The Local Church is Killing Adventist Education
The local church is killing Adventist Education, but don’t get excited hard liners. It’s not because of a lack of support for Adventist Ed (we like to use this one). It’s not because a lack of willingness by parents to sacrifice (we like to use this one a lot). It’s not because so many parents are sending their Adventist Kids to non-Adventist schools (we like to use this one also). No the way in which the local church is killing Adventist Education centers around two numbers: 40 & 25.
Let me explain!
According to statistics coming out of the North American Division presented to the Pacific Union Conference Executive Committee by Educational Director Berit von Pohle the numbers 40 & 25 are painting a bleak picture for Adventist Education.
40 = the percentage of Adventist churches with NO school age children!
25 = the percentage of Adventist homes with children, in other words 75% of all Adventist homes have NO kids in them!
These numbers are frightening and even more frightening in light of the fact that the median age of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America is almost 60 years old.
Unless we have Abraham’s and Sarah’s out there our schools are in trouble!
You see local churches are not killing Adventist schools becuase they want to or because they don’t support them, they are killing Adventist Education simply because they have NO kids to send.
As I think about these numbers I believe the best way to save Adventist Ed is not by investing in the infrastructure, though this is good. It is not by asking churches to invest more money to bail the schools out (though at times this is needed). No the best way to save Adventist Ed is to invest in evangelising young families and working to keep every single young person that is currently in our churches, in our churches! Investment into the growth of the local church is an investment into Adventist Education!
Let me use the church I pastor as an example.
3 years ago we had roughly 35 individuals attending 3 different elementary or secondary Adventist schools (Sierra View Junior Academy, Armona Union Academy, & Monterey Bay Academy). We now have 52 individuals attending those same 3 schools. Normally that would seem like a very drastic jump, but when we look at the precentages it is not that drastic. 3 years ago we had around 60-70 school aged children in our church, that means roughly 50-58% of Adventist children attending our church were also attending an Adventist school.
Currently we sit at almost those exact same precentages. Almost 50% more students are in our schools from our church, but it is not because precentage wise more parents are supporting Adventist Ed, we’ve just increased the size of the pie.
Now while our church looks to be a great benefactor to our Sierra View Junior Academy and Armona Union Academy for many years to come, (we have 10 families off the top of my head with kids not yet of school age that will definitely send their children to Adventist schools in the years ahead) our larger schools were not built on the financial model of JUST ONE church supporting one school (the term supporting is not indicating financial, prayer, or physical assistance at the school which many churches with no kids continue to do. I am using the term here in reference to BOTTOMS IN SEATS). In other words we need to not just increase the size of the pie in one church, we must increase the size of the pie in all our churches!
Again another illustration from our current context. Over the last three years our local schools attendance has dropped from 110 to 96 students. The number of students from our church to that school has increased in that same time from 23 to 30.
40% of churches with no kids is not a sustainable growth model.
60 being the median age of the SDA church in North America is not a sustainable growth model.
75% of Adventist homes having NO children in them, is not a sustainable growth model.
What must change?
We must invest in evangelizing more young adults and young families, we must invest in retaining the children we do currently have in our churches, and we must stop thinking that this thing is going to turn around simply with more money and more current SDA parents sending their kids.
If we fail to get more NEW young families into our churches, then we will fail to be able to sustain MOST if not ALL our multi constituent schools.
Historical Events That Were Seared Into My Brain
There are days I remember in my life better than others. Days I remember because of events outside the context of my immediate life…
January 28th, 1986:
I was in the 1st Grade our day had just started at Angwin Elementary School. We were sitting in Mr. Crow’s Jr. High classroom and right before our eyes the Shuttle Challenger exploded. It took a second for me as a 1st Grader to register that all those people had just died. I remember the older kids in the room letting out sobs and gasps and our teacher Mrs. Bernard quickly gathered us up and rushed us out of the room. I also remember my parents watching all the news coverage. Magic changed the way we as a country looked at the AIDS virus and he changed the way I looked at athletes. I still cared a lot for the teams, but as far as the players went, if they were on my team I was a fan, if they weren’t, then I didn’t care.
So that is my jaunt down memory lane…if you came with me…well I hope you didn’t have more important things to do:)
Happy Reformation Day to the Cowboy, the Cow, and My Pink Headed Sweetheart
Me I just wore jeans and a sweat shirt (I’m not really a joiner)…maybe if I agree to wear a brown robe next year we can celebrate The Reformation. I think my wife would still be the most beautiful woman in the world even in a burlap type robe!
Vatican to the Rescue
Another great post from Dwight Nelson’s blog. The time for business as usual has passed, we must be about the Lord’s work while there is still time! Read and be blessed.
VATICAN TO THE RESCUE?
October 26th, 2011
On Monday Rome issued a bold 18-page response to and proposal for the burgeoning financial crisis engulfing the world. According to the Reuter news agency it calls “for sweeping reforms of the world economy and the creation of an ethical, global authority to regulate financial markets as demonstrations against corporate greed continued to spring up in major cities across the globe” (uk.reutres.com/article/2011/10/24/Vatican-economy-idUKL5E7LO1LS20111024). While a Vatican spokesman clarified that the document is not an expression of the pope or the papal magisterium and does not carry the weight of church dogma, it nevertheless bears “an authoritative note” from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (http://www.newsmax.com/EdwardPentin/Vatican-Global-Finance-Plan/2011/10/25/id/415693).
I have reviewed the document, posted at the official Vatican news website (www.zenit.com). It is laudable that Rome raises her voice over the plight of the economically disenfranchised. In doing so she sympathizes with the populist Occupy Wall Street movement that has gone global over the last few weeks. And it certainly is within the purview of a church body to call the world to economic equity. But central to this Vatican proposal is the formation of a “supranational authority” (also called the “world Authority” in the document) to guide and lead the world toward a more equitable banking and economic policy and practice.
And it is precisely the language of a “universal jurisdiction” and a “central world bank” that concerns me and should concern others who are watching for the apocalyptic endgame. The document proposes that the United Nations become the initial vehicle for economic reform, “on the way to creating a world political Authority.” Who or what that world Authority is beyond the U.N. is not identified in the proposal. But for students of Revelation 13, the prediction that at the end of time there will be a resurgence of the geo-religio-political power of the Dark Ages gives cause for pause. “And all the world marveled and followed the beast” (Revelation 13:3).
Those who suggest the Vatican’s proposal is simply an economic policy recommendation need to reread the document: “In this process, the primacy of the spiritual and of ethics needs to be restored and, with them, the primacy of politics—which is responsible for the common good—over the economy and finance” (Zenit, emphasis supplied). So whose definition of “spiritual” do you suppose Rome envisions for the world, whose “primacy” does she seek to restore?
Cardinal Peter K. A. Turkson concludes this document, surprisingly for apocalyptic watchers, with a discussion of Babel! “The image of the Tower of Babel also warns us that we must avoid a ‘unity’ that is only apparent, where selfishness and divisions endure because the foundations of the society are not stable. In both cases, Babel is the image of what peoples and individuals can become when they do not recognize their intrinsic transcendent dignity and brotherhood” (ibid). But apocalyptic watchers know that Babel is in fact the image of “confusion,” of the human attempt to replace God with itself, of Babylon’s fateful amalgamation of pagan self-worship with a vestige of divine truth. It is that Babylon that Revelation warns will rule the world in the end. And for that reason we who live in the Fourth Watch of history should hardly be surprised with the Vatican’s offer to the world this week. As Jesus warned, “Let those who have ears hear” (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 19; 3:6, 13, 22).
The Destruction of Creation
The theory that God created this world in 6 literal days just a few thousand years ago, is a belief that is seen as foolish by much of the world (around 40% of the United States believes in a literal Creation by God less than 10,000 years ago), even many in Christian circles (less 40% have absolute belief in the Genesis creation account but 78.4% claim to be Christians). The attacks to this theory often come through scientific arguments, but I believe that the attacks on what happened at creation are even more visible elsewhere. And that place is RELATIONSHIPS!
Scientists have been blamed for trashing Genesis 1 & 2, but the real trashing of the creation account is ALL OF US, because the great theme of the creation accoun is not how many days God made the earth or how many years ago that was, the great theme of the creation story is: Relationship.
Relationship with God
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” –Genesis 1:26-28
The IMAGE language of Genesis 1 is relationship language. I am a parent and since the day both my boys have been born one of the most common conversations, especially with new people we meet is the conversation of, “Oh he looks just like you!” “He looks just like his dad.” “Oh but I see some of his mom in him too.” Why do people say these things? Why do we have this conversation over and over again? Because we like the idea that someone looks like us, someone is like us, someone is from us. Why do we like this idea? Because it holds with it the idea that there will always be this person to be in relationship with! I believe, and I see the totality of scripture supporting this idea, that God was saying with each statement of image, “this is my child who will always be mine.” So when we do not reflect the image of God by being loving, (1 John 4:8), we are in fact rejecting the creation story and trashing the creation story.
Another area in the creation account where God illustrated the relationship idea between God and man is in what happened after the 6 literal days, it was God’s lack for creation on the 7th day that emphasized relationship with Him.
“1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” –Genesis 2:1-3
The Sabbath was specifically established as a day of relationship, primarily relationship with God to delight in God (Isaiah 58:13-14). When we do what we want on the Sabbath that is not something done in communion with God, or when we don’t keep the Sabbath (both of these are the exact same thing, not keeping the Sabbath at all is just as much a denial of God’s day as doing things that are not in accordance with Relationship to God on the Sabbath) we are trashing and denying the creation story, the creation account.
Basically what I am saying is this. Folk can blame the evolutionists all they want for destroying the validity of the Bible. And people can condemn the certain scientists all they want for weakening the belief in God’s literal creation.
But by being unloving and by not honoring the Sabbath. You and I, we are equal to the evolutionists in the destruction of God as Creator and in creating doubt in people’s minds for the infallibility of scripture.
Protests In the Streets
This post is actually from Dr. Dwight K. Nelson’s blog, “The Fourth Watch” I would encourage y’all to begin reading this blog! Since on his blog there is at this point no avenue by which to link a twitter acount or facebook, I put the post here on my blog, because I felt it was something all of us needed to read! Again all of the following is out of the brain of Pastor Dwight and not my own. If you would like to comment I would encourage y’all to comment at “The Fourth Watch”
PROTESTS IN THE STREETS
October 7th, 2011
Here in the Fourth Watch blog we examine current trends in this nation or the world that I believe are harbingers of earth’s darkest hour (what the ancient Romans called the fourth watch) just before the sunrise of Christ’s return. And while these observations and analyses reflect my personal convictions, I am amazed at the ascendency of voices—secular as well as religious—that are warning of what lies ahead for our civilization.
Take for example the seemingly isolated street protests against Wall Street, that for three weeks now occupied Zuccotti Park in the financial district of New York, railing against corporate greed and economic decline, and blaming US financial institutions and Wall Street for the resultant unemployment. Hundreds have been arrested. But thanks to Twitter and social media sites, the New York protests are now spreading to other cities in the nation. Students now threaten walk-outs from classes in sympathy with these protests. (Though less violent, these homeland demonstrations are not unlike the radical street protests in Athens, as Greeks have turned with vengeance on their government and the European Union for their own financial meltdown—and what now appears to be certain national bankruptcy.)
How could an isolated street protest burgeon into a national movement? Here’s CNN.com’s assessment: “Occupy Wall Street is a leaderless movement made up largely of twentysomethings upset with the economy, the Afghanistan war, the environment, and the state of America and the world in general. In less than three weeks, the movement has become a magnet for countless disaffected Americans at a time when an overwhelming majority of U.S. adults say the country is on the wrong track” (http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/politics/occupy-wall-street/).
But what could morph the Occupy Wall Street protests into an apocalyptic game-changer is the announcement that labor unions are joining the movement. Responding to Twitter calls from Occupy Boston (a sister movement to the New York protests), the Massachusetts Nurses Association is joining the rally. In New York so are the Amalgamated Transit Union, the Transport Workers Union, and the United Federation of Teachers union among others. Is it possible that a nationally diminished labor movement could find new life and impetus in all of this?
How innocuous are labor unions in a Fourth Watch scenario? In a terse exposé of capitalist excesses, the Bible declares: “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. . . . Your gold and silver are corroded. . . . You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. . . . Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. . . . because the Lord’s coming is near” (James 5:1-8). A day of reckoning is coming for the barons and minions of Wall Street who have made their billions at the expense of the paltry savings and investments of a once unsuspecting public. But could a sympathetic labor movement backlash into a prophetic paradigm shift? These words were in a letter written in 1904: “The trade unions will be the cause of the most terrible violence that has ever been seen among human beings” (Letter 99, 1904). Main street, Wall Street, the street protests may not be so innocuous after all.
My point: the headlines we now live through are not inconsequential to a Fourth Watch mindset, are they? NOW is the most opportune time you and I may ever have to freely share the everlasting gospel of Christ with people who need him—family members, friends, colleagues. NOW is the church’s opportunity to seize the moment, rise up and in the panoply of the Spirit’s infilling and hurry to a final civilization with the news of Jesus’ soon return. Our friend Ron Clouzet’s satellite series, “Prophecies Decoded,” to the continent couldn’t be timelier (join us this evening at 7:20). Let him, let her who has ears hear. For the rumble we hear may be the tread of an approaching God.
Comment at “The Fourth Watch” blog