Whether obtaining it from Adventist or non-Adventist institutions, pastors’ education impacts their lives and ministry. It also influences how they value and support Adventist education, which they can do through either explicit or implicit support (or lack thereof). The quality of organizations, including church organizations, can be influenced by education as well. Therefore, our Adventist pastors’ access to, and support for, Adventist education is important.
What is the Adventist pastors’ level of education? How well educated are they? What have been their personal experiences with Adventist education? What are the Adventist pastors’ perceptions about the role that teachers in Adventist schools play in ministry? Answers to these questions and more can be found in the 2023 General Conference Global Adventist Pastors’ Survey (GAPS),1 in which 12,760 Adventist pastors from all 13 divisions and two attached unions participated. They represented 44 percent of Adventist pastors worldwide.
Table 1. Adventist Pastors’ highest level of education
Primary school |
0.7% |
High school |
4.9% |
Trade certificate/license |
2.1% |
Associate’s degree |
5.1% |
Bachelor’s degree |
48.2% |
Master’s degree |
35.1% |
DMin/DMiss |
2.6% |
PhD/ThD |
1.3% |
The importance of Adventist education
According to the General Conference director of education, Lisa Beardsley-Hardy, (1) “Adventist education builds a strong church,” (2) “Adventist education is highly regarded among non-Adventists who have experienced it,” (3) “Adventist education needs Adventist dedicated teachers, or it’s no longer Adventist,” and (4) “Adventists working or studying at non-Adventist institutions must live their faith where they are.”2
Adventist education, then, is important not just for the students’ mental development but also for their spiritual, physical, social, and emotional development. It also plays an important role in the mission of the church.
The challenges
However important Adventist education is to the church, the challenges are many. As of 2023, the worldwide Adventist education system had 2,330,104 students in just 10,381 Adventist schools.3 We do not have enough schools to meet the current need. Additionally, increasing enrollment in some Adventist schools continues to be a challenge.4 Secularization is another challenge Adventist schools are facing.5
Also, of the 121,623 teachers in Adventist educational institutions, 37,477 were not Adventist in 2023.6 This means that 30.8 percent, or three in ten teachers, were non-Adventist. Furthermore, according to the 2020 director of education, Larry Blackmer, in the North American Division, as high as 70 percent of Adventist children were not attending Adventist schools. We continue to see Adventist youth leaving both the church and Adventist schools.7
As of 2023, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was running 100,760 churches and 97,811 companies, totaling 198,571 Adventist congregations. At the same time, the church had 17,041 ordained ministers engaged in pastoral ministry, both full-time and part-time.8 This means, on average, each ordained pastor was leading a dozen congregations, quite a monumental task. To make matters more challenging, the need for more pastors cannot be met due to the limited number of Adventist colleges and universities worldwide and fewer young people choosing to study theology. Pastors and church leaders cannot ignore this complex challenge if we hope for a sustainable church.
What this problem means
Due to the dearth of pastors, many evangelists with no or only limited theological training are hired, which can lead to erroneous doctrine being taught to new believers. Furthermore, pastors who cannot geographically or financially access Adventist graduate education end up completing their theology master’s or doctorates in non-Adventist universities, which can, and has, brought non-Adventist doctrines into the church.
Table 2. Adventist Pastors’ highest level of education
0 year | 1-2 years | 3-4 years | 5-7 years | 8+ years | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Primary |
66.8% |
5.1% |
6.5% |
11.0% |
10.6% |
Secondary |
66.5% |
6.0% |
13.7% |
9.4% |
4.4% |
Tertiary |
10.3% |
5.3% |
39.0% |
30.9% |
14.5% |
Therefore, the foundation of Adventist education for pastors and church members cannot be overemphasized. If properly planned and delivered according to the Adventist philosophy, Adventist education equips students to serve effectively in this world and the world to come. It ideally helps restore the lost image of God in human beings. Pastors with limited experience and understanding of Adventist education can hurt the church. People who spend many years attending Adventist schools tend to do well academically and remain Adventist church members.9 Furthermore, Ellen G. White made it clear early on that the main goal of the church and Adventist education is to help restore the lost image of God in human beings and reconnect people to Jesus Christ, our Savior.10
Impact of Adventist education on mission
Major findings
Pastors play an important role in Adventist Education.11 The 2023 global survey, translated into about 30 languages, helped the church assess how pastors understand the role and effectiveness of Adventist education. This study also assessed the academic achievement of Adventist pastors globally:
Almost half of our pastors (48.2 percent) hold a bachelor’s degree, while more than a third of pastors (35.1 percent) hold a master’s degree. Only 7.7 percent of our pastors have no college or university degree. This is quite encouraging: most of our pastors are well educated. Expectedly, a low percentage of our pastors (3.9 percent) hold doctoral degrees.
The survey revealed that a significant number of our pastors did not attend Adventist primary schools (66.9 percent) or Adventist secondary schools (66.5 percent). This is concerning because elementary and high school are where the foundation of children’s education is built. It is possible that many of these pastors did not attend Adventist elementary or high schools because they did not have access to one near them, they could not afford it, or they were converted as adults. However, the results shed light on the need to support Adventist education so that more affordable and accessible schools can be available.
At the tertiary level, 39 percent spent three to four years in Adventist institutions, while 30.9 percent had five to seven years in Adventist institutions. Furthermore, 14.5 percent spent eight years or more in Adventist institutions. By combining these three categories, we conclude that the majority of our pastors (84.4 percent) completed their tertiary education in the Adventist education system. This is wonderful news for the ministry, although increasing this percentage close to 100 percent should be the goal.
Pastors were asked how much impact they believe teachers in Adventist schools have on the mission of the church. The answers can influence the level of support that pastors provide to Adventist schools.
The study revealed that 60.1 percent of pastors considered the church mission contribution of teachers in Adventist education significant, 28.9 percent considered it fairly important, and 8.8 percent considered it minor. In contrast, only 2.2 percent thought that teachers in Adventist schools do not contribute to the church’s mission. In general, most Adventist pastors recognize the contribution of teachers in Adventist education to the mission of the church (89 percent); that is, 9 in every 10 pastors believe in the teachers’ contribution to the church’s mission. We can deduce that 9 out of 10 pastors actually believe in Adventist education as an important contributor to the mission of the church. This, too, is encouraging.
Practical recommendations
From the findings of this survey, we make the following practical recommendations so that the partnership between Adventist educators, education leaders, and pastors can continue to be strengthened.
Based on the level of education:
- A minimum requirement for academic training must be set for a pastor.
- Because the percentage of pastors with a bachelor’s degree is close to the percentage of master’s degree holders, more and more pastors should be encouraged to pursue their master’s degrees in order to deepen their knowledge and expertise.
- Tertiary education for pastors must prioritize theological training more than any other academic pursuit, in order to help ensure that pastors are prepared to nurture their church members spiritually.
Based on the number of years pastors spend in Adventist schools:
- The church must continue to devise plans to increase the number of sponsored theology students.
- The church must find ways to employ all qualified theology graduates in order to help ensure that pastoral work is manageable, efficient, and effective. It is unfortunate when there are many unemployed theology graduates in some countries, especially when employed pastors in ministry are overloaded.
- Adventist colleges and universities that do not offer theological training need to start to make theological training more accessible in most regions around the world.
Based on the pastors’ belief in the impact of Adventist education on mission:
- Pastors must continue supporting Adventist education through verbal promotion and by integrating Adventist education or Adventist schools in the local church’s strategic planning.
- In divisions where the local conference or union does not assume the teachers’ salary, church leaders should work on changing this practice to improve Adventist teachers’ quality of life.
- Promoting Adventist education must be the goal of every Adventist institution, which is why they should hire only Adventist teachers who are firm Adventist believers and active members of the church.
Growth and sustainability
The commitment and involvement of pastors in Adventist education is crucial for the growth and sustainability of the church. Adventist education must, therefore, be promoted and supported in four different ways: promoting Adventist education verbally, supporting it strategically and financially through budgetary allocations, sponsoring current and prospective pastors in Adventist education, and equipping educators with the proper training and resources to deliver quality Adventist education.
