The Modern Epic, Pt. 6

As our local readers will already know, Takoma Park now has a new senior pastor, Henry Wright. He started at Takoma Park on May 17, 2014, but rumors that he was the selection swirled for months ahead of time. Pastor Wright had been the senior pastor of another church in the Potomac Conference for a number of years, during which time it experienced substantial growth and planted two other congregations. It is clearly the hope that someone with such a track record will be able to replicate his success at Takoma Park.

Pastor Wright began his tenure by establishing regular office hours on Thursday afternoons during which members are invited to drop in to discuss any issues they feel exist within the church. There’s just one catch: the pastors (past and present) are off limits as topics of these discussions. This is like saying you are to go out and witness, but aren’t allowed to say anything about God! The pastors may not be the totality of what is wrong, but by the nature of their roles as leaders in the church they cannot help but be involved in the issues (for better or worse) and refusing to let them be mentioned therefore precludes any meaningful discussion of the whole situation.

In other pastoral news, Pastor Warfield was ordained in Takoma Park on May 31, 2014. This is mildly interesting in the context of his having run Takoma Park all this time without having been ordained, but it becomes far more intriguing in light of the rumors that circulated about him for about nine months prior to his ordination. Specifically, it was asserted that he was secretly ordained in a ceremony in the church center which was held in the fall of 2013 on a weeknight. What possible reason there could be for such an action is beyond our fathoming, but it’s equally difficult to fathom how such a rumor could get started unless there was some kernel of truth in it somewhere. Given the secrecy with which the lay and pastoral leadership of Takoma Park operates these days, it is unlikely that a straight story will ever come out regarding this rumor. And therein is the relevance to Takoma Park’s governance issues—it highlights once again the absolute lack of transparency.

In October of 2015 Pastor Warfield was called to be head of the Human Resources department of the Potomac Conference, and now is gradually transitioning out of Takoma Park. This brings the potential for new things at Takoma Park, not only because it leaves a pastoral vacancy but because Mrs. Warfield will be moving south with her husband and leaving open the position of church secretary. Her status as “temporary” church secretary had evolved into a permanent position without any discernible oversight processes beyond the approval of her husband. (Yet another highly questionable governance action for which there has been no accounting.) During her time in the position she only came to the office a few days a week, and when she did come in she brought their young children whom she is homeschooling and would proceed to conduct class in the office. It has seemed that what she was best at, so far as conducting the work of the church, was maintaining the wall of secrecy between pastors and lay members. The departure of both Warfields, then, is a great opportunity for improvement in the function and transparency of the church administration.

More generally, church attendance has been gradually creeping back up toward the attendance counts that were typical before these governance issues started. It hasn’t quite made a full recovery, but it’s getting close.

On Financial Fraud

The North American Division Ministerial Association recently put out a good article on detecting and preventing financial fraud in the local congregation:

http://www.nadministerial.org/article/938/for-nad-pastors/articles/preventing-and-detecting-fraud-at-your-church

The Modern Epic, Pt. 5

This chapter of the Modern Epic has proven difficult to write because instead of telling a story it largely requires telling an absence of story, and it can be difficult to find the words to describe a void. Put another way, the primary subject of this chapter is the outcome of the investigations into the financial mischief at Takoma Park, which have been largely suppressed by the powers that be.

Our readers will recall that there have been two separate investigations, the auditor’s investigation and the police investigation. The audit investigation ran roughly between February and May of 2013. The police investigation began shortly after the audit ended and concluded around October. A report, purportedly of the conclusions of the audit, is now kept locked in the desk of Mrs. Warfield, who has been acting as temporary church secretary since the previous secretary departed. Members may go in to the church office and ask to read the report—under supervision—but it has not been distributed in any way.

This report estimates the financial loss to the congregation as being between $50,000 and $150,000. Separately, it traces the mysterious $90,000 left from the steeple repair as far as having been placed in the church’s operating fund, but is unable to track it any further. The report stops short of naming any specific individual(s) as being responsible for the losses. The police investigation also ended without naming any perpetrators.

There have been no official statements made by either the pastors or conference administrators presenting or commenting on any of the information in the preceding paragraph, which brings us to the end of the rather unsatisfying official information.

We will now proceed with the unofficial information, namely that a member of the pastoral staff has said unofficially that the actual loss was closer to $500,000. This calls into question the reliability and authenticity of the document in Mrs. Warfield’s desk. If the actual loss is that much greater it would seem at the very least that the conference must have redacted significant portions of the auditor’s report detailing mischief the congregation has no awareness of and then presented only the resulting reduced document. At worst, they have outright rewritten the report to hide the extent of the loss. As for why this would be done, the pastor said that they are attempting to “save the congregation pain.”

Let’s now take a moment to analyze what little information is provided in the official report. It is estimated that during the “good times” before the economy went south and all this governance trouble commenced the value of loose offerings would range between $500 and $1,200 a week. With these two factors (bad economy and trouble in the church) in play it seems unlikely that the giving levels would not have dropped, but we will take this range as a working basis and use the average of $850 a week for our calculations. At this rate, it would take between 59 and 177 weeks (or 1.1 to 3.4 years) of every single dollar bill of loose offering having been stolen in order to achieve the official loss of $50,000 to $150,000. We discard the possibility that money was also taken from tithe envelopes, as individuals giving that way would expect receipts and complain if they didn’t receive them, and no church members have made any such complaints.

But the math doesn’t end there. As the assertions were only that some of the loose offering was taken—rather than all of it—we will assume half of it being lost and double that necessary duration of theft to 118-354 weeks. With 52 weeks in a year that comes out to between two and seven years that the theft would have been ongoing in order to achieve that much loss through the pilfering of loose offerings. Going through this same calculation with the unofficial loss amount of $500,000, it would take 1,176 weeks, or 22.6 years, to lose that much money through loose offerings.

The assertion has been made that the thefts occurred over a period of four years. This means that only the $50,000 figure—or close to it—would be a plausible amount of money to have lost. To lose even the official upper range amount, $150,000, would take nearly twice as long as is allowed and the unofficial/real loss amount is simply preposterous in that amount of time through loose offering alone. Thus, our conclusion is that theft of loose offering alone cannot account for the entirety of the financial loss Takoma Park has suffered. There must, then, be additional theft of another kind. It strikes us as unlikely that the pastors and conference would be this secretive if the theft had been committed by strangers, which makes us think that this also was an inside job.

The generalized suspicions in the congregation regarding the loose offering theft have centered around DeSilva and the former church secretary. We cannot prove or disprove these suspicions. But so long as we are discussing unprovable suspicions, we think it worth observing that during the police investigation the chair of the finance committee took great care to avoid being questioned. This included not picking up or returning investigators’ phone calls and avoiding being present at the church when investigators were known to be there. Pastor Warfield attempted to be similarly elusive, but had the ill luck to walk down a hall just as the investigator was coming from the other direction. This seems like strange behavior for innocent men, but nothing can be proved by it.

So far as we are aware, Adventist Risk Management (the Church’s insurance agency) has not compensated the Takoma Park Church in any amount for these losses. That is hardly surprising given the uncertainty about the amount of the loss.

The Modern Epic, Pt. 4

Despite our profound wish that the subject of Alan DeSilva being involved in the governance issues of the Takoma Park Church would have been concluded with the previous chapter of the Modern Epic, it appears that he may continue to figure in this story for a while yet. This chapter certainly revolves around issues of his instigation.

On Sabbath, October 26, 2013, Pastor Patterson called an emergency meeting of church officers to take place immediately after the church service. At this meeting he announced that DeSilva had asked to speak to the church in order to make an apology, and he wanted these church leaders’ reactions to the proposal. The response he got was lukewarm, at best, but this didn’t deter him. Pastor Patterson set up a meeting between DeSilva and the church board for the evening of November 7, 2013.

It should be noted at this point that such a meeting is strictly against the directives of the Church Manual, “Members under censure have no right to participate by voice or by vote in the affairs of the church or lead church activities, such as teaching a Sabbath school class” (p.63). No voice or vote means zero participation in any church meeting (other than simple attendance of Sabbath School and other worship services). Pastor Patterson attempted to get around this by declaring that this was not to be an “official” meeting, but we do not see how it could justly be called anything else; it was a meeting called by the pastor, to occur in the church facility, and admission to the meeting was determined by election to church office. As the saying goes, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.

The Church Manual doesn’t give reasons for denying voice and vote to members under censure, but those reasons are not difficult to surmise. First, it is logical that a member who was under censure for some sin would have their judgment clouded by that sin, which would make their opinions or advice undesirable to consider in church meetings. Second, even if that person were still capable of giving sound counsel, allowing them to address the church would give the appearance that the church condoned their behavior. Third, a forced silence would compel the member in question to withdraw from the public life of the church and instead engage in introspection regarding their own condition and the behavior. But all of this goes out the window if the restriction against voice and vote is ignored.

Pastor Patterson argued that it was necessary to allow DeSilva this opportunity to repent and be reconciled. However, in making this argument he ignores two crucial facts: 1) DeSilva had an opportunity to say any and everything he wanted to say to the congregation during the disciplinary business meeting, and 2) there would be nothing stopping DeSilva from speaking his piece individually to any member of the congregation he wished to address or even inviting whomever he wished to some private event of his own arranging so as to speak to them all at once. There is absolutely no need nor justification for the course Pastor Patterson has chosen.

At a regularly scheduled board meeting on November 3, 2013 (which Pastor Patterson didn’t attend) Pastors Warfield and Taylor responded to the agitation of the board members by claiming that they had had nothing to do with setting up the meeting for DeSilva. That assertion, while illuminating as to whose idea this was, did nothing to address the wild inappropriateness of the meeting or its probable effect on the congregation as a whole. In fact, as word of the impending meeting had spread through the congregation it had caused a fair amount of anger and a feeling of betrayal that the man who had caused so much pain would be allowed to waltz back in and address the leadership as if nothing had happened. This being generally known by the board members there was some concern that individuals not on the board might attempt to crash the meeting. In response to this, Pastor Warfield suggested posting deacons at the door to ensure that only board members would be allowed in.

The meeting was called off at the last minute—on the morning of the seventh—via an email in which Pastor Patterson announced that DeSilva was in Georgia and would not be able to make it, and that he wasn’t sure whether DeSilva would want to try again another time. That being the explanation given, it is unclear whether the matter is truly dead or merely postponed. What is clear is that Pastor Patterson has chosen to prioritize what he sees as being good for a single individual over what would be good for the rest of the congregation, and even over the reputation of the church at large.

The Modern Epic, Pt. 3

On September 8, 2013 Takoma Park held another business meeting. This meeting was chaired by Pastor Warfield. Pastor Taylor was present, but Pastor Patterson was not. There were no guests from the Potomac Conference present. It was at this meeting that the matter of disciplining DeSilva and the former church secretary was finally addressed.

In such situations the Church Manual stipulates that the person(s) being considered for discipline be notified in advance that the matter will be brought up at a particular meeting and that they be allowed to speak in their own defense and present witnesses in their defense if they wish to dispute the charges against them. In this case neither individual chose to be present at the meeting. Instead, both sent letters.

Despite earlier discussion of the two cases needing to be handled together and dealt with equally because the guilt for both was equal, Pastor Warfield chose to consider the cases separately.

DeSilva’s letter was read first. He wrote of having patronized a rehab center for sexual addiction in Tennessee and warmly described his affection for various church members and how much he appreciated and missed them. There was a brief mention of being sorry for “the situation,” but no specific expression of contrition for having betrayed and embarrassed his wife, or even for having failed in his role as an example to the congregation.

After this letter was read the congregation was presented with two options for disciplining DeSilva—removing him from membership (commonly called disfellowshipping) or placing him under censure for a period of 12 months. When under censure, an individual is still considered a member of the church but is not allowed to hold any office or have voice or vote in any church meeting. After discussing the matter for a time there was a public vote which resulted in a decision to censure. (We make a point of mentioning that it was a public vote—as opposed to a secret ballot—because some who voted for the disfellowshipping option were afterward approached and remonstrated against by die-hard DeSilva supporters for being so horrible as to have voted that way.)

The former secretary’s letter was a request that her name be removed from the church books. When a member submits such a request the Manual calls for it to be acknowledged and honored by a vote of the business meeting without discussion. There was some sentiment in the room of wishing to disfellowship her rather than allow her to voluntarily withdraw her membership. After some discussion between Pastors Warfield and Taylor it was concluded that her request took precedence and had to be honored.

The disparity in the attitudes toward DeSilva and the secretary is alarming. Both were voluntarily involved in the same ongoing sin. There was no less culpability on DeSilva’s part on account of his having been a pastor. If anything, that makes his transgression greater, not less, as his position made him a public example of the standards and behavior of Adventists in general. The former secretary’s decision to withdraw her membership took the decision of what to do with her out of the congregation’s hands, but the feeling of the members toward the two—whether for leniency or stringency—should have been equal.

Money, Sex, and Governance

Some of you may be wondering what the events described so far in the Modern Epic have to do with the primary subject of this blog. At first blush scandals of sexual infidelity and missing money might seem like throwing personal dirt rather than issues of governance, but these scandals do pertain to governance and the point of this post is to explain that connection.

We will consider first the money issues. Our longtime readers will recall that over the course of the Epic we detailed a number of incidents where then-pastor DeSilva created new committees, changed to whom committees reported, or asked for decisions from committees that had no authority in the matter he brought before them. These changes would occur without notice, explanation, or consistency. The net result of all this is that there is no longer any clear procedure for conducting business, whether routine or non-routine. In this environment where nobody knows how anything is done anymore it is all too easy for the unscrupulous to get away with financial mischief. The problem is exacerbated by the Accountability Council, which gives the illusion of accountability without the reality thereof.

There is, in fact, more financial mischief than we have told about, but for the moment we feel there are compelling reasons to leave the details of the other financial issues out of the story. We mention them here only to make clear that between them and the issues we have detailed there emerges a pattern made possible only through the organizational chaos created by DeSilva. Put another way, DeSilva’s habit of making arbitrary alterations to the congregation’s governance broke down the checks and balances that had existed to protect against financial mischief. With the protections gone it was only a matter of time before irregularities would begin, as indeed they did. The current financial situation is, then, a natural and predictable outcome of altering the governance in this way.

DeSilva’s affair pertains to church governance for two reasons. First, after DeSilva got done messing with the congregation’s governance the only certain thing about it was that whatever he said went. His departure, then, leaves a significant power void and how it will be filled—with rules and procedures everyone can know and consistently follow or with another person with absolute control to call the shots—will have a lasting impact on the governance of the congregation. Second, since the Church (and here we mean the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church, not the local congregation) has specific standards of conduct, the violation of which demands disciplinary action by the congregation, the matter of DeSilva’s affair will serve as a litmus test of the congregation’s willingness to obey the denomination’s rules. 

As harsh as it may sound to be calling for disciplinary action, it is no more than DeSilva would do were he still in power and some other pastor was the guilty party. This we know for a fact because that very scenario played out in August and September of 2008. (See The Epic, parts 31 and 35. The member described in those posts as having been put up for discipline was an associate pastor at Takoma Park until he was found to have had an affair.)

“The problem with any unwritten law is that you don't know where to go to erase it” (Glaser and Way). Since the change in governance Takoma Park has had nothing but unwritten laws and so far the Group’s efforts at erasing them have been futile. The financial mischief and DeSilva’s departure constitute a crossroads where Takoma Park may either repudiate government by dictator or further entrench it. Unfortunately this is not as clear a decision as it ought to be as many members seem unable to separate the people from the issues they caused and therefore hesitate on the issues for fear of hurting those people.

The Modern Epic, Pt. 2

As one might expect, the situation with DeSilva’s departure and the undisclosed audit report has left the members of Takoma Park in a state of upheaval. Some have reached out to DeSilva incredulously inquiring about the truth of his departure. Others don’t doubt that there was an affair, but aren’t concerned by it either; to them it is simply an example that “men will be men.” Still others are aghast at DeSilva’s behavior and believe he should be subjected to church discipline.

Then there are those who are less concerned by the affair than the missing money—which rumor has it could be as much as $300,000. (This figure includes both the thefts and other funds which are presently unaccounted for—such as the steeple repair windfall. Whether that is actually the amount remains to be seen. We mention it here only as the figure featured in the rumors rather than as established fact.) Since the theft has been declared to have been an inside job, there should be a rather small suspect pool and they are disturbed by the seeming lack of resolution.

Whether they are in one of these groups or simply among those in shock, everyone in the congregation is looking for answers. Both the pastoral staff and the conference officers have been woefully remiss in meaningfully addressing these problems.

The pastoral staff has undergone some changes since the end of The Epic, but not for the better. Pastor Gerry Fuentes was transferred to another church within the Potomac Conference and a pastor from that church, Jeff Taylor, was transferred to Takoma Park. So far as being a presence in the life, function, and direction of Takoma Park, Pastor Taylor may as well not exist. He preaches the occasional sermon, but is never in the office, takes no active part in leadership meetings, and has made no discernible effort toward healing the wounds within the congregation. 

Pastor Warfield came to Takoma Park late in 2009 to be the youth pastor. At that time he was a capable but impressionable young man. DeSilva took full advantage of his malleability and mentored him into a likeness of his own autocratic leadership style. He then bestowed on Pastor Warfield the title of “executive pastor” and gave him administrative duties in place of his duties with the youth. With DeSilva’s departure Pastor Warfield is the highest-ranking pastor at Takoma Park, despite not being ordained. Far from helping the church resolve its problems, Pastor Warfield has continued to be in contact with DeSilva and is carrying on his plans and philosophies.

The position of youth pastor is now occupied by one Osei Daniels, a longtime member and lay youth leader at Takoma Park. He has no pastoral training beyond a single weekend seminar. He is enthusiastic about the work, but his lack of training is painfully obvious.

The conference has appointed an interim senior pastor, Gary Patterson. Pastor Patterson was originally due to begin work at Takoma Park at the end of April, but he was delayed and only began the task in the second week of June. It is as yet too early to tell what his influence will be.

On June 9, 2013 an “open board meeting” was held in order for conference personnel to discuss the audit with the congregation in greater detail. Potomac Conference President Bill Miller attended—but once again the treasurer was somehow unavailable. So, once again meaningful financial questions were evaded on the pretext that the conference representative wasn’t sufficiently versed in financial topics. Elder Miller did make some general statements about there having been poor accounting processes, which caused the chairman of the finance committee to sputter in his own defense, “That’s how my company does it!”

Overall, the meeting was most remarkable for what Elder Miller refused to say. Many members expressed a great deal of frustration at the lack of straightforwardness, but the pleas for openness and transparency fell on deaf ears. The meeting lasted three hours, and in all that time the most Elder Miller would say about the audit situation was that in order to make an insurance claim the local law enforcement entities would need to be notified of the theft, and that they would then conduct their own investigation into the matter. The greatest hope for substantive information, such as it was, was a certain implication that once that investigation had occurred there might be additional information made available.

The meeting had also been intended to have an “executive session”—a session in which only board members could be present—but this executive session was preempted by its intended subject being brought up toward the end of the main meeting. This matter was to have been the membership transfer request of the former church secretary. This was controversial because membership transfers aren’t allowed if the member is under church discipline, and in her case there is the outstanding matter of whether she should be disciplined for her affair with DeSilva. Of course, if she is to be disciplined for the affair it would be only right for him to face equal discipline. This matter was left unresolved, pending “further information.”

The meeting ended with no progress on either of the major controversies facing the congregation. And remarkably, the conference officials seem to think that this pattern of showing up and stonewalling is somehow helpful.

They dress the wound of my people
    as though it were not serious.
“Peace, peace,” they say,
    when there is no peace.
Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?
   No, they have no shame at all;
   they do not even know how to blush. 
(Jeremiah 8:11, 12, NIV)

The Modern Epic, Pt. 1

Over the last few months noteworthy events have once again been happening at the Takoma Park Church.  Most noteworthy of all, Alan DeSilva is no longer its senior pastor.  There is much more to this story than we are ready to tell at present, as certain aspects of the matter are still developing, but it is time we stated a few things that we know for certain.
 
The congregation’s first hint of Alan DeSilva’s departure came as an announcement in the bulletin in mid-February that he had been granted a three month sabbatical.  The next week, at a Town Hall meeting held in a nearby church, conference personnel indicated to the Takoma Park members in attendance that he would not be coming back.  This message was formally repeated to a meeting of the board of elders on February 26, 2013.

It seems that shortly after being granted the sabbatical Alan DeSilva confessed to conference officials that he had been having an affair with Takoma Park’s church secretary for the previous eight years, and voluntarily surrendered his ministerial credentials.  When questioned, the church secretary confirmed that there had been an affair between her and Alan DeSilva.

Another matter of interest is the state of the church’s finances.  In addition to issues such as the whereabouts of the unused insurance money from the steeple repair (see The Epic, Pt. 85 for a full description of this and other financial issues), there has for some time been a suggestion of regular thefts from the weekly loose offering collections.  About the same time as Alan DeSilva’s departure an auditor from the General Conference Auditing Service (GCAS) was called in to investigate the church’s total financial condition. 

Takoma Park’s regular April business meeting was delayed until May 5, 2013 at the request of the conference so they could come and present the results of this investigation to the church.  There were maybe 50 church members in attendance.  The Potomac Conference was represented by John Cress, Ministerial Association Director for the conference. 

The presentation of the financial investigation began with the finance committee chairman explaining that for some time there had been discrepancies between the amount of cash counted by the deacons on Sabbath morning and the amount of cash recounted on Monday morning.  He explained the precautions they had taken to prevent the thefts, including locking the money in a safe in the church center and taping the box sealed so that tampering would be evident.  But it seems that come Monday morning they would find the tape seal cut and money again missing.  From this they concluded that the theft had to be an inside job.

John Cress then read a prepared statement which said only that the GCAS audit had been completed, that the findings had been presented to the insurance company, and that they were deciding whether to reimburse Takoma Park for the loss. When pressed for more detail, such as whether there would be any prosecutions for the theft, Cress said that they “can” prosecute, but declined to answer whether they would do so. His responses to other questions were similarly vague. Many at the meeting had been expecting to be given specific results of the audit and were disappointed that the conference was not more forthcoming.

Directory

If this is your first visit to our blog, the volume of material here may make it hard to know where to start.  To help with that, we’ve prepared this list of major series and stand-alone posts with descriptions to help you find the material most helpful to you.

 

Descriptions and Analysis of the Events at Takoma Park

The Epic, Pts. 1-85

September 30, 2008 – May 20, 2012

A detailed, step-by-step account of the events at the Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church, from the factors that precipitated the change in governance and how the change was accomplished to the lasting effects on the congregation

Paul Borden Report

September 30, 2008

The document that started the trouble

“Code of Ethics”

June 26, 2009

A policy document introduced by the pastors to control the lay leadership

“Code of Ethics” Analysis

July 9, 2009

Exactly what it sounds like—an analysis of the “Code of Ethics”

To Keep It Holy
December 28, 2009

A look at whether it’s appropriate to hold church business meetings on Sabbath

Sins of the Conference Pts. 1-5
September 30, 2009 – March 1, 2010

A detailed look at how the Potomac Conference mishandled the appeals process

Double Take

April 5, 2010

Analysis of the presentation made by Takoma Park’s senior pastor to the Potomac Conference Executive Committee

Us and Them
July 16, 2010

A consideration of appeal protocols and authority within the Adventist Church

Letter and Spirit

September 17, 2010

Analysis of how the Executive Committee’s recommendations were handled by Takoma Park’s pastors

 

A Look at the History of Adventist Governance

Our Roots, Pts. 1-48

January 23, 2009, November 10, 2010 – November 6, 2011

An exploration of the history of Adventist governance, the principles behind it, and how the present system of organization came to be

 

The Lessons from Our Roots

January 28, 2011

A highlight of the attitudes with which the founders of the Adventist Church approached the concept of formal organization

The Principles of Organization

March 2, 2011

A list of the principles embodied in the original form of organization adopted by the Adventist Church

Principle Over Form

July 1, 2011

A look at how the original organizational principles continued to be central in the reorganization of 1901

Conclusions from Our Roots

November 13, 2011

The take-aways of how this history lesson applies to the present reorganization attempts embodied in the Growing Healthy Churches Initiative

Gospel Order, Pts. 1-8
November 20, 2011 – January 29, 2012

An article series published in the Review and Herald in 1909 in response to attempts to change the organization of the Adventist Church in ways not endorsed by the Spirit of Prophecy

Examinations of the Philosophies and Strategies of the Healthy Church Initiative

Bullseye: (14 Posts)

April 12, 2010 – June 11, 2010

The church growth philosophies of Paul Borden form the core of the Growing Healthy Churches (GHC) Initiative.  This series examines those philosophies as laid out in Borden’s book, Hit the Bullseye.

Structure vs. Evangelism

October 8, 2008

GCH contends that present Adventist governance structures impede local evangelistic potential.  Is this contention valid?

How does the new structure work?

October 19, 2008

The nuts and bolts of the altered governance system at Takoma Park

Appearances: Obedience is Better than “The Healthy Church Initiative”
April 24, 2009

A perspective on following our own bright ideas vs. the expressed will of God

Hoarded Authority
March 25, 2011

An unmasking of the power play behind GHC


Responses to Issues Raised by Commenters

Fairness…But With Honesty, Pts. 1-8
October 6, 2009

A response to varied accusations made by an anonymous commenter 

In His Own Eyes

January 7, 2010

An examination of whether the Church Manual is mandatory or merely a guideline 

The Enormous Tiny Word

November 13, 2009

An examination of if and how the counsel of Matthew 18 applies to public church policy disputes 

Examinations of Other Issues that came up Along the Way

The Lord’s Anointed, Pts. 1-3
November 17, 2009 – December 4, 2009

Does the biblical counsel to “touch not the Lord’s anointed” mean that lay members cannot voice disagreement with their pastors? 

Church Discipline, Pts. 1-3
October 4, 2010 – October 13, 2010

Is church discipline warranted when members disagree over matters of church policy?

What is Unity?

April 18,2009

Does the maintenance of church unity require uniformity of thought and action?   

What is Unity? (conclusion)
April 24, 2009

A continuation of What is Unity?

Change

January 22, 2010

Is change a good thing or a bad thing? 

The Right Way

February 1, 2010

How the Church Manual says local church governance ought to operate

What Has Been Done All Along

July 21, 2010

Does the General Conference overreach its authority by what it stipulates in the Church Manual?

Because God Said Not To

November 29, 2010

Why not borrow good ideas from other denominations?

Omega
December 11, 2011

A list of indicators of apostasy within the Church

General Material

Advice from the Spirit of Prophesy, Pts.1-37  

September 28, 2008 – May 6, 2012

Collections of statements made by Ellen White which pertain to the assorted subjects addressed in this blog

A Word From New Zealand

April 29, 2009

An account of what happened in an Adventist congregation in New Zealand when they adopted the church growth philosophies of Paul Borden 

How to get a Church Administrator’s Attention

July 25, 2011

Tips for bringing a local problem to the attention of church administrators in a way that will make them sit up and take notice

Parts of the Whole

February 12, 2012

A look at the relationship between the individual member and the church body, specifically considering whether a member should shut up or speak up when they disagree with the actions of church leaders

The Tools of Upper Management

March 11, 2012

What administrators from the higher levels of the Church can and cannot do to address local problems

The Epic, Pt. 85

It’s been quite a while since we’ve had an installment of The Epic. Things have not been peachy-happy or warm-and-fuzzy at Takoma Park during the 19+ months since the events described by the last chapter, but the more recent developments have been gradual, smoldering points of concern rather than dramatic, stand-alone-story events. That being the case, it’s been difficult to decide whether to mention the various items or not. Most of them didn’t seem to warrant mention on their own, but together they paint a picture of Pastor DeSilva’s leadership when left to his own devises, so we’ve decided to now present them together.

In the fall of 2010 the chairman of the accountability council moved his membership from Takoma Park to another congregation in the area. The accountability council failed to meet for about five months after his departure. When it did finally reconvene, Pastor DeSilva had assumed the chairmanship. Takoma Park maintains a standing nominating committee for the express purpose of filling midterm vacancies such as this one, but Pastor DeSilva chose instead to usurp what should have been an elected, lay position. In doing so he proved what we have maintained all along—that the accountability council was merely a pawn for the accomplishment of Pastor DeSilva’s purposes rather than an independent body that could or would hold him accountable. A new lay chairman for the accountability council was finally elected during the regular election process for the 2012-2013 officer cycle.

It has now been more than 28 months since the trial contract for the minister of music expired on December 31, 2009. The accountability council still has not approved a regular contract for him. This means that the only basis for his continued employment at Takoma Park is Pastor DeSilva’s say-so—yet another example of Pastor DeSilva wielding executive authority that doesn’t belong to him.

At the spring 2011 business meeting, Pastor DeSilva proposed a new policy that would require any church member not elected to the church board who wished to attend a church board meeting to apply for that privilege at least 24 hours in advance. Furthermore, a maximum of three non-board members would be allowed to attend any particular meeting. The measure passed. This effectively ensured that Pastor DeSilva could never be surprised by the presence of individuals he didn’t want knowing about what he was doing; should any unwelcome ears apply to attend, he would have plenty of time to remove from the agenda anything he didn’t want them to know about.

There was a Sabbath School class that Pastor DeSilva had disliked for some time, so he convinced the board of elders that the class should be ordered to disband. (The publicly stated reason for this was that the class routinely ran late, which meant that the room they used, which also served as a secondary mothers’ room, was not immediately available to the mothers.) Procedurally, the appropriate thing to do would have been to make his case to the Sabbath School Council, which is responsible for the formation and dissolution of classes. The most probable explanation we can think of for this procedural deviation is that he felt he would find a more sympathetic audience with the elders than with the Sabbath School Council, but the reasons for the deviation (or even the deviation itself) are less significant than the result of acting on this vendetta. For many members of the disbanded class, the fellowship and spiritual support of meeting in that group were the only things left to keep them at Takoma Park. With the class gone, they left as well.

Also in the spring of 2011 the steeple of the Takoma Park Church suffered wind damage. The insurance company estimated the repair cost as being in excess of $100,000, and wrote a check accordingly. The steeple was fixed for only $13,000. What has become of the remaining $90,000 is a point on which Pastor DeSilva and the finance committee chairman have been queried repeatedly. Each time the question has been asked it has produced a great deal of hemming and hawing from the two of them, but never the same final answer. Early on it was said to have been applied to the general church budget. Another time it was stated that it was being held in a special fund because the insurance company wanted it back. Then it was asserted that $25,000 of it had been applied to the debt from the air conditioning replacement back in the summer of 2008. Some were told that $50,000 had been applied to the air conditioning debt. Later questioning produced the story that the money was to be kept rather than returned, but that none of it had or would be applied to the air conditioning debt because that was a loan with very low interest. There is still no clear picture of what has been done with this windfall.

Meanwhile, the church’s offering income for 2011 was so far below budget that the budget proposed for 2012 featured some rather noticeable cutbacks, including the salaries of the three employees paid directly by the church: the clerk, the maintenance worker, and the minister of music. Department budgets were also cut back. This has only added fuel to the questions regarding the $90,000.

Despite the financial cutbacks, early in 2012 Pastor DeSilva managed to finally fund one of his pet dreams for the church: to make the services available on DVD. (Previously, they were available on CD only.) As part of this, two 50-inch flat screen monitors have been attached on the left and right sides of the front of the balcony “so that the choir can see what’s happening on the platform from the front.” (Takoma Park’s balcony has a U shape, which places the two ends very close to the platform.) Pastor DeSilva now spends most of his time while preaching looking at himself in these monitors. In order to make the church appear full for these recordings, the balcony has been closed to attendees and everyone is escorted to seats at the front of the main floor.

This brings our Epic up to the present moment. We are hoping that this is not the final end of the story; if it were it would be a very dismal one indeed. We will describe further developments as they occur, but we cannot know when that will be. We thank you for your attention and your consideration of our thoughts and experiences. It is our hope that their recounting has been and will be a benefit to you.

Advice from the Spirit of Prophesy, Pt. 37

"The holy principles that God has given are represented by the sacred fire; but common fire has been used in place of the sacred. Plans, contrary to truth and righteousness, are introduced in a subtle manner on the plea that this must be done, and that must be done, because it is for the advancement of the cause of God. But it is the devising of men that leads to oppression, injustice and wickedness. The cause of God is to be free from every taint of injustice. It can gain no advantage by robbing the members of the family of God of their individuality or their rights. All such practices are abhorrent to God. . . .

"The high-handed power that has been developed, as though positions had made men gods, makes me afraid, and ought to cause fear. It is a curse wherever, and by whomsoever it is exercised. This lording  it over God's heritage will create such a disgust of man's jurisdiction that a state of insubordination will result. The people are learning that men in high positions of responsibility cannot be trusted to mold and fashion other men's minds and characters. The result will be a loss of confidence even in the management of faithful men. . . .

"The spirit of domination is extending to the presidents of our conferences. If a man is sanguine of his own powers and seeks to exercise dominion over his brethren, feeling that he is invested with authority to make his will the ruling power, the best and only safe course is to remove him, lest great harm be done, and he lose his own soul, and imperil the souls of others. 'All ye are brethren.'

"This disposition to lord it over God's heritage will cause a reaction unless these men change their course. Those in authority should manifest the spirit of Christ. They should deal as he would deal with every case that requires attention. They should go weighted with the Holy Spirit. A man's position does not make him one jot or tittle greater in the sight of God; it is character alone that God values" (Letter 55, Sept. 19, 1895, to O. A. Olson).

"In our business connection with the work of God, and in handling sacred things, we cannot be too careful, to guard against a spirit of irreverence; never, for an instant, should the work of God be used deceitfully, to carry a point which we are anxious to see succeed. Honor, integrity, and truth must be preserved at any cost to self. Our every thought, word, and action should be subject to the will of Christ" (Gospel Workers, p. 447).

Contend for the Faith

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

(Jude 1:3, 4, 12-25, NIV)

Handling Conflict in Committees

We present for your consideration an article published by the Adventist Review a few weeks ago about handling the conflicts which inevitably arise from time to time in church committees.

To read, click here.

Have we covered everything?

Our regular readers will have noticed by now that we aren't posting as frequently as we used to. This isn't because we're losing interest in the subject; it's just that in three and a half years of posting we've said nearly everything we have to say. We have a few more items left to present, and--of course--this blog will continue to be available even after we have stopped adding to it. (We'll also still be answering emails.)

Before we entirely wind down, however, we'd like to know if there are any subjects our readers were hoping we would address that have not yet come up. If there are, or you simply have questions about something we've said along the line, feel free to let us know about these items either by email or in the comments. We will happily address all such subjects or questions before we're done.

The Tools of Upper Management

What tools do the upper levels of the Adventist structure have to direct the course of the management levels below them?

Some believe the Church organization functions much like an army, and that the general can simply issue an order from the top to correct a situation anywhere within the ranks. Others also use the military metaphor, but they believe that the general may give directions only to his immediate subordinates, who then speak to their subordinates, etc., so that the direction eventually reaches the foot soldiers. Proponents of this view seem to believe that anyone down the chain of command who wishes to alter or negate an order along the way may do so (which rather destroys the metaphor since that isn’t the way military orders work). Neither view is especially accurate.

It is hard to find an analogy that perfectly describes Adventist structure, but to compare it to a corporation with locally owned franchises would come much closer to reality than a military comparison. Except for local congregations and divisions, each level of the Church organization is an independent legal body, with some things the higher levels of the organization can impact and others they can’t. As we saw in Our Roots, this arrangement is meant to facilitate the handling of local matters by local individuals who can be fully informed and involved in those matters and thereby free general administrators to focus on broader regional or worldwide matters. Unfortunately, it can also hinder action by general administrators in specific situations.

There are three tools that each level of the organization can use to influence the actions of the units of organization directly below it:

1. Providing counsel – the most commonly used tool, but it has the disadvantage that the counsel can be ignored. This item is self-explanatory—each level is supposed to talk to each other, coordinate their actions, and defer to the wisdom of those higher up in the organization. In practice, the leaders of a particular level may choose to ignore the counsel given, which is why we would classify this as a tool without teeth.

2. Administering election processes – intended to keep elections free of bias. The administering of election processes is accomplished by the president of the level above chairing the nominating committee when the subordinate level holds elections. In this role, the counsel of the president of the higher organization can carry great weight with the nominating committee and shape outcomes. This, then, would be a tool that does have teeth and is routinely exercised.

3. Expelling a unit from the Adventist Church – an extreme measure used only in exceedingly rare cases involving gross moral, ethical, or doctrinal violations by a substantial portion of the unit’s constituency. Expelling a unit would also be a tool that has teeth, but not one to be used for any but the very worst of situations. Since conferences and union conferences are legal entities apart from their membership in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, if expelled they would continue to exist as their own entities, though without the privileges of being part of the worldwide church.

These are the tools of the General Conference, divisions, and union conferences. These rather limited options (and the political capital that can be necessary to use them successfully) go a long way toward explaining why resolution of issues can take such a long time. An argument could be made that there is a fourth tool—money—depending on which direction the money is flowing (down to a poor lower unit or up from a wealthy lower unit). Aside from the double-edged nature of this tool, we are excluding it from the official list of tools because—unlike the other three—the granting or withholding of money is not sanctioned by Church policy as a form of influence.

The list of tools with which a conference influences local congregations is slightly different:

1. Providing counsel – as with the higher levels of the organization, congregations are supposed to counsel and coordinate with conferences in their actions. Also like the higher levels, congregations may choose to ignore the counsel given.

2. Hiring, assigning, and administering the work of pastors – as pastors set the tone in a congregation, control of the pastoral staff equates to control of the congregation. (It has become more common among large and wealthy congregations to hire additional pastoral staff with local funds, and these individuals would then answer to the congregation rather than the conference, but this scenario continues to be the exception rather than the rule.) This is the single most effective tool a conference has for managing the course of congregations—assuming they have the guts to use it. To put it bluntly, people pay attention to the will of the people or entity controlling their paycheck. If a pastor or pastors exceeding their authority understood from their conferences in no uncertain terms that failure to comply with certain boundaries would negatively impact their employment, there would most likely be a correction (or at least a show of correction).

3. Downgrading a congregation – usually a practical reaction to insufficient members or funding, but this action can also be taken as a disciplinary measure. Under the Adventist system of governance there are two classifications of congregations—the “church” and the “company.” A company is a smaller, usually younger, body that has not yet grown large enough to be a church in its own right. Companies are generally new plants made by nearby churches, and are overseen by those churches. When a company becomes a church it oversees its own affairs. It is within the power of a conference to make companies into churches, or churches into companies.

4. Dissolving a congregation – as with expelling an administrative unit, this is an extreme measure used only to address massive problems. Unlike expulsion of an administrative unit, a congregation whose collective membership is revoked ceases to exist and its assets are understood to be the property of the conference. (Members who are considered “loyal” may have their memberships transferred to other congregations, but the rest cease to have membership in the Adventist church should their congregation be dissolved. Who is considered loyal and who isn’t is a determination made by the conference.)

This greater range of options gives a conference much more flexibility (and leverage) to address issues that may crop up in the congregations they administer. Unfortunately, whether through disinterest, prioritization of the pastor’s well-being over that of the congregation, cowardice, or some other motive, it is rare to see a conference intervene in a troubled congregation.

The limits to what the higher organization is willing or able to do only serve to emphasize the importance of the membership using their tool for impacting the direction of their church—active and informed participation and voting in the business meetings of their congregations and larger constituent organizations.

Advice from the Spirit of Prophesy, Pt. 36

"There are some young men that say they have given themselves to the work, who need a genuine experience in the things of God before they are fit to labor in the cause of Christ. Instead of going without the camp, bearing reproach for Christ’s sake; instead of seeking the hard places, and trying to bring souls into the truth, these beginners settle themselves in an easy position to visit those who are far advanced in experience. They labor with those who are more capable of teaching them than they are of teaching others. They go from church to church, picking out the easy places, eating and drinking, and suffering others to wait upon them. When you look to see what they have done, there is nothing but leaves. They bring in the report, 'I preached here, and I preached there;' but where are the sheaves they have garnered? Where are the souls that have embraced the truth through their efforts? Where is the evidence of their piety and devotion? Those who are bringing the churches up to a higher standard, by earnest efforts as soldiers of Jesus Christ, are doing a good work.

"Too often the churches have been robbed by the class I have mentioned; for they take their support from the treasury, and bring nothing in return. They are continually drawing out the means that should be devoted to the support of worthy laborers. There should be a thorough investigation of the cases of those who present themselves to labor in the cause. The apostle warns you to 'lay hands suddenly on no man.' If the life is not what God can accept, the labors will be worthless; but if Christ is abiding in the heart by faith, every wrong will be made right, and those who are soldiers of Christ will be willing to prove it by a well-ordered life. There are many who enter the ministry, and their influence demoralizes the churches; and when they are rejected, they take their dismissal as a personal wrong. They have not Christ in the soul, as a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.

"I want to exhort those who are in positions of responsibility, to waken to their duty, and not imperil the cause of present truth by engaging inefficient men to do the work of God. We want men who are willing to go into new fields, and to do hard service for the Lord. I remember visiting in Iowa when the country was new, and I saw the farmers breaking the new ground. I noticed that they had heavy teams, and made tremendous efforts to make deep furrows, but the laborers gained strength and muscle by the exercise of their physical powers. It will make our young men strong to go into new fields, and break up the fallow ground of men’s hearts. This work will drive them nearer to God. It will help them to see that they are altogether inefficient in themselves. They must be wholly the Lords. They must put away their self-esteem and self-importance, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. When they do this, they will be willing to go without the camp, and bear the burden as good soldiers of the cross. They will gain efficiency and ability by mastering difficulties and overcoming obstacles. Men are wanted for responsible positions, but they must be men who have given full proof of their ministry in willingness to wear the yoke of Christ. Heaven regards this class with approval" (Review and Herald, October 8, 1889, par. 7-9).

Parts of the Whole

So what is the proper relationship between the individual church member and the church organization?

In exploration of this question we have presented the article series Gospel Order and several smaller items. In these we have seen that God chooses to work out His will for this world through the Church, and that order and organization are markers of God’s favor and leading. The exact manifestation of this organization will grow as needed to appropriately handle the growth of the Church. The Church, and the counsel it gives through its leaders, is a God-ordained safeguard against Satan’s attempts to deceive the judgment of individual members because there is strength in associating and counseling together. It takes work to maintain this unity, and the spiritual gifts are given to church members so that each may have their particular contribution to make in supporting and forwarding the work of the whole.

That said, not all can have preeminent leadership roles or there would be chaos; final decision responsibility must rest somewhere. Those who are chosen to take those leadership roles must use them to lead only in the direction of holiness and not seek to dominate those who follow them. Wise leaders will be open to and heed good advice from those around them. If and when disputes arise they should be decided by presenting the matters to representative higher bodies within the Church structure. Separation from the Church and established Church order is apostasy, not reform (barring extraordinary evidences that God is leading in the establishment of a replacement church, which has happened only three times throughout human history). Apostasy is also marked by attacks on Church structure, beliefs, and standards in a climate of deception, divisiveness, and personal attack.

The centrality of the Church in God’s plan is further emphasized by these statements from the Spirit of Prophesy:

“The church is God’s fortress, His city of refuge, which He holds in a revolted world. Any betrayal of the church is treachery to Him who has bought mankind with the blood of His only-begotten Son. From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth. In every age the Lord has had His watchmen, who have borne a faithful testimony to the generation in which they lived. These sentinels gave the message of warning; and when they were called to lay off their armor, others took up the work. God brought these witnesses into covenant relation with Himself, uniting the church on earth with the church in heaven. He has sent forth His angels to minister to His church, and the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against His people” (Acts of the Apostles, p. 11).

“During ages of spiritual darkness the church of God has been as a city set on a hill. From age to age, through successive generations, the pure doctrines of heaven have been unfolding within its borders. Enfeebled and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard. It is the theater of His grace, in which He delights to reveal His power to transform hearts” (Acts of the Apostles, p. 12).

To be effective in its purpose, the Church needs its members, “Every man is to stand in his lot and place, thinking, speaking, and acting in harmony with the Spirit of God. Then, and not till then, will the work be a complete, symmetrical whole” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 6, p. 293). Every person is important; every skill is needed. But what does it mean to stand in your lot and place? Do we find here support for the theory that Church leaders should be followed and supported without question?

“It is always safe to be meek and lowly and tenderhearted, but at the same time we are to be as firm as a rock to the teachings of Christ. His words of instruction are to be strictly heeded. Not one word is to be lost sight of. The truth will abide forever. We are not to place our trust in any lie or pretense. Those who do this will find that it has been done at the loss of eternal life. We are now to make straight paths for our feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way. When the lame are turned from safe paths, who is accountable but those who have misled them? They have set at nought the counsel of the One whose words are life eternal, for the works of deception originating with the father of lies” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 9, p. 266).

Here we see that being a follower does not include unquestioning support. We are ever to maintain our own individual vigilance about the truth of what we believe and do. This is important not only for our own salvation, but for that of our fellow believers who draw strength and validation from our examples. “When the lame are turned from safe paths, who is accountable but those who have misled them?” Every member of a church community impacts others in that community. Leaders, by virtue of their position, certainly have the greatest impact. But even the lowliest member in the back pew influences others by their example and is accountable for that example.

“I was pointed back, and saw that in every important move, every decision made or point gained by God's people, some have arisen to carry matters to extremes, and to move in an extravagant manner, which has disgusted unbelievers, distressed God's people, and brought the cause of God into disrepute. The people whom God is leading out in these last days, will be troubled with just such things. But much evil will be avoided if the ministers of Christ will be of one mind, united in their plans of action, and united in effort” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 1, pp. 212).

Satan will attack the Church in any way he can, including leading members to carry good things to extremes that turn them into bad things. It is important to note here that the term “member” applies to everyone in the Church—laity and clergy. No one is immune from Satan’s attacks. The solution for avoiding this pitfall (and many others) is to lean on the collective wisdom found in the Church body; if the rest of the body cannot unite in one mind with you on a given matter, then the matter should not be pushed. This counsel is particularly directed at ministers. It is not enough for the laity alone to be seeking to act in unity with the plans of their leaders—the leaders must also be seeking unity of plan and action with their congregation, their fellow leaders, and the larger body of the Church. “Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy; for by faith you stand.” (2 Cor. 1:24, NKJV)

How should a member express disagreement with the course of the Church, should such disagreement arise? Or should it not be expressed at all, and merely be suffered through? This is a point Ellen White directly addressed in a context where members were withholding funds in protest over problems in a conference:

“You who have been withholding your means from the cause of God, read the book of Malachi, and see what is spoken there in regard to tithes and offerings. Cannot you see that it is not best under any circumstances to withhold your tithes and offerings because you are not in harmony with everything that your brethren do? The tithes and offerings are not the property of any man, but are to be used in doing a certain work for God; unworthy ministers may receive some of the means thus raised; but dare anyone, because of this, withhold from the treasury and brave the curse of God? I dare not. … If the Conference business is not managed according to the order of the Lord, that is the sin of the erring one; the Lord will not hold you responsible for it, if you do what you can to correct the evil. But do not commit sin yourselves by withholding from the Lord His own property” (Sermons and Talks, Vol. 2, p. 74, emphasis supplied).

And again, “Some have been dissatisfied and have said: `I will not longer pay my tithe, for I have no confidence in the way things are managed at the heart of the work.’ But will you rob God because you think the management of the work is not right? Make your complaint, plainly and openly, in the right spirit, to the proper ones. Send in your petitions for things to be adjusted and set in order; but do not withdraw from the work of God, and prove unfaithful, because others are not doing right” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 9, p. 249).

These statements are so clear on their own that they really don’t require any elaboration. We will simply emphasize that they provide the expectation that members with complaints can and should register those complaints and do everything in their power to correct them, while at the same time being faithful supporters of the Church in every way, including finances.

To conclude, the Church is God’s chosen instrument for reaching this fallen world, and individuals should not seek to pursue their Christian walk outside of it. (There may be special circumstances where extreme distance or other factors make participation with other believers temporarily impossible, but this is not God’s ideal.) The Church’s vitality is derived from the active contributions of its members’ skills, abilities, and perspectives. Each member should be content to do what God has given them the ability to do for the advancement of the work of the Church, without jealousy of another’s work or position. However, one task that belongs to every member is to seek and promote God’s truth, and warn those who are in error. The Lord tells us, “When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.” (Ezekiel 33:8, 9) For their own good, as well as the good of their fellow members, anyone detecting error should labor with the appropriate party or parties to correct that error, in the proper spirit of meekness and love.

“Love for Christ unites man to his fellow man in unselfish interest. This is the science of benevolence. He whose heart is filled with the love that centers in God, realizes that he must deal justly and tenderly with his fellow beings because they have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. Supreme love for God leads us to seek the highest good of humanity” (Review and Herald, June 25, 1908 par. 3).

Gospel Order, Pt. 8

Divine Warnings Against Disorganization

The divine establishment of gospel order gave authority to appointments to oversight and direction in the work. The spirit in the church was one of counsel, and of deference to church order and government. The gift of “governments,” which is the gift of administration and organization, is one of the spiritual gifts. The apostle, writing from Italy to the Hebrew churches in Judea and everywhere, gave the exhortation: “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account.” Heb. 13:17.
Again he wrote: “We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.” 1 Thess. 5:12, 13.

Christ’s instruction regarding dealing with the erring shows that the visible church is a definitely organized body, not only having authority to maintain its unity and purity, but in duty bound to do so. Matt. 18:15-20; John 20:23. The spirit of prophesy says:—

Christ here gives no liberty for any man to pass judgment upon others. In the sermon on the mount he forbade this. It is the prerogative of God. But on the church in its organized capacity he places a responsibility for the individual members. Toward those who fall into sin, the church has a duty, to warn, to instruct, and if possible to restore. . . . Declare what God has said . . . If they persist in sin, the judgment you have declared from God’s Word is pronounced upon them in heaven. In choosing to sin, they disown Christ; the church must show that she does not sanction their deeds, or she herself dishonors her Lord. She must say about sin what God says about it. She must deal with it as God directs, and her action is ratified in heaven. He who despises the authority of the church, despises the authority of Christ himself. —“Desire of Ages,” pages 805, 806.

Before all the first apostles had passed away, the attack on the purity of the faith and the organization of the work had begun. The opposition of men who turned openly from the truth was not so deceptive and dangerous as that of those working from within. Hence Paul’s warning to the elders of Ephesus to take heed to themselves and to the flock, over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers; for men were to arise from within, teaching perverse things, and seeking to draw away the people after themselves. Acts 20:28-30.

Later, as apostasy further developed, Peter warned against those who in the name of greater liberty, would lead to the bondage of error. 2 Peter 2:19. They were opposed to the order and organization which hindered their efforts to tear down. They “despise government,” he says, “Presumptuous are they, self-willed.” Verse 10. Jude wrote of them also as despisers of dominion, or government. “These be they who separate themselves,” he said. Verse 19. As they could not dominate the organization, they drew apart and sought to separate churches and individuals from the movement.

The apostle John, who wrote latest of all, in all three of his epistles, warned against these influences. Of one experience, in which the pastor or officer of a church asserted its independence of apostolic oversight, refusing to receive the laborers sent to minister to it, he says: —

“I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.” 3 John 9.

No doubt this advocate of the independence of the churches from the general oversight established, was loud in his denunciation of the effort of the organized body to preserve the unity of the work. He prated against the apostle “with malicious words,” and had the word been coined then, he would surely have called the apostles’ effort popery. Inspiration says that his real difficulty was that he loved to have the preeminence among them. This was the spirit of self-exalting independence and disregard of gospel order and organization which led straight on to the papacy.

In this brief review of New Testament order we see the church established on the platform of truth, the whole body bound together in unity, possessed of the divine spirit of organization, with spiritual gifts and local and general officers set in it for the administration and government of its affairs in harmony and fellowship.

Christ was the leader and commander, guiding by the voice of the spirit of prophecy, and by the spiritual gifts promised to the church as it seeks his counsel.

Isaiah describes how the farmer plans with system and order his work of tilling the soil; “for his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.” Isa. 28:26. The church is “God’s husbandry,” or “tillage.” 1 Cor. 3:9, margin. He who gives wisdom to the tiller of the soil to plan his work, is Counselor to the gospel church, to enable its work to be done with the system and order befitting its sacred character. “This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” Isa. 28:29.

As was shown John in The Revelation, Christ himself walks among the seven candlesticks, the churches, and holds the seven stars, the messengers of the churches, in his own right hand. His presence and guidance are promised “even unto the end of the world.”

He has been the leader in this advent movement, and by the counsels of his Word and through the spirit of prophecy the divine principles of order and organization have been applied to present-day needs and conditions. Every principle in the organization of our work today is found in the Word of God. As one united people, let us devote all our powers to the finishing of the work.

W. A. Spicer

(Review and Herald, May 13, 1909)

We Hold These Truths

This week we have something a little unusual to present for your consideration. On December 15, 1941 a special radio broadcast was carried on all the radio networks across the United States. This program was in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the addition of the Bill of Rights to the US Constitution. It was entitled "We Hold These Truths."

This program was part history and part entertainment, but it was also--and this is why we're featuring it--an exploration of the philosophy on which any democratic system of government must operate. The concepts it discusses are just as applicable to private organizations which run on democratic principles as they are to civil governments.

As you listen to this program please keep in mind that it is also a product of its time. Coming as it did just one week after the bombing of Pearl Harbor which plunged the United States into World War II, its conclusion speaks to the then-current world events with a distinctly militaristic flavor. We trust that all of our readers are mature enough to understand this context and not take offense.

You can follow this link to access an audio archive of this broadcast.

Gospel Order, Pt. 7

A Glimpse at the work Under the Apostle Paul’s Oversight

The apostle Paul’s commission to the Gentiles led him to the regions now known as the Levant and southern Europe. Associated with Paul were other apostles, as Barnabas and Appollos, with many evangelists and other laborers. But as the chosen apostle to the Gentiles, the responsibility of general oversight fell to him. He certainly had that spiritual gift of “governments,” so important in administering a work in which many are engaged. He was an organizer, as testified by every glimpse of his labors given us in the very brief record. His writings, more than any others, emphasize again and again the organic unity of the church of Christ, and the importance of recognizing gospel order and organization in gospel service.

As churches multiplied in all parts of his field, Paul was continually visiting them, or sending laborers among them, building them up in faith and unity. As the work grew, and particularly as disorderly and evil elements began to develop, it is plain from his epistles that the responsibility of his apostleship—bringing “the care of all the churches”—laid upon him a heavy burden. 2 Cor. 11:28. It was with him “daily.”

As the churches increased in the different provinces, those geographically located together were evidently grouped so as to act together as a conference of churches. Thus, “the churches of Galatia,” “the churches of Macedonia,” “the churches of Asia,” “all Achaia,” etc., were given direction by the apostle as to concerted action to be taken, or sent salutations to churches in other parts. When the general fund was to be made up for the Judean believers, Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “As I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.” 1 Cor. 16:1. The second epistle shows that this instruction was for the churches of “all Achaia,” of which province Corinth was the center. The churches were instructed to make up the gift, and to appoint representatives to go with it to Jerusalem. “Whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send.” The Macedonian churches had the same instruction, and sent a representative, “chosen of the churches,” to join in carrying the bounty to Judea. 2 Cor. 8:19. Thus each group of churches acted in concert, as one provincial or state conference organization, and had their representatives appointed to look after certain work.

Again, we find Paul appointing ministerial laborers to the general oversight of provinces or conferences. Timothy was assigned to the province of Asia for a time, with instruction from Paul as to the ordering of the churches, the appointment of elders and deacons, and the care of the general interests of the churches grouped together in that province. See 1 Timothy. Titus was assigned for a time to Crete: “For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee.” Titus 1:5.

As the one in charge of the work in Crete, Titus was asked to see that Zenas the lawyer and Apollos, when they should arrive, were sent forward on their journey, provided with means so that nothing should be lacking to them. Titus 3:13. Those were not the days of bank drafts and postal remittances; but the instructions to Titus, and other similar references, show provision of funds available for the conduct of the work. As Paul told the Corinthians, the Lord, who ordained men to the ministry of the temple in former times, had also made provision for their support, and “even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” 1 Cor. 9:14. They were familiar enough with the manner of supporting the Lord’s work in the former time, by tithes and offerings, and “even so” it was ordained that the work of the gospel should be carried forward.

While Paul acted with the authority of an apostle, called to the general oversight or “care of all the churches,” he assumed no arbitrary authority over any. “Not for that we have dominion over your faith,” he wrote, “but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.” 2 Cor. 1:24. Though evil men often represented him as self-seeking and arbitrary in his work, assuming authority not belonging to him, he was really servant of all. He counseled his associate workers, not as an overlord, but as a fellow laborer, a comrade in the common service. But, as some one must lead out in all associate work, there was a necessity in gospel effort for a directing supervision to keep all interests moving harmoniously forward. Hence ministers, like Mark, Timothy, Titus, Silas, Tychicus, Artemas, Crescens, and many others, were sent here and there, called to come and go, appointed to one field and then another, all responding as the loyal soldiers of Christ that they were. They recognized the increased efficiency given to their labors by organization and union of effort.

The unity of the world-wide work was provided for in the supervision of the committee of apostles, ordained to represent the whole church. Paul’s visits to Jerusalem to counsel with the other apostles, as well as his constant teachings, bear witness to his efforts to maintain union and co-operation between the churches in all the world. They were all members of the one body, Christ the head,—

“From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Eph. 4:16.

The member is connected with the head only as it is a part of the body. Independent of the body, the hand or foot would be severed from connection with the head. The head can move the finger or the hand only as the finger or hand is united with the body.

The gifts of offices set in the church were to preserve the oneness and compactness of the body of Christ, the church, even after the first apostles had passed away. The churches were “set in order” by the appointment of proper officers. This was an important part of the ministerial oversight, and as Paul appointed Timothy to attend to this in Asia, and Titus in Crete, he gave instruction as to the qualifications of officers.

The elders were ordained to take “oversight” of the local church, not as “lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” 1 Peter 5:3. Careful selection was also to be made in filling “the office of a deacon,” as assistants to the elders in the administration of church work. 1 Tim. 3:8-15. The work of deaconess was also recognized. Rom 16:1, R.V., margin.

The church was an organized body, officered and equipped for harmonious and concerted service, every member having his responsibility and individuality before God, while this very relationship to God bound the members together in sacred fellowship with one another.

W. A. Spicer

(Review and Herald, May 6, 1909)