Why I'm Still Glad to Be a Member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Some might wonder if, in the light of recent events occurring within the "formally" organized SDA church,¹ some of us have wearied of our membership in it. Perhaps some have. But for me, the answer is not difficult:

No.

I remain an active member of the incorporated body headquartered in Maryland and composing of some 12 million members worldwide. I preach and teach and baptize into this church. I return my tithe through this church. I pray for the earthly leadership of this church. Yes. In spite of all the warts.

Let each of us be careful and not forget that we live in the midst of a throw-away society. We have to rise above the standard operating procedure of the world around us, who, if something seems to stop being of use to them, chuck it out the window without a second thought. Church membership is not to be taken lightly. Not at all. Consider this statement:

It will not do for any of us to get careless and indifferent in regard to our church-membership. While on this journey that I am now taking, I have felt a most solemn responsibility to try to show our people that God holds them accountable to live lives that will keep the atmosphere of the church pure and fragrant. God is dishonored, and his Spirit is grieved, when this atmosphere is tainted by careless living and by evil-speaking.²

The intent of that statement was to remind its hearers of the sacredness of their church membership. We're not saved through being a member of the formally organized church, but it is still God's desire that we link our life and influence to the structure that He has erected on the earth. The church needs its salt. It is to be composed of "the called out" from the world. It's different than joining the Rotary Club. People can and do just up and leave from some types of organizations. Why not the SDA church?

God's purpose for the church is that is be "the pillar and ground of the truth." And so the most loyal members will be those insisting that the pillar and ground of the truth be the pillar and ground of the truth. When you've arrived at the place where God's drawn His line in the sand, where He's chosen to group His own people, "a chosen people, His church, to be His own, His own fortress, which He holds in a sin-stricken, revolted world;" a body in which He intends that "no laws be acknowledged by it, but His own,"³ then what do you do? Abandon it at the sound of a gunshot? This is a war, guys.

Being a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church gives me an opportunity to serve Him within His stronghold. True. Other venues exist where we can serve our Lord, including self-supporting ministries. But the Lord's first intention is that we remain within the structure He has established and make sure it continues to exist as the structure He has established. He has a use for it still. If we leave it, then it is surely doomed. Some, as I have been able to do, can expend our energies directly from within her. Others, while remaining members, may on occasion find that para-church entities offer special alternatives for service. Let the workers, in all their varied spheres do the work of the Lord.

Ellen White, at the time of the Kellogg crisis, had a vision of an approaching ideological challenge of grave proportion. It was represented to her as an iceberg dead-ahead of the ship she was sailing on. "Ellen, quickly, jump overboard!" shouted the angel. Well no. The actual words of the angel in regard to the crisis were: "Meet it!"⁴ Shall not we, in our day of crisis, endeavor to "meet it" head on, even if it causes the ship to tremble from stem to stern?

Have you ever stopped to consider how much energy there is today among conservative Seventh-day Adventists in North America? Mind you, its largely unfocused. Yet consider what might occur were we to get our act together and through insight from the Holy Spirit, devise meaningful solutions to the problems confronting the church? Instead, all to often we stand in the shadows and complain. Meanwhile, the liberals appear on our administrators' doorstep with pleasant looking packages, conceived to explode in their hands after they've left the scene. The enemiesof truth are wise. But can't we do better than they?

If we can find ways to be faithful to truth and yet more supportive of our beleaguered leaders, there could be a change.

Don't forget. From your vantage point you can't see it all. There are many faithful, Bible and Spirit of prophecy believing Seventh-day Adventists scattered across the planet, intent on serving Jesus valiantly. Their faith reaches up to the skies.

They will not be denied.

I'm still glad to be a Seventh-day Adventist, although on occasion I have to pray for insight for how to repair misconceptions about us spawned by the work of the new-modelers. May God have mercy and recover His church from the wandering she has embarked upon with the continuing passage of time. By no means is the future of the church in its present structure assured. You will hear no echoes here of the tired refrain, "The church is going through." I want it to go through. But God knows all things.

We need a more realistic view of the church than we've had. The constantly published statement about the church going through has two versions, you know. The one we're used to seeing, says "Enfeebled and defective, the church is nevertheless the object of Christ's supreme regard." But that's not the only way she said that. In fact, she used the same phrase in other places, but said it a bit differently: "Enfeebled and defective, needing constantly to be warned and counseled, the church is nevertheless the object of Christ's supreme regard.⁵ Yes, "needing constantly to be warned and counseled." Let us embrace anew the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, and hear those warnings and counsellings, and turn.

If we are faithful, brethren, we'll see the salvation of God.

1. This is an awkward attempt to refer to the "big" SDA church, the descendant structure from that originally organized in 1863. It's difficult to know the best way to word this.
2. Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, January 19, 1905.
3. ________. Testimonies for Ministers, p. 16.
4. ________. Selected Message, vol. 1, p. 205.
5. Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 7, p. 16.