the church, without chasing new converts…we need a manual, that will help deal with this problem dropping moralities and raising moralities,”
In response, Pastor Leito commented that “some of our standards are very unattractive to a world out there. At issue is that our young people have to live with those circumstances. We don't want the church to lower its standards to attract others. Rather, we must learn to understand them,” he added. “Can we modernize in order to attract young people more?” Pastor Leito asked rhetorically. “We can make services more attractive.”
Another concern was voiced by Kevron Reid from the Cayman Islands on the connection between the older and younger generations within the church.
A suggestion was brought up to top leaders to develop a youth exchange program that could move young people from throughout the English, Spanish and French territories of the church in Inter-America.
“I have heard preachers say that children are the future leaders of our church but seldom do we get to participate [in church] like once a year during a children's program. What can we do to improve the situation,” asked 12-year old Abilio Cima, Jr., from Belize.
“We must be willing to let the children and young people participate not only once a year,” said Pastor Leito. “Please church, this is a cry from our young people in our division, open the church for participation and don't be afraid, let them participate and they'll grow in the church.”
A young girl from southern Trinidad asked if there were “new methods to reach our peers who may be going through their own challenges.”
“It is a major issue when young people are going through traumatic times,” answered Pastor Leito. “The church needs to reach out and understand young people. We have many programs but no program specifically to address this [pre-teen] group.” Pastor Leito said it was something church leaders would look in to.
The church's roll in environmental conservation was brought up by Arlette St. Ville of St. Lucia.
“Are there any plans to create awareness in the environment as far as the Division is concerned?” she asked
“The church is very much concerned about the environment,” answered Pastor Leito.
“We are not activists, but wherever we are, we encourage people to be environmentally oriented as we have always been. In our stewardship teaching it talks about environmental issues as part of being good stewards.”
Other questions dealt with making Christian education more affordable, initiatives to promote health and wellness, literacy programs, and how initiatives and programs in the church are being evaluated, among others.
Additional questions submitted online and by telephone ranged from sexual abuse to dancing.
One segment of the program saw Pastor Leito posing questions to the panel members. Audience members were also given the opportunity to ask questions of church leaders on the last segment.
Among the issues Pastor Leito addressed to the panel was the dwindling attendance at Wednesday night prayer meetings.
“What can we do to help your local congregation to help you come to prayer meetings?” he asked.
Another question dealt with what leaders at the Division do to help church members to be happy Christians. In addition, Pastor Leito asked the panel what the church could do to foster more marriages among the young people of the church.
Panelists offered several suggestions to Pastor Leito and church leaders.
For Andrew Francis of the Advent Fellowship in Kingston Jamaica, participating in the program was a great experience.
“This program was quite impressive because it captures the views and expressions of the membership of the church which is something that doesn't happen very regular at this divisional level,” he said. Francis, who is pursuing a master's degree in communication for social behavior, said that there is still a need for further dialogue – not only for purposes of broadcast but for continuous dialogue at the local church level.
Arlette St. Ville of St. Lucia, who is pursuing a master's degree in natural resource management and teaches at the University of Southern Caribbean via satellite, agreed that the dialogue program was beneficial.
“I think the process is good when we get into a place when we all sit and talk about the issues in front of everyone,” said St. Ville, who believes the church should do more about creating environmental awareness.
“I see the administrators reaching out to become relevant to the church and an inter-generational representation was a good move,” said Joan Wint of Jamaica. She added that the this type of dialogue “is something that should be done throughout all levels of the church because we run the risk of not meeting the needs of the people we serve.”
Learning the needs of the church was the main objective of Facing the Issues, said Balvin Braham, creator of the program and assistant to Pastor Leito.
“When you are doing a program, it is important for you to be able to assess what you're doing and what those whom you serve say,” said Pastor Braham. “This program serves as a kind of empowerment for both the workers and the laity because the higher organization is listening to them.”
“What this program is doing for us as leaders of the Inter-American Division is helping to evaluate our own actions and programs with a view to take in corrective actions where necessary,” added Braham. It is the type of open dialogue that top leaders are hoping to see at union conference and local church level, he said.
To view the Facing the Issues Trinidad program on-demand, go to http://facingtheissues.interamerica.org
The next unscripted Facing the Issues dialogue will take place in Martinique where the French Antilles region will be represented on June 27, 2009. The dialogue program will be webcast in French and English.
For more information on previous Facing the Issues dialogue, go to
