wfn.org | In first dialogue Reformed churches and Adventists address social

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Note #6519 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

mission
8-May-2001
01164

In first dialogue Reformed churches and Adventists address social mission

by Laurie Spurr
Ecumenical News International

Geneva - Meeting formally for the first time, two traditions of
Protestantism - the Reformed and the Adventist - agreed on a statement
addressing the most pressing problems facing the world today.

	HIV/Aids, violence against women and children and religious liberty were
among the tasks identified as common ground in a document produced at the
end of a meeting in Switzerland last month by the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches (WARC) and the Seventh?day Adventist Church.

	Theologians also addressed mutual misunderstandings about the nature of
their respective faiths in the document, the result of a dialogue held April
1-7 in Jongny sur Vevey, Switzerland.

	The dialogue was called an "alternative model" for such encounters, because
it bypassed the usual study of doctrine - which can take years of
discussion, even between denominations that are not far apart - and went
straight to practical issues of social mission.

	Although the report defers plans for co-operation in its discussions on
Aids, violence and religious freedom, it calls on churches to provide
pastoral care for those affected by Aids.

	"The task is huge," Dr William Johnsson, editor of the Adventist Review and
a participant in the dialogue, told ENI, referring to the Aids epidemic.
"There is enough work for anyone of good will who is moved by the tragedy of
it. It's not like we have to be lock step."

	The Seventh-day Adventist church has 12 million members in more than 200
countries. It is especially strong in parts of Latin America, Africa and
eastern Asia.

	Explaining the pastoral approach adopted in the face of Aids, another
participant in the dialogue, Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus, theological secretary
of WARC, said that among Reformed Christians there is "a tendency to deal
with this issue without first identifying different behavior as right and
wrong*[Aids] cannot be dealt with exclusively on the basis of sexual ethics.
In Africa, for example, it's a question of orphans, of the disease leaving
thousands of children without parents." (WARC represents 214 churches with
75 million members in 106 countries.)

	Besides Aids, violence and religious freedom, other social problems
identified for possible co-operation were poverty, economic debts of
developing nations, ecological destruction, and gender bias.

	"This text tries to do something different," Mateus said. "It encourages
people to decide what we should do in the world today. It's a matter of
practice."

	Mateus suggested that putting social mission ahead of doctrine could lead
to more fruitful meetings with other Christian churches.

	"I hope this can be seen as a useful, alternative model for other
dialogues," he said. "In the classical model, the assumption is that if we
overcome doctrinal differences, we will be able to work together. But maybe
if we do mission together first, we will come to trust each other and
develop an ecumenical spirituality, a way of living out our faith together
beyond divisions."

	Experience already provides examples. Mateus pointed to the struggle
against apartheid in South Africa as one. In that struggle, Protestants of
many denominations worked together with Roman Catholics and members of other
faith bodies without first addressing doctrinal differences.

	"We're looking for ways to co?operate without compromising our different
ways of approaching problems," Mateus said. "Our goal is to broaden the
horizon of the people reading this document."

	Mateus said that many Reformed people saw Adventists as members of a sect,
not belonging to the mainstream of Christianity. This was, she added, partly
caused by misunderstandings about the church's doctrines on the second
coming of Christ.

	One mid-19th-century Adventist church - predating the founding of the
Seventh-day Adventist church in 1863 - named a specific date, 1844, for
Jesus' second coming.

	But the report states clearly that Seventh-day Adventists have never set
such dates.

	Dr Johnsson told ENI that Adventists considered themselves to be in the
mainstream of Protestant Christianity. "It has been a puzzle to me and
others as to why we have been regarded as out on the edge," he said. "We are
mainline Christians in that we proclaim the Gospel. We have a particular
slant, the eschatological emphasis, which gives us a sense of seriousness,
of urgency. But we also believe that God has many agencies around the
world."

	Dr Johnsson described Adventists as "people who love the Lord Jesus and
love people. Our religion is very practical. We seek to be followers of
Jesus and to carry out his mission, healing and uplifting people." The
church had well-developed school and health systems, he said.

	Besides their different emphasis on the second coming of Christ, the report
revealed a difference in the degree of importance the two traditions place
on social and political engagement.

	For most Reformed churches, salvation is not individual but societal.
Political involvement is "part of witnessing to God's salvation," Mateus
said. "We understand that salvation starts here. We have a tradition of
concern from the Lordship of Christ over the whole creation. We try to bear
witness to this belief by working for human development."

	Adventists look to help individuals and tend not to take political stands
or advocate member engagement in issues. Commenting on the Reformed
position, Dr Johnsson said: "The idea of evangelizing or converting the
structures of society is quite new to Adventists. That was a challenge for
us."

	The document, with the title Report of the International Theological
Dialogue between the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the World Alliance of
Reformed Churches, will go to WARC member churches for study and is likely
be disseminated to Seventh?day Adventist churches as well, after further
internal review.

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