日韩AV

It is interesting to me that when I ask my students and other pastors what the message of the first angel of Revelation 14 is the majority typically reply, “fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is here.” I have also seen posters in the hallways of Adventist churches and church schools that declare the same. It has been many years now that I have been thinking about this and why the Adventist church has typically left out the first verse of the message of the first angel of Revelation 14, which is verse 6. 

 

“And I saw another angel flying through the sky, carrying the eternal Good News to proclaim to the people who belong to this world—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.” Rev 14:6 NLT

 

Why have we traditionally left the gospel message out of our evangelism and teaching? I am not a church historian or theologian and I have not come across any articles discussing this issue so the best explanation I have been able to think of is that when our church was born in the mid-1800s the country was seemingly on fire with the gospel. There were revivals across the country with preachers preaching passionately everywhere—people were giving their lives to Christ in large numbers. Within the context of this great religious revival some of our early church pioneers gave themselves up to spending great amounts of time studying the Scriptures. As they studied they were led by the Holy Spirit into the re-discovery of biblical teachings and doctrines such as the state of the dead and the seventh-day Sabbath.

 

It is my assumption that because everyone in that day already seemed to be so on fire for the gospel—to the point of some selling all that they owned to support the spread of the gospel—they focused on writing the new teachings they had discovered and teaching these to the people that came to hear them preach. In this way Adventist “distinctive” truth was talked about separately from the gospel foundation upon which it was born.

 

The problem, as I see it, is that many Adventists have maintained an almost exclusive focus on our distinctive truths in spite of the fact that today’s cultural context has dramatically shifted from a gospel-saturated culture to a very secular cultural environment. I believe that the result of this shift in culture and a lack of a corresponding shift in Adventist teaching has resulted in the foundation that our distinctive truths was built upon no longer being there to hold us up as it once did. As a youth pastor it always frustrated me that our denomination seemed to “assume” that children born into Adventist homes would somehow automatically become Adventists themselves without any special focus other than a series of doctrinal baptismal classes. Even though Ellen White arguably wrote more on the life of Christ than any other topic (Desire of Ages, Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, Christ’s Object Lessons, Confrontation, Steps to Christ, etc) the fact that we have somehow failed to introduce our children to Christ and the gospel, which was her primary focus, is evidenced by the loss of 50-70% or more of our young people from the church (depending on which studies you look at).

 

These thoughts help me to understand why traditional Adventist evangelistic meetings are no longer bearing the fruit they once did—we have been trying to use the methods that were very effective in a gospel-saturated culture in a now secular culture. I believe the answer to once again being better able to reach the world around us is to develop a greater focus on the gospel. Since secular people are rather hesitant to respond to a flier in the mail inviting them to go to a church, we need to find new methods to aid in fulfilling the gospel commission that we so dearly love—and in many places we have. One of the best new ways I have seen to reach the world around us with the gospel is through intentionally making our church schools centers of gospel evangelism for our communities. 

 

When we choose to develop a gospel focus in our church schools we are also helping to restore the full message of the first angel of Revelation 14 in the lives of our church members and their children, and in the message we share with the world around us. When we develop gospel-centered humanitarian outreach projects and programs based out of our church schools we help our young people to go beyond understanding the teachings of the Bible and are showing them how to “live” the teachings of the Bible in every-day life. In my experience in youth and young adult ministry for the past 30 years, if we don’t teach our young people how to live their faith in practical ways in the real world they are unlikely to develop a meaningful, life-changing faith at all. 

 

I have seen many examples of churches and church schools that have taken on this gospel focus and have become bright and shining lights for Christ in their communities. Basing gospel evangelism and humanitarian outreach out of our church schools makes a lot of sense because many have found that secular people are more open to coming to a school setting than a church setting. It is also a great way to involve our children in the full mission of the church from the time they are young,in this way helping us to “train up our children in the way they should go.” My prayer is for a resurgence of the 3 angels’ messages that our church holds so dear—a resurgence that is gospel-based and gospel-focused in a way that will glorify God and prepare a great harvest for our soon-coming Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Scott R Ward, DMin

Assistant Professor of Discipleship and Religious Education

For more information see collaborativeministry.org