Truth and Transparancy

A few days ago we received a comment from a reader named David. Out of a healthy concern, David raised important questions. In the interest of transparency and putting the whole discussion forward, I thought it might be good to put the entire exchange forward:

Interesting. Instead of investigating all of the evidence then coming to a conclusion, it appears that people determined that something "just isn't right" then went onto the internet to find evidence to support conclusions that they had already reached. I hope that future posts will show that the concerned church members looked at all sides of the issues. I also hope that future posts will show that the concerned members followed Jesus' command by going to their Pastor before they contacted the Conference.

Yesterday I responded:

But David your post, sadly, suggests that we did not spend time researching, then reading, a great deal of information. We poured through Seventh-day Adventist Church history and organization. We familiarized ourselves with the history of the "Church Growth Movement," on which the "Healthy Church Imitative" is based, going back to its founder Donald McGavran. We studied others that have "built" upon his ideas ranging from Robert Schuler to T.D. Jakes. We read work regarding organizational behavior theory and transformational leadership theory. And yes, David, we also read the Holy Bible. We spoke and met with Adventist pastors, faculty at Adventist colleges, personnel at the North American Division and the General Conference, as well as non-Adventist sources. Would that you could have been here to see what pains we took!

I can only give you my word, we did investigate a great deal before challenging this wrong.I promise you we did look at all sides of the "issue." It was then weighed in the balance, and the requirements as cited by Pastor Alan DeSilva and the Potomac Conference for changing the organizational structure of our Church, were found wanting.

The Bible pleads for us to come together and reason. On several occasions several members of the Takoma Park Church went directly to our senior pastor and tried to explain logically that this system he proposed was not in keeping with SDA Church doctrine. I know this to be true because I, for one, tried to get him to see that this was wrong both theoretically and Biblically. After having met with him on 2 or 3 occasions individually, I took a church member who had been trained by the North American Division regarding approved, tested, and successful SDA methods of Church growth. Pastor Desilva's response, in keeping with his character, was "Don't fight me on this." We were not fighting then. We are not fighting now. We are trying to do is simply put the truth forward.

Follow commands of Jesus? Yes by all means. We are Christians, a term derived in the First Century from phrase "Partisans of Christ." We seek to follow Him. As followers of Jesus, we must love what He loves. Jesus loves the Church. The Church is His "bride." If Jesus believes the Church is important, should not we as well? If yes, then we have a moral responsibility to stand against what is occurring at the Takoma Park Church specifically, and the Potomac Conference in general.

Having slept on what I wrote, I am really concerned that there may have been one important point that I did not answer. David, if you are reading this post, it is important to me that you understand that this is not some personal grievance between our pastor and the those of opposing a change in SDA Structure. For us at least, this is about staying the course that God, through the founders of the SDA Church, set.

Let me put it another way.

The vast majority of Advenitsts opposing this change in structure are third, forth, fifth generation Adventists. I'm different. I made a personal choice to become a Seventh-day Adventist after stumbling across a copy of the Great Controversy. Prior to baptism I went through more than a year of serious Bible studies with both a pastor and the head of the Sabbath School of a local church in the Washington, DC area. The pastor that studied with me, as well as the Sabbath School leader, in separate studies, impressed on me that the head of the SDA Church was Jesus. They impressed on me that the organization and structure of our church came as a result of a great deal of fasting and prayer, and that "we change it at our own peril."

Obviously, the SDA church is not the same as it was in the 19th Century. But whatever changes have occurred have come as a direct result of the General Conference meeting in open session. If our pastor truly believes that our Church must change, then let these changes come from the General Conference. If not, and we have devolved to a situation in which local clergy can make whatever changes they see fit, backed by the Conference, we are in greater trouble than we all realize.