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Consider Dialogue 

November 19, 2000
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD

Adventists and World Evangelical Fellowship Consider 
Dialogue

Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.         A proposed 
series  of meetings between the Seventh-day Adventist 
Church and the World  Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) will 
aim to break down stereotypes and  foster greater 
understanding between the two groups, says Dr. Bert 
B.  Beach, director of inter-church relations for the 
Adventist Church worldwide. 

The dialogues were proposed at a November 8 meeting 
at the Adventist Church world headquarters between 
church leaders and Dr. James Stamoolis, executive 
director of the WEF's Theological Commission. 

"It's primarily about getting to know each other," 
says Beach, who began working on the idea with 
Stamoolis about a year ago.  

"We want to move beyond false stereotypes, to see where 
we agree and disagree, and to explore areas where we 
could mutually benefit by working together, such as 
on religious liberty initiatives."

If approved, the first meeting will take place at 
Glacier View, Colorado (USA),September 9 to 14, 2001.  
The dialogue-conversation  will take the form of a 
series of papers, produced by both the Adventist 
Church and the WEF's Theological Commission.  
The papers would be presented at a series of annual 
meetings over a period of four or five years.

The Theological Commission of the WEF, headed by 
Stamoolis, facilitates networking between evangelical 
theologians and produces scholarly and popular 
works on Christian theology.  Its stated goal is to 
"encourage Christians around the world to develop and 
articulate a biblical theology which takes into account 
the needs and opportunities of local contexts within 
a global perspective."

Dr. George Reid, director of the Adventist Church's 
Biblical Research Institute, says the meetings are not 
about forging agreements on theological or doctrinal 
issues. "There is no interest in ecumenism as such 
on either side," says Reid. 

Instead the two groups will produce papers aimed at 
establishing a profile of each group, in order to 
foster better understanding and to remove stereotypes. 
Parties to the dialogue will also review areas of 
doctrinal agreement and disagreement and discuss 
hermeneutics, or biblical interpretation.

Stamoolis, of the WEF, says that he hopes the outcome 
of the talks will be a "clear understanding between the 
parties in the dialogue regarding each others' 
position. I would like to see respect and an honest 
agreement to disagree when, after examination and study, 
the two sides find themselves on opposite sides of 
an issue."

The WEF, which traces its history to 1846, is an 
organization bringing together evangelical Christian 
denominations and organizations from 111 countries, and 
serving a constituency of some 160 million Christians.  

Related Web sites: 
www.worldevangelical.org
www.adventist.org