Inter Church Relations

[Gregory Matthews]

The following link takes you to an important article on relationships between the SDA Church and other denominations.

https://spectrummagazine.org/views/eight-models-to-help-adventism-get-over-its-ecumenism-aversion/

For additional material on this subject, see the following book:

https://www.amazon.ca/Adventist-Interchurch-Relations-Study-Ecumenics/dp/3847114638

 

 

[Kevin H]

This is so sad. When I was in academy and college we would have ministers from other churches come and tell us what they believed. Also, some of our college classes required us to visit different churches.

Mrs. White went from being a shut door Adventist, so becoming a very popular preacher in non-Adventist churches including Sunday morning sermons. And she did not spend all those Sundays preaching on the mark of the beast. Her sermons were on how much God loved them and about the health message. While she worked for the church, she also worked in encouraging people to accept Jesus but not necessarily leading them into the Seventh-day Adventist church. She especially did this when she was in Australia. When living in Elms Haven she use to take food out to the migrant workers and tell them how much Jesus loved them and encouraged a relationship with Jesus; despite the fact that for most of them the idea of having a relationship with Jesus would be that they attended church, the Catholic church.

I see two issues that have been causing us the most trouble. First, as some of my professors used to say “Seventh-day Adventists have a neurotic need to prove to the world that we are good Baptists.” and as we have this mind set, we tend to go to a narrow understanding of inspiration. We come across our early views and early statements by Mrs. White, and see them as the final word that has come directly from God’s throne that we are simply to obey and our minds are too narrow to see how she was willing to grow.

Second, in soul winning we end up with multiple personality disorder: on the one hand stand up and encourage liberty of conscience and freedom of religion, and to respect where people are and encourage more growth. Traditionally the military and hospitals have preferred Seventh-day Adventist chaplains as we are willing to be more flexible than many others when it comes to ministering to the diversity of beliefs. Until the 1930s, or missionaries in Europe would offer the European Jewish Communities a Jewish version of Adventism. On the other hand, church leadership wants us to win tithe payers, baptize as much as we can, get as many members as we can. “Finishing the work means to reject any thing liberal and give as many Bible Studies/Evangelic meetings as possible” [we want to follow that important verse that once the Great Controversy is placed in every home, then shall the end come.] and in trying to pressure converts and to try to pressure them to stay with us, we forget all able Mrs. White’s personal example, and all about our views on religious liberty.

[Gregory Matthews]

As a congregational pastor in the Potomac Conference, I would visit other Sunday-keeping congregations because I wanted to become better acquainted with the local pastors and their worship.   On an occasional basis that resulted in my being asked to preach to their congregation on Sunday, and I would respond by asking their pastor to preach in my congregation on Saturday.

NOTE:  As an Army Chaplain, I have been asked to preach to a local Sunday congregation and in my sermon to explain to that congregation what SDAs believed and practiced.