image by ANN file photo Officers from the Adventist Church’s North American Division apologized in a letter last month to Executive Committee members for an inadvertent misstep in policy regarding commissioned ministers. Here, division President Dan Jackson, left, with Secretary

Feb. 14, 2012 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Ansel Oliver/ANN

The president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's North American Division apologized to the division's Executive Committee for some inadvertent oversteps in policy in the division's quest to allow commissioned ministers - including women - to serve as top leaders of local administrative units of the denomination.

The acknowledgement from division President Dan Jackson came in a January 31 letter following the results of the administration's own policy review of its actions at its Year-End Meetings in 2010 and 2011.

The review determined that the division had acted beyond its authority in modifying its Working Policy to include commissioned ministers as candidates for presidents of local conferences.

That policy discussion began in 2009, under previous presidents of both the division and the General Conference world headquarters.

In his letter, Jackson wrote that the division had continued to discuss the matter and operated under an incorrect "assumption" of the extent of its authority within its territory.

Jackson stated that the division "takes full responsibility for failing to do sufficient research into the constitutional issues that impacted our decisions. In bringing this matter to the floor in 2010 and 2011 we were doing so under the assumption that the North American Division had a constituency separate and distinct from the General Conference. Unfortunately, we were wrong and we sincerely apologize."

The first page of the General Conference Constitution states, "Each division of the General Conference is authorized to carry out responsibilities in the territory assigned to it. ...In order to carry the authority of the General Conference, the actions of division committees shall, of necessity, be in harmony with and complementary to the decisions of the General Conference in Session, and the actions of the General Conference Executive Committee between Sessions."

Still, some church leaders both in North America and at the General Conference say the recent discussion highlights a need for a clearer definition of a division's delegated authority.

Indeed, the General Conference is already moving on the matter. Last month, administration requested a group to review governance documents outlining the General Conference and division relationships, said Lowell Cooper, a vice president of the General Conference. That group will later offer a decision concerning whether additional clarity is needed, Cooper said.

Each of the 13 divisions function as extensions of the General Conference. Divisions do not have their own constituencies, constitutions or bylaws. However, within division territories, unions - which are comprised of conferences - each have their own constituencies.

In an interview, Jackson said the North American Division would continue to promote equality of men and women in leadership positions. He said ordination is "a separate issue" and would not be addressed at this time.

"We have no intention of dropping the consensus of the North American church that we need to empower our women of God who are called to be pastors and leaders," Jackson said. "We will not move away from this, but we will not cross policy again."

The Adventist Church currently allows only ordained ministers to serve as conference presidents. In 2005, the world church voted for this distinction to also apply to the denomination's president.

The "commissioned" ministers credential was authorized by the General Conference Executive Committee in 1987. In 1994, the Executive Committee delineated positions that could receive such credentials - typically treasurers, principals, directors, university presidents, hospital CEOs, and others not on an ordination track. That move also granted the title to associate pastoral care givers, including women.

General Conference policy and model constitutions for unions and conferences state that a president shall be an "ordained" minister of experience. The North American Division's change of its own policy in 2010 was intended to expand this statement to read "ordained/commissioned."

In his letter, Jackson stated that 107 of the division's roughly 4,000 ministers are women. He also stated his support for women commissioned ministers, citing the division's women clergy conference in Berrien Springs, Michigan, April 23 to 26.

The North American Division includes Bermuda, Canada, the French possession of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the United States, and the Pacific islands comprising the denomination's Guam-Micronesia Mission.

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Pastor Wilson in Jamaica

That The World May Know feat. Ted Wilson from Inter-American Division on Vimeo.

U.S. Surgeon General commends Adventist focus on holistic well-being

Jan. 31, 2012 Orlando, Florida, United States

Elizabeth Lechleitner, with reporting by Rainey Pack

In a show of solidarity with hundreds of Seventh-day Adventist health professionals, health ministry leaders and pastors from North America this week, United States Surgeon General Regina Benjamin advocated a “holistic approach” to well-being.

“If we really want to change and reform healthcare in this country, we need to prevent people from getting sick in the first place,” Benjamin said during her January 28 keynote address at the North American Division’s Health Summit in Orlando.

U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin [photo: Rainey Pack]

Benjamin, who helms the National Prevention Council established through U.S. President Barack Obama’s health reform act, said the administration’s vision is to change the nation’s healthcare system “from a focus on disease and illness to a focus on wellness and prevention.”

“Health does not occur in the doctor’s office or hospital alone,” Benjamin said. “Health occurs where we live, where we learn, where we work, where we play and where we pray.”

The surgeon general commended the Adventist Church’s ability to marshal widespread support and participation among its members. She noted the similarities between the church’s InStep for Life program and U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, a national initiative to fight the epidemic of childhood obesity. With InStep for Life’s added element of faith, the program has “inspired congregations and communities nationwide,” Benjamin said.

“I continue to be impressed by the innovative thinking that’s going on in the Seventh-day Adventist Church to make health something you live, and not just something you hope for,” she said.

The denomination is among some 50 other faith and community organizations that pledged in 2010 to support Let’s Move! Last year, Adventists at hundreds of churches, schools and hospitals nationwide participated in Let’s Move! Day by logging steps toward a goal of one million collective miles of physical activity.

Church members were able to double that goal and reach two million miles in 2011, said Katia Reinert, director of Health Ministries for the North American Division. Adventists in North America also planted more than 100 new vegetable gardens and farmers markets last year. For low-income families who struggle to feed their children over the summer months, church members also helped establish feeding sites at Vacation Bible Schools and other church events.

NAD gardens and farmers markets.[photo courtesy North America Division]

The Adventist Church in North America will in 2012 continue to focus on increasing physical activity among Adventists and community members and improving access to affordable healthy foods, Reinert said.

“It is our hope that every Adventist church will become a center for health in the community by using our resources to motivate people to experience a full abundant life and by improving the health and well-being of children, families and communities across North America,” she said.

With obesity rates doubling in adults and more than tripling in children since 1980, the need to raise awareness is more urgent than ever, health professionals said. Research indicates that more than 20 million U.S. children under the age of five are now overweight.

Obesity is often the “underlying cause” of heart disease, cancer and hypertension, and is the “number one risk factor” for Type 2 Diabetes, said Dr. Albert Reece, dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland.

“We are now number one in the world with regard to obesity,” Reece said. “The United States wishes to be and likes to be number one in everything, but this is not one area that we can be proud of.”

Adventist world church President Ted N.C. Wilson, who holds a master’s degree in public health from the church’s Loma Linda University, commended health summit organizers for bringing a spiritual perspective to health and well-being.

“These kinds of events and those that focus on the healthful way of living that points us to the Master Physician are vitally important for God’s church,” Wilson said.

The North America Division Health Summit runs through February 5.

Jan. 24, 2012 Labutta, Delta, Myanmar

Maung Maung Myo Chan/ANN staff

Members of southern Myanmar’s farming and fishing communities are learning to prevent and treat hypertension, diabetes and other disease.

A four-day health expo conducted by the church’s Health Ministries and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Myanmar recently drew more than 1,500 attendees and was a first for the Adventist Church in the Irrawaddy Delta region.

An Adventist Health Ministries volunteer takes a blood pressure reading during the church’s first health expo in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta region this month. Volunteers discovered that less than half of community members diagnosed with hypertension know how to treat the condition. [photo: ADRA Myanmar]

Church officials there report that efforts paid off and community members flocked to hear health lectures and receive free medical screenings and consultations. Staff discovered that while 60 percent of those screened had been diagnosed with hypertension, few understood what high blood pressure is or how to treat it.

Local authorities, who were at first reluctant to let the church host a health expo, changed their minds after observing community members leave with newfound health and lifestyle knowledge, church leaders said.

“[The authorities] started to understand the program,” said Dr. Htwe Lay, Adventist Health Ministries director for Myanmar. “Not only did they fully support the health program, they also asked us to conduct more of this in other neighboring areas in the future.”

Comprised of nearly 700 villages, Myanmar’s Labutta region was the country’s hardest hit region when Cyclone Nargis made landfall in 2008. ADRA Myanmar has been active in the region since then, implementing rehabilitation and development projects and addressing health, livelihoods, water hygiene, sanitation and food security concerns.

The region is largely Buddhist, but church leaders hope the health outreach finds traction in the community. Lay said she hopes “the Adventist message will be reached through the health message.”

Jan. 09, 2012 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States

Elizabeth Lechleitner/ANN

The saga of securing official church status in Hungary continues, despite what religious liberty advocates called encouraging news late last year when the Constitutional Court struck down the country’s controversial Law of Churches.

Prior to that ruling, more than 300 minority faiths -- among them the Seventh-day Adventist Church -- were set to lose official legal status in Hungary on January 1, after which they would undergo a reapplication process.

With the New Year, those churches are facing a similar situation.

The country’s Constitutional Court overturned the Law of Churches purely on technical grounds, and on December 30 Hungary’s majority conservative party “easily” reintroduced and passed essentially the same law, effective January 1, said Dwayne Leslie, the Adventist world church’s legislative representative in Washington, D.C.

Hungary’s Parliament claims the law is necessary to weed out businesses or individuals posing as churches just to gain the accompanying rights and privileges. Furthermore, the majority government maintains that the law doesn’t infringe on religious liberty. It doesn’t “forbid” worship according to any faith tradition, Hungary’s minister of state for government communication, Zoltan Kovacs, wrote in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

Kovacs said the law merely outlines how churches can gain official recognition “if they show themselves to be popular enough.” One condition requires a church to prove a decades-long history in the country and count more than 1,000 members. 

The Hungarian government is “making efforts to explain to the international community that this is not a human rights issue,” said Ganoune Diop, the Adventist world church’s representative to the United Nations.

“The situation in Hungary is very complex, and there are several issues at play, from economic to judicial and legislative -- and in front of these issues, religion. The government sees the de-registration of churches as a response, in part, to the tremendous challenges the country is facing,” Diop said.

Some experts have even predicted a further recession on Hungary’s horizon, he added.

“We must voice our concerns over the de-registration of churches, but whatever we say about the situation in Hungary must be prudent and sensitive to the context and sovereignty of Hungary,” Diop said.

Many members of the international religious liberty community maintain that regardless of the country’s internal struggles, the law poses undue challenges for legitimate religious organizations.

“Now we not only have an objective standard of what constitutes a church, but we also need a two-thirds vote of Parliament just to become an official religion, and we think that’s problematic,” Leslie said.

Currently, 82 of the some 300 minority religions de-registered under the latest law have reapplied for official status, among them the Seventh-day Adventist Church, denomination officials in Hungary said.

Religious liberty analysts said provisions of the new law indicate that those churches that have already applied for status will not experience a gap in official recognition. They’ll maintain previous recognition while a decision regarding their ultimate status is pending in Parliament.

Members of Parliament have indicated that they’ll arrive at a decision by the end of February, analysts said. Church leaders in Hungary report that “communication with the government” suggests that the Seventh-day Adventist Church will regain official church status.

“One positive improvement in the new law is that it does not prohibit denominations to use the term ‘church,’ even if they are not accepted by Parliament,” said Ócsai Tamás, president of the church’s Hungarian Union Conference. Churches to which Parliament does not grant official recognition will receive a “religious association” status, he said.

“Hopefully some churches in Hungary -- including the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which has been operating in the country for more than a century -- will have a positive answer [next month],” said John Graz, director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the Adventist world church.

“We encourage all believers to pray for religious freedom in Hungary, so our church and others can continue to operate for the good of the nation as in the past,” Graz said.

Top Seventh-day Adventist leadership in Hungary and the church’s Trans-European Division will continue to closely monitor the situation, along with the denomination’s global religious liberty community.

Read More Adventist Review

With the voting by the Trans-European Division Executive Committee on November 16, the NAD no longer goes it alone.  TED has officially rejected their constitution, the GC Annual Council decision saying "no" to their request for a variance, and the GC in Session votes to maintain role distinction between men and women in the church.

Japan visit highlights country's history, charts course for church there

 

Nov. 10, 2011 Yokohama, Japan

SukHee Han/ANN staff

 

Seventh-day Adventist world church President Ted N. C. Wilson offered church members and leaders in Japan a message of encouragement and comfort during an official visit to the country last week.

 

 

The visit was Wilson's first in the country since a massive earthquake struck northeastern Japan in March, spawning a tsunami and widespread devastation.

Echoing an earlier statement, Wilson said he represented the Adventist world church in extending condolences and sympathy for those affected by the disaster and still recovering. Wilson told an audience in Fukushima to claim the promises of the Bible during times of adversity. "My help comes from the Lord," he said, quoting Psalm 121.

Later, at Hiroshima Adventist Academy, Wilson offered students a similar message of reliance on God. "Don't trust in yourself. Trust in the Lord," he said.

While visiting the nearby Peace Memorial Park, Wilson met Sumiko Ueki, an Adventist survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. During World War II, Ueki worked at a munitions factory less than two miles from the bombing site. After escaping death, she sent her daughter to an Adventist school and later joined the church herself.

Hiroshima has become a "symbolic city of peace" thanks to the "will power and courage" of the Japanese people, Wilson said.

"When we stand firm upon God's word, depend on the Lord and do our best in preaching the gospel of ultimate peace, the Adventist Church in Japan will be revived," Wilson added.

The world church leader met with another World War II survivor the next day. Saburo Arakaki was among the last group of Japanese soldiers to surrender on the island of Saipan. While Arakaki was initially sentenced to death for war crimes, Arakaki's sentence was later reduced to life in prison in Hawaii. There, he was baptized as a Christian. After almost a decade in prison, Arakaki was pardoned. He returned to Japan to study theology and dedicated his life to ministry.

Wilson thanked the now 85-year-old Arakaki for his efforts in developing Adventist mission and education work in Japan.

Later, during a visit to church headquarters in Japan, Wilson met with Adventist officials to discuss strategic planning for the church. The Adventist Church was established in Japan more than 100 years ago and now counts a membership of about 15,000. In recent years, church growth has stagnated. Japan's population is aging, and the church faces deeply rooted secularism and a growing indifference toward Christianity.

Wilson acknowledged that the church in Japan faces numerous "difficulties and challenges," but challenged leaders to embrace a new enthusiasm for the world church's Revival and Reformation initiative.

"What we need to accomplish the mission is spiritual revival and reformation. This work must be accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit," Wilson said, adding that humble hearts, Bible study and alignment with God's will are necessary for the outpouring of his spirit.

Wilson commended the work of the region's HisHands Mission Movement, a lay initiative that shares the Adventist message of hope, particularly in locations with little or no Adventist presence. Some 3,000 HisHands missionaries work in Japan and other countries in the church's Northern Asia-Pacific Division.

Wilson also invited the region to participate in the world church's Great Controversy Project and join in its emphasis on evangelism to urban centers. Tokyo could be an ideal city for the initiative, he said.