Jamaica: Adventist World Church President Stresses Personal Empowerment
in Dialogue with Young People --Mandeville, Jamaica [Elizabeth Lechleitner/ANN]
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Seventh-day Adventist world church president Pastor Jan Paulsen gave a
resounding endorsement of Adventist young people October 27 -- even
offering a "yeah mon!" in Jamaican slang -- during Let's Talk
Caribbean, the 17th such program in a series of unscripted, unedited
conversations between the church president and its under-30 crowd.
"You don't have to be elected to an office to own the church. You don't
have to be a local elder to own the church. The church is a place of
mutual ownership -- we're in this together," Paulsen told nearly 40
eager young people during the conversation, based at Adventist-owned
Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, Jamaica, and broadcast on
the church's Hope Channel.
Paulsen anchored his remarks during the hour-long broadcast -- as he
often does during Let's Talk -- on empowerment and church ownership.
While it's a key message worldwide, he said, it's particularly
important in the church's West Indies region where young people make up
some two-thirds of the Adventist Church's membership.
Early on in the broadcast, Paulsen turned briefly to the camera for
remarks meant largely to amend some of the church's older generations'
opinions of young people. "I'm more preaching -- and I am preaching --
to those who are watching. You need to make sure that you trust those
who are young with responsibility. It is an indisputable fact that if
you do not engage those who are young, they will walk away from the
church."
Following a question on civil engagement, Paulsen said Christians
should not only ask what they can contribute to the church, but also
what they can contribute to the communities in which they live. One way
to impact society is to hold political office, Paulsen said. But, he
cautioned, someone considering candidacy must ask, "Is this something I
can do without compromising who I am and my loyalty to God?"
Let's Talk Caribbean again touched on protecting personal spirituality
when one young delegate asked what the church was doing to shield young
people from the "ill effects" of the media. Paulsen reminded the group
of both the "colossal" good media can do, and its potential to
propagate vice. "The church is not going to make the choice you will
have to make," said Paulsen, who often advocates private rather than
corporate responsibility while answering Let's Talk questions.
Entertainment choices, he said, are inherently a matter of conscience.
"When you switch on the set, it's not, 'What does the church say on
this one?' It's 'Is this going to make [me] a better person?'"
During the second half of Let's Talk Caribbean, many of the young
delegates addressed issues of sexuality in their questions.
One student asked a question regarding young women who are pregnant
outside of marriage, specifically when a pastor or other church
official is accused of molestation or rape and the victim is too afraid
to come forward. Paulsen answered adamantly: "Look, if you've committed
a crime, you go to jail. The church will not provide shelter to people
who are abusing their role or engaged in criminal activities condemned
by society." He added that the church should "provide a safe haven and
healing for those who carry wounds and scars."
The conversation then turned to AIDS, and whether the church's message
of abstinence was enough to combat the disease's rampant growth.
"Should we be preaching something else?" one delegate asked.
"Look, let's be perfectly frank," Paulsen said. "Sex belongs in
marriage. Promiscuity is never condoned in the Bible as a lifestyle.
Let's not look for ways to accommodate it or make it safer. Save the
good things for the right time."
Following the broadcast, Paulsen said he was pleased by the young
delegates' pointed questions.
Other questions addressed the church's methods of ministry. When one
student asked whether Paulsen thought so-called "tent" evangelism was
"outmoded," he said traditional evangelism still works "amazingly well"
in most parts of the world. But church leaders, he said, should not
depend on the initial effects of an outreach effort to produce
"enduring, in-depth decisions" for Christ, something he said long-term
small groups are better at. "For a person to stay in the church, you've
got to have friends in the church." He said large-scale events might be
better if they focused on celebration rather than conversion.
The church may spend too much time on outreach at the expense of
"inreach," one delegate said. For a new Christian still struggling with
drug addictions, the counsel to "trust Jesus" may not be enough, he
said, suggesting that the church oversee more addiction and skills
training programs. Paulsen agreed more inreach should be done, so long
as funds aren't diverted from outreach.
Let's Talk tapered off with a lighter question: whether or not
Adventist young people should play competitive sports. Paulsen said if
sports consume players and fans to the point of ousting God and
religion as their priorities, they were certainly not healthy. But
generally, he said, sports encourage strong relationships.
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