Wishing success for our Church in 2015

I collect meaningful devotionals through the years.  One particular devotional book I re-read so often, the 2009 daily devotional “Lest we forget” by George Knight, telling stories from Adventist Heritage.  From December 22 through 29 he lists reasons why small fraction of the MIllerite Advent movement succeeded and became the Seventh-day Adventist church, while other major fractions either disappeared or declined.

As we move forward into 2015 and beyond I ask you to consider these:

1)    amidst natural, economic, political, health, social and other disasters they offered hope, a pre-Millennial Advent (Return) of Christ, telling people that it will not be human genius that will fix this world, but Christ’s Coming.  Even today there is still confusion about secret rapture and other man-made theories of how it will all be in the end, we continue preaching the hope that Jesus is coming soon, and He is in charge of time.

2)    Their teaching was rational, it “made sense,” it was not built on emotionalism, or irrational fanatical extremism.  Early believers searched and studied the Bible for the truth, and presented doctrines that answered relevant questions.  Faith is connected to understanding.

3)    As kite flies against the wind, so there is dynamic in religious movements going against the flow.  Different doctrines gave the group sense of vitality, identity and meaning.  The truth they discovered in the Bible empowered them to go against conventional beliefs.  We should not downplay our differences, but gain strength from our uniqueness!

4)    The got organized!  Historians who analyze demise of other Adventist movements point out to a single major difference – other movements refused to organize, they remained congregational without ecclesiastical authority above the local church, and had no unity for mission, whereas our pioneers sought organizational unity to consolidate resources for mission.

5)    Their understanding of prophecies gave them urgency for mission.  In view of impending world’s crisis to come, they accepted responsibility for preparing people to meet it.  Our pioneers saw themselves as Watchmen on the walls of the moral world, calling to repentance.

6)    We started to be not just another denomination by a movement of prophecy, a movement of destiny, a movement called out in history by God’s providence to fulfill the Prophecy - the Three-Angels Message movement!

7)    The prophetic understanding of Revelation 10 moved our pioneers into mission to All the world.  We do not see ourselves as a homegrown and backyard homogeneous  group, but a world-wide church with responsibility to all nations, peoples, tribes, languages!  Mission first!

8)    Our pioneers were willing to sacrifice everything for mission.  They had received the Holy Spirit power to be witnesses, even at the cost of martyrdom, for God’s Kingdom sake. 

As I reflect on these points - our identity markers – my wish is for our church to continue in the spirit of our pioneers, in the Holy Spirit, not for our success sake, but to continue being the Kingdom Building movement.

Redeeming Christmas!

Over the past 10 years f my ministry here in London I addressed this subject through my blogs here.

December 2005 I invited all to read the Adventist Home chapter 77, entitled “Christmas”!   This year I appealed to you to consider the Adventist Home your family life manual as we addressed various subjects regarding family matters. It would be good for you to read it again J (especially page 482 where she writes “God would be well pleased if on Christmas each church would have a Christmas tree on which shall be hung offerings, great and small, for these houses of worship.”) 

As new people join our fellowship new questions arise.  Recently a person said to me “Ellen White wrote this when she was very young, in her early writings,” implying that with age and maturity she had changed her opinion, thus demoting her statement to unimportant.  My response was “Really?! and who appointed you a judge over inspiration?”  In fact this statement was and published in the Review and Herald, December 11, 1879 in response to early Adventists questions “Letters of inquiry have come to us asking, Shall we have a Christmas tree? will it not be like the world? We answer, You can make it like the world if you have a disposition to do so, or you can make it as unlike the world as possible. There is no particular sin in selecting a fragrant evergreen, and placing it in our churches; but the sin lies in the motive which prompts to action, and the use which is made of the gifts placed upon the tree.”  Consider the date – 1879, she was 52 years of age, that’s 21 years after her vision of the Great Controversy to which she dedicated the rest of her life writing, that’s 16 years after organizing the Seventh-day Adventist church.  This statement is no “early writings”!

A historical fact intrigued me this week. In 1800 Queen Charlotte had the first Christmas tree in Britain.   A German wife of George III, she brought the idea from her home in Germany where it was already a tradition.  December 24 on church calendars was a day of Adam and Eve.  Drama depicting biblical themes was a common tool to instruct people who were not able to read.  Churches often produced plays.  Plays celebrating Nativity of Christ were linked with the story of Creation, and an evergreen tree was the symbol of the Tree of Life and of Christ. 

What caught my attention, was the fact that the Christmas Tree tradition was very recent in England, and in the new world, in America.  It was just two-generations old, but being widely used in celebration of Christ who gives hope of everlasting life, our church pioneers did not ignore it, did not paranoidly feared it as “pagan,” but approached it with redemptive perspective – use it for the good, use it as an object lesson to teach grace, to bless others.

This Christmas season bring good into your neighborhood, bring happiness into lives of your children and families, be a source of blessing, joy, and use every opportunity to redeem the time for Jesus.