Looking back and moving forward

After reading a book by an American Episcopalian priest, who untiringly works for renewal in his church, I contacted him by email. Later, in our growing correspondence, I summarized the main challenges the Seventh-day Adventist Church is facing in Europe. His reply was telling: "Are you sure you are describing the Seventh-day Adventist Church? Have you not accidentally given a description of the Episcopalian Church in North America?"

Some time ago I attended a conference organized by the British arm of the American Willow Creek Association. While there, I talked at some length with an Anglican parish priest. Once again I was struck by the similarity between the issues in my church and the problems he faces in his. This became especially evident as we discussed his attempts to make his church relevant for those in his community. These are not the only experiences I have had along these lines. As I meet members of other denominations, clergy or laity, I hear an echo of that common concern: "Things are not well. Something must be done!"

A general unhappiness with the status quo

Many churches in the Western world are unhappy with the status quo. Some churches that used to have a dominant place in a given country or region are now reduced to a small portion of their former numerical strength and influence. They are now realizing that if they are going to continue to exist with any potency in the long term, they are going to have to become a different kind of church.

The passage from one millennium to the next has reinforced the feeling that the time has arrived for them to become more pro active. There must be change. Somehow more urgently than ever, many are sensing the need for the church to be revived, reborn, reinvented. We know that the time has come to be serious about it.

This sentiment is not confined to just a few denominations. It is found in evangelical churches and also in the Roman Catholic Church. It is also in the "established" Lutheran and Calvinist churches.

Just visit a good Christian bookstore and you will find books, written from all possible denominational perspectives, about the need for renewal and change! The authors may have very different backgrounds and religious affiliations, but their analysis of the malaise in Western Christianity is by and large the same. When dealing more specifically with their own churches, they paint a picture that is uncannily similar.

What of Seventh-day Adventists?

So, if Seventh-day Adventists in the Western world have an uneasy feeling about the future of their church, they are not alone. Other Christians around them have similar concerns. There may be times when Adventists are tempted to find solace in the fact that other denominations seem to be facing more serious problems than those faced in Adventist circles.

Worship attendance in Adventist churches is indeed better than in many other denominations, and the average per capita giving continues to be remarkably high. But looking at these indicators alone, is to overlook some serious trends that give every reason for concern. To take comfort from the fact that the situation for Adventists is less hopeless than for others, is similar to saying someone with asthma or rheumatism is healthy because they do not have a brain tumor!

Returning to the past?

What options do we have when the present situation leaves us disappointed, frustrated, or even afraid?

An option we often exercise is simply to look back. Viewed from the perspective of the present, the past seems idyllic. The past is "the good old days," when life was not as hectic as it is today. It was the time when the nuclear family was the building block of our society and of solid Christian family values. It was the time when a person could leave their back door unlocked without fear of a break-in, and when women did not have to hold on to their handbags as they must today. It was the time when people talked together, when fathers worked and mothers stayed at home to care for their families. . .

All that may have been true in the past. But the past was also something else. It was poverty. For many it meant a work week of 60 hours or more. In the past women were undervalued and underpaid (if paid at all), and when many gifted children never had a chance to get secondary education or to go on to university. It was also a time when vacations were something unknown to most people, and when cancer was nearly always fatal.

For some, the past may seem the golden age to which they wish they could return. However, I believe most people do not feel that way.

Back to the beginning?

As individuals have become nostalgic about the past, so have institutions churches being foremost among them. When things do not seem to go as they should and a change of direction is needed, it is tempting to simply refer to the past, trying to recreate it. Many reform advocates tell us "We must go back to apostolic Christianity" or "We must be more like the early church," as though this is all that's needed.

Several denominations in the United States owe their origin to this desire to return to a simple, primary sort of Christianity. Others point to the time of the church Reformers Luther, Calvin, and others, as the era that must be recreated. There are many voices within contemporary Seventh-day Adventism that call the Church back to the time of "the pioneers." They advocate a "historic Adventism" as the solution for all present spiritual woes.

There are, however, serious problems with this desire of Christians in general, and Adventists in particular, to simply return to the past. In the first place it should be noted, that the past may not have been as good as our selective memory or knowledge of history might suggest. The New Testament indeed pictures a dynamic church where the Spirit moved. But the New Testament epistles also show how human weakness (and worse) necessitated constant rebuke, and how the initial unity was always under serious threat. Of the seven churches in Asia Minor, to which John addressed his apocalypse, six were falling seriously short of divine expectations.

Any student of early Christian history knows that during the early centuries the church spread all over the ancient world, as people were propelled by an inner dynamic and were prepared to witness of their faith, whatever the cost. But he would also be aware of the heresies of Docetism and Gnosticism, of Arianism and Donatism. There was also constant, bitter conflict, the lust for power, and the tendency to compromise whenever that seemed politically expedient.

Reading a short history of the Reformation period should likewise suffice to convince anyone that the Reformers were far from perfect. Likewise, as Seventh-day Adventists take an honest look at the early years, they find much that encourages and inspires, but also much that was less than perfect. The "pioneers" of Adventism were predominantly young men and women, who had yet to mature in their theological thinking and in the skills of church administration. The story of dedication and self-sacrifice was often marred by incidents of self-serving and competitiveness.

The past has always been a mixed bag.

The past has passed

We must accept the simple truth that the past has gone. Even if we want to we can't, in fact, turn the clock back. Life has changed, along with all its circumstances. We our selves have changed. Those who want to call us back to the past must realize that in itself such a desire is futile.

And would we actually take the past back, if it were possible? Would we really want to relive the nineteenth century? Would we want to return to a period when many were not clear on such basics of Christianity as the Trinity and the full divinity of Christ? Would we be happy to freeze our theology in the writings of J. N. Andrews, Joseph Bates, and Uriah Smith, or even in Ellen White's Early Writings?

Most who defend "historic Adventism" in the way we are exposing it here, are avid readers of the books of Ellen White. In reading Mrs. White we cannot have missed her biting criticisms of early Adventism. Here are just two quite typical examples of her concerns:

"I am filled with sadness when I think of our condition as a people. The Lord has not closed heaven to us, but our own course of continual back sliding has separated us from God. Pride, covetousness, and love of the world have lived in the heart without fear of banishment or condemnation. Grievous and presumptuous sins have dwelt among us. And yet the general opinion is that the church is flourishing and that peace and spiritual prosperity are in all her borders."¹ "At times, when a small group of men entrusted with the general management of the work have, in the name of the General Conference, sought to carry out unwise plans and to restrict God's work, I have said that I could no longer regard the voice of the General Conference, represented by these few men, as the voice of God."²

Remembering the past

Making genuine progress forward is not accomplished by going back to the past. That is not to say, however, that we must discard the past. On the contrary, Seventh-day Adventists must always remember the underlying principle in the frequently quoted words: "In reviewing our past history, having traveled over every step of advance to our present standing, I can say, Praise God! As I see what the Lord has wrought, I am filled with astonishment, and with confidence in Christ as leader. We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history."³

Multiple biblical instances stress the need to remember the past. The past is a source of profound instruction and inspiration. Looking back makes us realize how far we have come, in spite of human frailties. Christianity has spread to practically all corners of the world, and through the centuries billions of men and women have found salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Adventists can look back in thankful amazement to witness how our movement has been so successful and has grown into a phenomenal worldwide church in just over 150 years.

Looking back is not enough. Traditions may lose their original meaning and cease to be living traditions. The past can become a reservation where people are kept away from contact with the real world; or art galleries where beautiful pictures hang but where those who stand and admire them are not expected to do any painting themselves.

One way: Forward

If the Church fails to connect with the present while it only stares back into the past, it has no future. Any church or movement that fails to adapt to a changing environment, ceases to be relevant to the present. Future generations of such an entity will soon be extinct or will at best just survive like the Amish or the Shakers in a quaint, museum-mode, operating at the fringes of society.

History provides us with too many examples of this for us to miss that point. A "historic Adventism" that is obsessed with the past, is a dead-end street. Some might say that putting it like this is misrepresenting the kind of "historic Adventism" that simply wants to make sure that the "pillars of truth" are not eroded and the doctrinal heritage is not squandered. There certainly is truth in that concern. But an uncritical embracing of the past as is unfortunately all too often the kind of past many are appealing to which is insufficiently open to the challenges of the present and the future, has major flaws and mortal dangers present within it.

If we are dissatisfied with the present and want to turn things around, there is only one way: Forward. Such a journey will be uncertain. We may have to send out advance parties to reconnoiter the terrain. They may at times have to wait until the next sea son before the church caravan is ready to move on. But in spite of all the challenges, when we undertake the onward journey of discovery as a pilgrimage of deep and true faith, ever mindful of our past and ever keeping the final destination in mind, we will know that God is verily with us, moving us forward.