President Paulson's Comments To Oakwood Students Options

[Guest_Tiombe_*]

The Oakwood students wanted to discuss the issues of unity which seems to be a hot topic that just can't die down. Mr. Paulson, president of SDA World Church responded - I wanted to know your thoughts and the thoughts of prominent black leaders. EE Cleveland for example, had something negative to say about black women - but what has he said about Mr. Paulson's comments? I Found Mr. Paulson's' comments - some of them quite troubling and unfortunate. Have any of our black leaders had the courage to comment openly about his statements? Here is the article below.




United States: Paulsen, at Oakwood College, Stresses Unity, Preparation


March 15, 2006 Huntsville, Alabama, United States .... [Taashi Rowe/ANN]

Jan Paulsen, president of the Adventist world church discusses several current issues with young members of the church in Huntsville Alabama.









It's a conversation you'd have with friends, family, peers -- and perhaps a very open and understanding pastor. Christians talk about gender and racial discrimination, how to deal with homosexuality and premarital sex, poverty and the pervasive influence of secular society on the church among themselves all the time.

On March 15, however, some 35 young people tackled a few of these hot button issues and more in a live broadcast with Pastor Jan Paulsen, the world president for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. Aired on the Hope Channel, the world church's satellite television network, the "Let's Talk: Oakwood" event continued a series of unscripted conversations between the Adventist leader and young church members.

The very first question dealt with improving unity in the church. If the church is supposed to reflect Christ then why is it so divided? Is Christ divided? one young man asked.

"Is Christ divided?" Paulsen echoed, responding immediately with a "No! [As a global] church there are differences, there will always be differences in culture and appearance ... you are black and I'm white ... God has loved all of his created world and has one plan for our futures."

"The church is a global community and the world church has no program to do away with diversity of people," Paulsen continued. "We have to discover that unity transcends diversity and can hold together and bring us all into one."

The issue seemed to be particularly pressing on the heart and minds of this group of young people. Another student said it appears that the church is supporting institutionalized racism by supporting racially segregated church structures.

Paulsen admitted that segregation in the church does exist in many parts of the world. "In South Africa for example years ago during the time of apartheid everything was segregated and this was reflected also in the church administration. This was not good because God did not create segregation and as a church we should not go on carrying them. Our churches in South Africa are now meeting and discussing a merged organization for the church rather than a divided one."

He added that in North America there are local church administrative structures that serve specifically black congregations. "There was a good reason why they were established," he said. "I carry no agenda to ... change it. But I would say to my African American brothers and sisters, maybe you want to change it. I think African American members should evaluate [this] and tell me how you feel about it."

Throughout the conversation Paulsen, however, encouraged students as members of the church to not be exclusive of others based on how they looked, where they were from, what kind of music they liked or their sexual orientation.

"God loves everyone," he said in response to a question on homosexuality. "God wants to save every human being. As a church remember we should not be so selective that we exclude categories of people as ... the church will be an instrument to spread the gospel of salvation to everyone."

The diversity the church contains was evident in the makeup of the Let's Talk group: participants hailed from all over the United States, Canada, Belize, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Zimbabwe.

One young man was especially concerned that the church's diverse membership was not being reflected in the leaders at the church's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.

"The church has rapidly grown especially in Latin America and Africa," the man pointed out, "yet maybe only 20 percent of that is reflected at the world headquarters level."

"There are changes happening," Paulsen assured the young listeners. "Where there is rapid growth doesn't mean rapid development of leadership. All three [world regions] in Africa are in the hands of Africans and a number of individuals are coming to [the church's world headquarters]. Where we have rapid growth we also have a demand for these leaders to stay there and look after the church."

Paulsen often stated that many issues raised in the church should be addressed in the local congregations and are in the hands of individual members.

One young man asked what plan the church had for the difficult times that the Bible describes will happen right before Jesus Christ returns.

"Preparing for [this time] is a matter of your spirituality and mine. Yes pastors must prepare their congregations," he said "it is one thing to increase the awareness but how do you deal with personal spirituality when you know that these are serious times in which we are living? It is an individual matter. We cannot blame the pastor."

One student noted that the church seems to have moved away from its original goal of mission as it has grown bigger to about 25 million including adults and children.

Despite the church's growth, Paulsen said the church "has not lost its focus on mission. We began as a church focused on mission and remain focused on mission because we believe the church exists primarily to serve those who are not members. This drives our thinking and planning."

The conversation ended with the young people stating they wished the church would provide more resources for pastors, for members' emotional well-being, do more to help the poor and stay true to its biblical beliefs.

Despite the variety of questions Paulsen encouraged young people to become more spiritually grounded and to do so through service to their own church. Something that should be particularly relevant to a school community whose motto is: enter in to learn, leave to serve.

"Please look after your spiritual life," Paulsen concluded, "Nobody else is going to do it for you. Secondly become involved, become active in the church; the [Holy] Spirit gives you power, let Him use you."

Paulsen said he continues to do the broadcasts because points of views on some subjects differ from culture to culture.

Recent broadcasts of Let's Talk took place in Australia, Germany and the United States. Continuing internationally, Paulsen will travel to Brazil in April and to Cameroon and Uganda in August for similar televised conversations with the church's youth. Along with the broadcasts, Paulsen's office has set up a Let's Talk Web site. Young people can e-mail their questions directly to the Office of the President and receive answers from church leaders at www.letstalk.adventist.org.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[simplysaved]

, again!!!!

Which concerns are the most pressing to you?

[Guest_Tiombe_*]

, again!!!!

Which concerns are the most pressing to you?

Thank you for the welcome simply saved. It is troubling I believe that Mr. Paulson's only reference to disunity in the North American Division - is some illusion to African-Americans where he asks us to maybe reevaluate black conferances. He seems to be conveniently blaming the victims. My response to this particular statement is what I read at Adventist Today at http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:vSiWpA...us&ct=clnk&cd=1



which reads:
"
Whenever African-Americans discuss the need for their own conference, white members respond, "Why do you want to separate?" suggesting that the African-American community is pulling away from white members who vigorously seek integration. The reality is that it is the white community that pulls away from minorities in general, and African-Americans specifically. "White flight" describes the movement of white people when confronted by integration. When African-Americans move in, white people move out. There is no significant data to suggest the opposite. Of suburban whites, 86 percent live in communities that are less than 1 percent African-American, according to Cornel West in Race Matters. The maximum out-movement of whites takes place when the percentage of minorities reaches 20 to 25 percent, reports Robert Wegman.

White people, not African-Americans, have been the separatists in our society and our church. They are the ones who move out of churches when blacks move in, or direct them to the "black church" when black people visit their congregations. White people move their children from our schools when too many "black children" enroll. There is no significant movement among the white masses to integrate with African-Americans. There are those exceptions who join and/or remain members of predominantly African-American churches; however, they are not the rule.

African-Americans have always been the ones to initiate racial integration. It is dishonest and insulting to suggest that our desire for self-determination is an attempt on our part to separate from white people. Lawrence Lucas says, "Black people are not leaving the church. "

He also makes the comment about Africans having enough work to do in their own conferances - which is true - but then he goes on to say that maybe they should stay there rather than wanting to be in Silver Spring in the top leadership positions - this statement is troubling and seems to reek of double standards. How would it sound if a African person who was in Charge of a world Church body, told European members of the Church that they need not aspire to the top leadership positions of the world wide church, but should just stay in Europe and lead their own conferances?

[simplysaved]

This may be a case of not understanding because it does not directly impact him (i.e. he is not Black)....I also agree with your points as well as what you quoted him as saying regarding Balck conferences.....They DO want us to merge--they just want to "be in charge"....That is the REAL problem IMO.

For example, our previous president (at a Town Hall meeting) talked about why there should be caution when we think about "coming together"--very candidly. He told us that it is because of the "historically Black Conferences" that African-Americans are afforded the opportunity to serve within the local conferences hierarchy; this would be significantly reduced if there were a merging...

Thank you for the welcome simply saved. It is troubling I believe that Mr. Paulson's only reference to disunity in the North American Division - is some illusion to African-Americans where he asks us to maybe reevaluate black conferances. He seems to be conveniently blaming the victims. My response to this particular statement is what I read at Adventist Today at http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:vSiWpA...us&ct=clnk&cd=1
which reads:
"
Whenever African-Americans discuss the need for their own conference, white members respond, "Why do you want to separate?" suggesting that the African-American community is pulling away from white members who vigorously seek integration. The reality is that it is the white community that pulls away from minorities in general, and African-Americans specifically. "White flight" describes the movement of white people when confronted by integration. When African-Americans move in, white people move out. There is no significant data to suggest the opposite. Of suburban whites, 86 percent live in communities that are less than 1 percent African-American, according to Cornel West in Race Matters. The maximum out-movement of whites takes place when the percentage of minorities reaches 20 to 25 percent, reports Robert Wegman.

White people, not African-Americans, have been the separatists in our society and our church. They are the ones who move out of churches when blacks move in, or direct them to the "black church" when black people visit their congregations. White people move their children from our schools when too many "black children" enroll. There is no significant movement among the white masses to integrate with African-Americans. There are those exceptions who join and/or remain members of predominantly African-American churches; however, they are not the rule.

African-Americans have always been the ones to initiate racial integration. It is dishonest and insulting to suggest that our desire for self-determination is an attempt on our part to separate from white people. Lawrence Lucas says, "Black people are not leaving the church. "

He also makes the comment about Africans having enough work to do in their own conferances - which is true - but then he goes on to say that maybe they should stay there rather than wanting to be in Silver Spring in the top leadership positions - this statement is troubling and seems to reek of double standards. How would it sound if a African person who was in Charge of a world Church body, told European members of the Church that they need not aspire to the top leadership positions of the world wide church, but should just stay in Europe and lead their own conferances?

[PrincessDrRe]

I'mma come back on dis one heyah laters....

[Denny]

The Adventist Today article makes a convincing argument is there anyone on here who would be affected by this? PrincessDi is this your area?

[Prisca]

We have high expectations of our leaders. We are looking for the most perfect person in the whole world to have been chosen as our leader. Consider his background. He has to overcome or deal with his own European ideas on things. He has his own spiritual spin on 'what is and what should be'. In addition to being a pastor, he is also a politician and is trying to very carefully please everyone, teach some and rebuke others alll without hurting anyone. It's a tough call.

Priscilla

[Ephphatha]

I gotta say that I really didn't have a lot of problem with what he was quoted as saying in the opening of the thread. He didn't say anything untrue. He places a lot of emphasis on the individual not allowing a lot of blame to be placed on the church. This in fact is a very christ-like attitude. Christ did not come blaming the church for not preparing the people for him. He was concerned about the individual touching one life at a time. The church is just a large group of individuals who are supposed to be working together in one accord. Each individual is responsible for their own salvation and their own integrity.

In reference to the separation of races in the church, it is a common view among african americans that more effective evangelism is done when someone of like culture is witnessing to like culture. In my conference, for example, since its beginning under a white conference grew from 1 to 789 members in a 5 year period. After being formed into a regional conference and headed by african american leaders in the same period it grew from 789 to over 2 thousand and now serves over 10 thousand members and counting. There are issues that are pro and con for both circumstances there are also success stories for both circumstances.

In reference to the article about white flight. It seemed to have statistics taken from the country in general in terms of black people moving into the area and whites moving out, rather than a study taken inside the church. In more ways then one the Adventist church has not reflected the country's statistical results. One example (though seemingly outdated) is that for a time the divorce rate inside the church was very small compared to almost over 50 percent in the general population. We have to take that into consideration and not automatically apply world based statistics to church based situations.

Concerning missions, the adventist church is one of the fastest growing christian movements in the world. That tells me something. The fact that well over half of that growth is out side of north america also tells me something. It tells me that elsewhere, people are not concerned about the color of our leaders, but rather how our leaders are leading. God is not a respecter of persons and if this is his church he's going to watch over it. Sure politics and the devil are going to get involved if we let them, but our trust should be in God that our concerns will be addressed and taken care of rather than on GC, because He is above GC.

Lastly, IMHO, we as black people like to group white people into one big group, no matter what their heritage. Not every "white" group of people have oppressed the black man. When I was at the General Conference Session this past year in St. Louis and the officers were announced with their spouses I was impressed. I saw a vast variety of ethinic groups represented in our leadership. There were irish, hispanic, english, french, african, american, and many other ethnicities represented in our leadership. Black folk are not the only people in the world who have every suffered grevious harm and horrid enslavement either in their homeland or stolen away from their homeland. They are not the only ones who have been denied equal rights in their land of birth. There are other races out there besides our selves and again in my opinion they are all represented very effectively in the leadership at GC.

[Prisca]

[quote name='Ephphatha' date='Mar 26 2006, 09:27 PM' post='123395']

In reference to the article about white flight. It seemed to have statistics taken from the country in general in terms of black people moving into the area and whites moving out, rather than a study taken inside the church. In more ways then one the Adventist church has not reflected the country's statistical results. One example (though seemingly outdated) is that for a time the divorce rate inside the church was very small compared to almost over 50 percent in the general population. We have to take that into consideration and not automatically apply world based statistics to church based situations.

Having seen 'white flight' up close and personal I can't deny that it is a phenomenon. My question is...why? Is it racial or cultural , as in worship styles, leadership styles, etc.

Priscilla

[Guest_Tiombe_*]

I gotta say that I really didn't have a lot of problem with what he was quoted as saying in the opening of the thread. He didn't say anything untrue. He places a lot of emphasis on the individual not allowing a lot of blame to be placed on the church. This in fact is a very christ-like attitude. Christ did not come blaming the church for not preparing the people for him. He was concerned about the individual touching one life at a time. The church is just a large group of individuals who are supposed to be working together in one accord. Each individual is responsible for their own salvation and their own integrity.

In reference to the separation of races in the church, it is a common view among african americans that more effective evangelism is done when someone of like culture is witnessing to like culture. In my conference, for example, since its beginning under a white conference grew from 1 to 789 members in a 5 year period. After being formed into a regional conference and headed by african american leaders in the same period it grew from 789 to over 2 thousand and now serves over 10 thousand members and counting. There are issues that are pro and con for both circumstances there are also success stories for both circumstances.

In reference to the article about white flight. It seemed to have statistics taken from the country in general in terms of black people moving into the area and whites moving out, rather than a study taken inside the church. In more ways then one the Adventist church has not reflected the country's statistical results. One example (though seemingly outdated) is that for a time the divorce rate inside the church was very small compared to almost over 50 percent in the general population. We have to take that into consideration and not automatically apply world based statistics to church based situations.

Concerning missions, the adventist church is one of the fastest growing christian movements in the world. That tells me something. The fact that well over half of that growth is out side of north america also tells me something. It tells me that elsewhere, people are not concerned about the color of our leaders, but rather how our leaders are leading. God is not a respecter of persons and if this is his church he's going to watch over it. Sure politics and the devil are going to get involved if we let them, but our trust should be in God that our concerns will be addressed and taken care of rather than on GC, because He is above GC.

Lastly, IMHO, we as black people like to group white people into one big group, no matter what their heritage. Not every "white" group of people have oppressed the black man. When I was at the General Conference Session this past year in St. Louis and the officers were announced with their spouses I was impressed. I saw a vast variety of ethinic groups represented in our leadership. There were irish, hispanic, english, french, african, american, and many other ethnicities represented in our leadership. Black folk are not the only people in the world who have every suffered grevious harm and horrid enslavement either in their homeland or stolen away from their homeland. They are not the only ones who have been denied equal rights in their land of birth. There are other races out there besides our selves and again in my opinion they are all represented very effectively in the leadership at GC.

In response to your comments - I think some ofthe people abroad you are referring to - who you applaud for supposedly looking beyond color of skin in terms of who leads them - I disagree.

I think many people abraod don't have a problem with always being led by whites and being dependent on whites whereas African-Americans do - it is somewhat understandable given that African-Americans are a minority and have experienced racism up and close. I think these same people abroad would have a problem being led by a non-white person, however. For example, if they were led by an African-American, some of them from some regions of the world would question his/her competence, simply because he is not white, but African-American. I think people are very sensitive to race - as sensitive as you allege African-Americans are. I encourage you to read this article by Mr Ncube - it is at - http://www.spectrummagazine.org/spectrum/a.../index20-4.html. In this article, he even recognizes that the SDA Church in many countries abroad, is overly dependent on the North American Section of the Church - however, this dependence does not seem to be a problem for the vast majority, but is what is sought. Also, some of these people abroad look down on African-Americans and look up to whites, so they don't have a problem being in a position, where whites have the hegemonic power. In many other countries, the people there have not had the same experiences with discrimination as people here and they have stated so. It seems to me that Mr. Paulson is defending a point of view where blacks are excluded from leadership positions of the Church.

I have witnessed white flight up and close and personal in the Church as well, and there as even a nonblack pastor who noted it - the past 2 adventist churches I've been to, - well the current one is now currently all black because of white flight - it used to be a white church - and the first one - the Pastor has said that whites are leaving the church because the image of the church - that is being put off is that it is oriented to blacks rather than to eurocentric worshiip.

I agree with Mr. Nixon - that the SDA Church does not want African-Americans or court them - especially the creme of the crop - and this is the reason why the church is growing faster elsewhere faster than in these communities. The church sends its missionaries overseas to these far flung places, rather than to communities in the US where you find black people - maybe it is because as before.

The Adventist church as does other denominations has alot of conservatives in it. However, I've noticed that the eurocentric conservatism of this church as is found in other churches could be the type of conservatism that sides with the merging of church and state and which leads to Sunday laws etc.

Did you notice the number of people who wrote in to the Adventist Review at http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php...970256f0658db1f,
who criticized the Mr. Steed, the author of that article entitled "Court Intrique", who was talkaing about how the Supreme Court Justices' conservatism was going to be a factor in ultimately leading to a merging of church and state, etc.?

These letters to the editor disagreed with the writer and estolled many of these conservative "christians" as their "christian" brothers and sisters, even though these conservatives are going to be an element in driving this country to the religious repression that our movement of the SDA is so fameous for fortelling.

It seems as if in your comments you are somewhat critical of Blacks, and easy on the whites here.

SDA is a conservative movement, however, I think the conservatism of many of its whites is deleterious in it's unchristianlikeness towards black people and will also prove to be an element in terms of moving this country towards merging of chruch and state and the Sunday laws, etc. The Question is - how many whites will cling to the conservatism of these conservative Supreme Court Justices - because much of this conservatism is antiblack - rather than realizing that this is the same conservatism that will lead to the oppression of those who want to celebrate the sabbath.

I predict that a significant number of Whites in the SDA church - those whom we thought were on the Side of God - will cling to this conservatism in the end - that leads to religious oppression, and I think that we will find - that many of these African-Americans that some are wont to scandalize as not looking beyond "color" - will prove to be God's Sheep in "other folds" who've been true christians all along - whom he will call out of these other churches into recognition of the sabbath. I believe that many of white Adventists support conservatives and those conservative justices on the Supreme Court, because this conservatism is anti-black.

This post has been edited by Tiombe: Mar 27 2006, 07:42 AM

[PrincessDrRe]

I honestly can say that (per race) I don't feel welcome at all SDA Churches....

JMO.

[Seraphim7]

I honestly can say that (per race) I don't feel welcome at all SDA Churches....

JMO.

We may not always "feel" welcome but we can make ourselves at home if we chose to.

[simplysaved]

In response to your comments - I think some ofthe people abroad you are referring to - who you applaud for supposedly looking beyond color of skin in terms of who leads them - I disagree.

I think many people abraod don't have a problem with always being led by whites and being dependent on whites whereas African-Americans do - it is somewhat understandable given that African-Americans are a minority and have experienced racism up and close. I think these same people abroad would have a problem being led by a non-white person, however. For example, if they were led by an African-American, some of them from some regions of the world would question his/her competence, simply because he is not white, but African-American. I think people are very sensitive to race - as sensitive as you allege African-Americans are. I encourage you to read this article by Mr Ncube - it is at - http://www.spectrummagazine.org/spectrum/a.../index20-4.html. In this article, he even recognizes that the SDA Church in many countries abroad, is overly dependent on the North American Section of the Church - however, this dependence does not seem to be a problem for the vast majority, but is what is sought. Also, some of these people abroad look down on African-Americans and look up to whites, so they don't have a problem being in a position, where whites have the hegemonic power. In many other countries, the people there have not had the same experiences with discrimination as people here and they have stated so. It seems to me that Mr. Paulson is defending a point of view where blacks are excluded from leadership positions of the Church.

I have witnessed white flight up and close and personal in the Church as well, and there as even a nonblack pastor who noted it - the past 2 adventist churches I've been to, - well the current one is now currently all black because of white flight - it used to be a white church - and the first one - the Pastor has said that whites are leaving the church because the image of the church - that is being put off is that it is oriented to blacks rather than to eurocentric worshiip.

I agree with Mr. Nixon - that the SDA Church does not want African-Americans or court them - especially the creme of the crop - and this is the reason why the church is growing faster elsewhere faster than in these communities. The church sends its missionaries overseas to these far flung places, rather than to communities in the US where you find black people - maybe it is because as before.

The Adventist church as does other denominations has alot of conservatives in it. However, I've noticed that the eurocentric conservatism of this church as is found in other churches could be the type of conservatism that sides with the merging of church and state and which leads to Sunday laws etc.

Did you notice the number of people who wrote in to the Adventist Review at http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php...970256f0658db1f,
who criticized the Mr. Steed, the author of that article entitled "Court Intrique", who was talkaing about how the Supreme Court Justices' conservatism was going to be a factor in ultimately leading to a merging of church and state, etc.?

These letters to the editor disagreed with the writer and estolled many of these conservative "christians" as their "christian" brothers and sisters, even though these conservatives are going to be an element in driving this country to the religious repression that our movement of the SDA is so fameous for fortelling.

It seems as if in your comments you are somewhat critical of Blacks, and easy on the whites here.

SDA is a conservative movement, however, I think the conservatism of many of its whites is deleterious in it's unchristianlikeness towards black people and will also prove to be an element in terms of moving this country towards merging of chruch and state and the Sunday laws, etc. The Question is - how many whites will cling to the conservatism of these conservative Supreme Court Justices - because much of this conservatism is antiblack - rather than realizing that this is the same conservatism that will lead to the oppression of those who want to celebrate the sabbath.

I predict that a significant number of Whites in the SDA church - those whom we thought were on the Side of God - will cling to this conservatism in the end - that leads to religious oppression, and I think that we will find - that many of these African-Americans that some are wont to scandalize as not looking beyond "color" - will prove to be God's Sheep in "other folds" who've been true christians all along - whom he will call out of these other churches into recognition of the sabbath. I believe that many of white Adventists support conservatives and those conservative justices on the Supreme Court, because this conservatism is anti-black.

Most churches are conservative, irregardless of color, race, culture, country of origin, whatever one wants to call it....People will be the ones who choose to be a part of the religious oppression, believing that they are serving Christ...

[Guest_Tiombe_*]

Most churches are conservative, irregardless of color, race, culture, country of origin, whatever one wants to call it....People will be the ones who choose to be a part of the religious oppression, believing that they are serving Christ...

But I don't think that all churches that contain large numbers of blacks - are conservative to the point where white domination is largely unchallenged and notions of the inferiority of certain black groups are propagated.

The experience of the protypical black Church in the US - is one where the black person is in control and this church is involved in the black community and winning black souls to Christ. I'm glad that I came accross this article reiterating a few of my own experiences as an African-merican - where even Adventist Pastors admitted that many African-Americans have never heard of the SDA church - to no fault of their own. I don't blame African-Americans for why they are not adventist - I don't deride them as being overly focused on race or overly materialistic howver, as the link below does. I realize that African-Americans have some of the same needs as every other racial group whether it be white, African or whatever - and will respond to a church where they are welcome, that serves their community, and treats them with respect. The SDA church has ADRA that serves 3rd world african countries, and has a leadership structure that serves the white western world, but as the link below states - is not really evolved in community work in the African-American community. I believe that conservative attitudes that are antiAfrican-American are to blame for this - not the fact that there is some great defect in African-Americans vis a vis other groups.

From my experience, Adventism is not really part of the everyday life experiences of the average African-American. I had never really heard or been introduced to Adventism in North America - and when I was introduced to Adventism - it was not from a person who respected the African-American community.
Having a few tokens as VPs I don't think will change things either.

What happened to James K. Humphhrey as the link below relates is very instructive. Other denominations have achieved what Mr. Humphrey tried to do but was prevented from doing by the SDAs - and this is why they have been more effective in terms of ministering to the African-American community. To the extent that there are these large pockets of conservatives with their stereotypical viewpoints who've formed alliances with each other and there is a dearth of African-Americans as the poster above pointed out, the social networks of some seemingly have been expanded, whereas the social networks of others have been limited - however, stereotypes are reinforced. SDAs have this vision of evangelizing the world, far flung regions of the world - and see it as their biblical mandate and commission, -however, it is a vision - for whatever reason - such as political or ideological - that often skips over the African-American community.

http://www.adventistreview.org/2000-1549/story1-2.html

This post has been edited by Tiombe: Mar 28 2006, 07:39 PM

[simplysaved]

Is the Gospel of Christ more important that one's racial heritage?

But I don't think that all churches that contain large numbers of blacks - are conservative to the point where white domination is largely unchallenged and notions of the inferiority of certain black groups are propagated.

The experience of the protypical black Church in the US - is one where the black person is in control and this church is involved in the black community and winning black souls to Christ. I'm glad that I came accross this article reiterating a few of my own experiences as an African-merican - where even Adventist Pastors admitted that many African-Americans have never heard of the SDA church - to no fault of their own. I don't blame African-Americans for why they are not adventist - I don't deride them as being overly focused on race or overly materialistic howver, as the link below does. I realize that African-Americans have some of the same needs as every other racial group whether it be white, African or whatever - and will respond to a church where they are welcome, that serves their community, and treats them with respect. The SDA church has ADRA that serves 3rd world african countries, and has a leadership structure that serves the white western world, but as the link below states - is not really evolved in community work in the African-American community. I believe that conservative attitudes that are antiAfrican-American are to blame for this - not the fact that there is some great defect in African-Americans vis a vis other groups.

From my experience, Adventism is not really part of the everyday life experiences of the average African-American. I had never really heard or been introduced to Adventism in North America - and when I was introduced to Adventism - it was not from a person who respected the African-American community.
Having a few tokens as VPs I don't think will change things either.

What happened to James K. Humphhrey as the link below relates is very instructive. Other denominations have achieved what Mr. Humphrey tried to do but was prevented from doing by the SDAs - and this is why they have been more effective in terms of ministering to the African-American community. To the extent that there are these large pockets of conservatives with their stereotypical viewpoints who've formed alliances with each other and there is a dearth of African-Americans as the poster above pointed out, the social networks of some seemingly have been expanded, whereas the social networks of others have been limited - however, stereotypes are reinforced. SDAs have this vision of evangelizing the world, far flung regions of the world - and see it as their biblical mandate and commission, -however, it is a vision - for whatever reason - such as political or ideological - that often skips over the African-American community.

http://www.adventistreview.org/2000-1549/story1-2.html