wfn.org | Adventists Consider New Ways to Explain Core Beliefs

[APD <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

May 24, 2002
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Adventists Consider New Ways to Explain Core Beliefs

 
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA - The challenge of finding 
new ways to communicate Seventh-day Adventist 
beliefs to people in a non-Christian context dominated 
the discussions of leading experts in mission who met 
April 8 and 9 at the Adventist Church's headquarters in 
Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.
 
The Global Mission Issues Committee, which meets 
annually to address issues faced by cross-cultural
workers, combined short presentations and discussions. 
Papers were given on how the church's fundamental 
beliefs relate to understandings of Islam, Buddhism, 
Hinduism, Judaism, Animism, and Postmodernism.
 
"I want people to know what we believe," said Jon 
Dybdahl, chair of the department of Mission at Andrews
University, in Michigan, United States, "but they won't 
know what we believe unless they hear it in terms
they understand. Our 27 Fundamental Beliefs were 
written in relation to other Christians. Now we need to
express them in the context of other religions."
 
Adventist theologian Angel Rodriguez, director of the 
church's Biblical Research Institute (BRI), said it is
vital for the church to explain its fundamental beliefs to 
people in particular cultural circumstances, in terms
that they can understand. "We're not talking about 
watering down our beliefs," adds Michael Ryan, director
of Global Mission. "We're talking about making them 
meaningful to people who come from different religious
traditions."
 
Borge Schantz, a cross-cultural expert from Denmark, 
presented a paper on meeting the spiritual needs of
people from an Animist or "Ethno-Religionist" tradition. 
"All 27 Fundamental beliefs are needed," he said.
"They must, however, be carefully adapted to local 
cultures." He gave the example of the importance of the
spirit world and ancestor worship within Animism--an 
issue scarcely addressed by the church's fundamental
beliefs. He suggested adding a theological statement on 
the role of angels in spiritual life.
 
Other topics discussed during the meetings included the 
need for theological statements on areas that
loom large in the context of other world religions--
devotional life; tribalism, racialism, and gender bias;
poverty and economic justice. "The committee produced 
several working statements on these issues, with a
view to recommending that they be included with the 27 
Fundamental Beliefs," said Ryan. "The committee
was clear, however, that these would in no way change 
the meaning of these beliefs."
 
Richard Elofer, director of the Worldwide Jewish 
Friendship Center in Israel, stressed "the need to deal 
with the historical attitude of Christians toward the 
Jews." He also pointed to "many statements" in 
Adventist literature that "can be understood by Jews in 
a negative way and need to be corrected." 
 
Members of the Issues Committee include 
administrators from Adventist Church world 
headquarters; presidents of the various regional 
organizations of the church, known as divisions; experts 
in mission, or "missiologists;" representatives from the 
Biblical Research Institute; and Global Mission staff.
 
For more information on the Global Mission Issues 
Committee and the church's Global Mission initiative, 
visit www.global-mission.org. [Editor Gary Krause for 
ANN]

Reproduction Requirements: 
Reproduction of information in this article is  
encouraged. When reproducing this material, in full or in 
part,  the words "Source: Adventist News Network" 
must appear under the headline or immediately 
following the article.