Articles by Willmore D. Eva

By the time you read this editorial, I will have, a month or more ago, left the editorship of Ministry, having returned to pastoral work and my new assignment as associate pastor of the Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Maryland, U.S.A.

Most people would agree that good leadership is something like a brass ensemble gathered on the stage of life, playing beautiful music. Each instrument represents a feature or quality of leadership that stands out at one moment, and blends in with other instruments at another. Together they create a captivating harmony that moves the audience into a constructive common experience.

Through the preaching of Frank Gonzalez, at a recent General Conference week of prayer, the Spirit touched our souls, mine included This is not something that happens automatically, of course, especially among groups of people who have been hearing so much from so many for so long!

Humility and honesty go hand in hand. These traits endear us to people, build trust between us, and let them know that we can relate with them in their struggles, fears, and doubts.

In a compelling course taught by Gottfried Oosterwal at Andrews University in the late 1960s, we were required to read a potent little volume by Hendrik Kraemer titled, Why Christianity of All Religions? As I look back, those 125 pages of wisdom and insight qualify as among the most influential in my life.

The truth is that many contemporary religious thinkers, perhaps without actually meaning to, end up attempting to establish the existence and creatorship of God through a means that has its place, but is not exclusive of divine revelation.

The world is reshaping—constantly. This has become an unrelenting reality for most of us.

There are times for every minister when nothing seems to be going as it should.

Some time ago I took a long automobile trip alone. Knowing that such journeys call for hours in which the only thing to do is listen to whatever radio programming might happen to come in and out of range, I decided to expand my listening options and take along an assortment of musical CDs featuring some of the romantic classics of times gone by.

A new generation from diverse backgrounds and complex situations challenges the church's traditional way of preaching.

The song is controversial, but it is in Christian hymnals across the land, especially those more "traditional" in their content. It's controversial, but the orthodox sing it anyway, often; especially in its U.S. homeland.

It is one thing for us to debate how parishioners should be treated when they are in violation of what is accepted as normative by the community of believers. We rightfully up the ante, however, when the offenders are clergy, and when their behavior violates the standards not only of the church, but also of the surrounding secular society, and borders on or actually constitutes an illegal act.

Among people in the Western cultures of our world and elsewhere, it is painful for us to acknowledge that Christianity has unnecessarily lost alarming proportions of its credibility. And we know that Adventist ministers are by no means untouched by this trend.

What's been happening during the last few years that Christian ministers have become as involved as we have in sexual wrongdoing? Is it just that a less deferential culture has emerged leading to an unprecedented exposure of behaviors that have been going on among us all along? Or has there in fact been a rise in our involvement in such things?

With all we have to say about the "ideal" pastor, why do we say so little about Jesus as the unsurpassable declaration of that ideal?

Most of us have had the experience of repeatedly wrestling with the biblical covenant theme and still being left with an itch that recurrently rouses our need to scratch for further clarity and a deeper understanding of this great theme.

Like many who've been in ministry since the 1960s, I find myself repeating what I've heard similar aged colleagues say: that ministry these days is simply quite different from what it was three or four decades ago.

The traditional emphasis upon the doctrinal uniqueness of each Christian denomination has waned and given way to an opposite trend: the pressure to de-emphasize theological and behavioral denominational distinctives. This bent is not merely the product of recent ecumenical ambitions, but also part of a powerful cluster of largely unrelated social trends.

Is there anything more distressing to a pastor's soul than to be overwhelmed by a sense of having lost hold of the hand of God? Perhaps there is, when it appears that no matter what you do, your reaching fingers can't seem to find God's hand again, and it feels as though they never will.

No matter the activity, if it's worth doing it's always worth the time and energy it takes to make sure we're operating according to that which is basic to it. Whether such an appraisal of the basics has to do with our marriage, our health, our automobile's maintenance, or our preaching, it's always worth being sure that we're still genuinely in touch with the fundamentals.

There's a telling story of the day John Wesley walked through London's fish market with a young fellow aspiring to be a minister. When Wesley's friend winced at the crass language of the market and plainly wanted to flee the place, Wesley said, "Stay Sammy, and learn to preach!"

Along with Christians since the first century, Seventh-day Adventists have had their struggles with the question of what kind of nature |esus took when He, "the Word," became "flesh" (John 1:14). Our question has been, To what extent and in which ways did Jesus possess a sinful human nature versus a sinless divine nature, and how do these two natures meet in Him and relate to human salvation?

Since the moment it drew its first breath, the Christian Church has been challenged, and its way of life shaped by the climactic mandate of Jesus, "Go and make disciples" . . . not proselytes or even converts, but disciples (Matt 28:19).

Hunters and farmers embracing? What in the world? Educational psychologist Thorn Hartmann has done some controversial work on "attention deficit disorder," or ADD. Instead of viewing this mental learning mode as a deficit or disorder, he views it as simply being a different learning pat tern. He compares ADD and "normal" learning patterns to the underlying way in which a hunter approaches life and learning, versus the way a farmer does.

There's room for us all . . ." When applied to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is that assertion too inclusive, too unsuspecting of the subtleties of "creeping compromise"? Or does it voice a legitimate call for respect and interpersonal forbearance?

Modernism" and "postmodernism" are notoriously difficult to define, so here's a long standing "parable" that helps to express some of what they embody.

It seems to me that God is more rigorous and even, at times, severe, in His dealings with us than we would like to admit or accept. What is even more disturbing to us is that God appears to us to be much less consistent and much more mystifying than we would like to acknowledge.

2003 is a milestone year of celebration for Ministry magazine. Seventy-five years ago this month Ministry's first issue was dispatched to approximately 1,200 Seventh-day Adventist ministers in North America.

It's Sabbath morning; you're ten minutes into your sermon.

For the last 25 years or so, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been tussling over "righteousness by faith."

The other day I was confronted by a provocative thought.

It's out of fashion these days to talk about "conscience," at least in its traditional role as an authoritative inner moral voice. At one time, the voice of conscience was virtually equated with the voice of God.

Let's be honest: the behavior behind the latest clergy sex abuse scandals are not limited to just one denomination.

I was in the United Kingdom in March 2002, when the Queen Mother died at 101.

There are two and a half times as many clergy of other denominations receiving Ministry as there are Seventh-day Adventists

Agatha was a ten-year-old girl attending a Seventh-day Adventist elementary school when she went on an all-day class trip.

There is a strong element of mystery in love. And in hate.

Most Western Christians find it difficult to see the present conflict between America and her allies and certain radical religious fundamentalist groups as a religious war.

Sometimes I just want to go back to the bush! By "the bush" I mean the wilderness of Africa, where I was born.

There's a strange, almost collective reserve among Christians ("conservatives" especially) when it comes to championing the health of God's creation, particularly that of earth itself and its collective environment.

Whatever you do," said Ralph Waldo Emerson, "you need courage.

We all remember the childish chant, "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me!

The Bible opens with a dramatic portrayal of direct communication between God and humanity.

"What causes fights and quarrels among you?"

Calling or career? Prophet or professional? Priest or pundit? Conviction or compliance? Bottom line, why are we ministers?

Viewpoint articles are designed to stimulate thought and do not necessarily reflect the position of our editorial staff or of Ministry." This statement has appeared on the title page of Viewpoint articles, which are published intermittently in Ministry. Such a declaration may appear to be a mere disclaimer, when in fact it is an honest expression of the nature of certain opinions that appear in Ministry and how they relate to what the magazine and the Seventh-day Adventist Church in fact stands for.

New plans for Ministry are on the production line and beyond. The first and most obvious innovation is a new look for the magazine, inaugurated in this issue.

Some insight into who we are as Adventists and a greater awareness of what has gone into making us the people we have become

An interview discussing the state of religion's freedom in the world today and its possible implications

Is your faith really worth dying for?

Was Ellen White a Theologian?

It was a stimulating privilege to sit with colleagues in Toronto working through proposed changes to the Church Manual when it comes to how members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church should be cared for when they divorce and remarry.

Ellen White has a way of expressing profound realities with such a quality of simplicity that her insights tend to be concealed from over-intellectualized minds.

A look at the blessed hope we have in in the soon coming Jesus Christ

These days more than ever, it seems that the problems confronting us as leaders are increasingly complex and difficult to preside over. This is especially so when it comes to the interpersonal tensions that develop among people in general and that have their distinctive ways of playing themselves out in our churches.

Why exactly do we have a magazine such as Ministry?

We have finally come to that point in time which for decades we thought of as a distant mystical location in our future: the year 2000.

We spend huge proportions of our emotional and spiritual capital on casuistic theological and behavioral fiddling, while the world suffers and dies around us.

Some of the most difficult times are the divorce situations that come to virtually every congregation.

The continuity of the seventh-day in the light of Christ (Part 2)

What's the significance of the sabbath day anyway?

I was surprised to hear such a confession from him, because he is too obviously productive and positive a person for anyone to suspect that such turmoil could twist about within him.

The way Jesus handled His world is as always archtypical for leaders everywhere.

In the discomfiture and chagrin that have battered our own church community in recent years and months, what is God trying to say and do in His church?

An important overview of the theme and structure of this special issue of Ministry

Structural design, doctrine, and demographics are three important aspects that have preoccupied our thinking as a church.

Ministry is looking for articles written by pastors and other readers in countries outside the North American continent.

How are you feeling about your ministry?

These days, theology is done in the church on a number of fronts.

One of the most crippling incapacities to strike the leader of any group or organization is the loss of a clear sense of vision.

The importance of pastoral care

Every preacher covets it. It is what people in the pew look for in their pastor when he or she preaches.

By far the two issues that have stirred up the most debate have been the ordination of women and alternative worship styles, or more precisely, music in worship.

The Word of God is the worthy place of primacy in our life and preaching.

To be disillusioned is a positive experience. It is! Although the experience is usually seen as a negative one, nobody would claim that living under an illusion is beneficial.

The pastoral role, especially in certain settings, vies with the most demanding professions of earth.

Christ can work through anyone who is willing to step out for Him

A look back into the magazine's history

Does Ministry represent the official voice of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

In the fireplace of life, Robert Spangler was pure cedar.

It is a common human longing in all of us to be part of an elite group, one of the truly initiated, one of those who really "know."

In this issue of Ministry we concentrate on some of the common and the less common fears and maladies we face within ourselves and among ourselves as ministers.

This issue seeks to validate the connection between God's original creative act and the seventh-day Sabbath.

Making sense of the bewildering and sometimes cataclysmic twists and turns that can so suddenly assault the underpinnings of gives essential meaning to our lives.

There is no movement immune to the effects of an aging sense of vision

How worthy would the Adventist faith be if its ultimate credibility depended on the proper expression of a controverted aspect of its tradition?

The Lord God is your hiding place! Jesus will not allow the evil one to destroy the good work He has begun in you.

What is the significance of the relationship between music and worship?

A suggested evaluative support plan for pastors

Have you thought seriously about writing for Ministry?

Ministry Magazine's role in a multicultural ministry

Last July, along with thousands of others, I attended the Fifty-sixth General Conference session in Utrecht, Netherlands.

How to start evangelism from the ground up

Facing dissonance

We preachers are constrained to be relevant as we open the Bible to God's people.