Recently in Advent Christian Voices, there was a call for a conversation discussing what it means to be a missional church. The idea of a missional church is not new. Two decades ago the term 'missional church' was coined. The term suggested that "the church is to be understood not as an organization with a mission; rather the church's very identity is mission” (Ott, Strauss and Tennent 2010, 197 in Raven, 2017, 164).
Read MoreThe world is supposed to end on Saturday. That’s at least according to some crackpot astronomers/Biblical scholars. I do not want to give them the time of day in this space, but you can find fitting responses here and elsewhere. As Advent Christians, we are no strangers to foolhardy Biblical calculations and date-setting. After the excesses of William Miller and the subsequent “Great Disappointment”, Advent Christians know better than anyone else the futility of trying to pin down the time of Christ’s return, of which he himself said, "But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” [Mark 13:32 ESV]
Read MoreIt was another morning like any other. By some titanic feat I managed to get myself out of bed to plod my way downstairs for breakfast. Breaking past the stairwell wall and coming to the railed banister, I could see my mom reading her Bible in the recliner as she always did, her little dog cuddled up beside her. It was just another day, same as any other.
Read MoreSome people treat church like a Hollywood gala we see on the news. The mission of those in attendance is to impress and get attention. Some treat church like a concert. Their mission is to attend, enjoy it and go home. Is that all the church is meant to be? I think church should be like my dog treats me or other guests who come into our home. I am the most important thing to my dog, and he has no greater joy than to be with me; to have my attention, and for me to love his attention…
Read MoreIn the article, “Where Are Tomorrow’s Leaders?” published recently on the Advent Christian Voices website, and reprinted from the Advent Christian Witness, veteran Advent Christian pastor Steven Brown poses an important question. He argues that the traditional model of theological education in a seminary or divinity school no longer serves the needs of the Advent Christian Church.
Read MoreFor about one hundred years Advent Christians relied principally on two colleges to prepare church leaders.
While formal theological education was not universally valued in the churches, the schooling model was believed by many to be the primary incubator for people called to ministry. Training leaders in theological colleges (and seminaries) was entirely consistent with accepted practice in the wider North American church, reflecting an educational paradigm highly regarded in the last half of the 19th century into the present era.
Read MoreIf you’re like me you love the Bible. I love to be around other people discussing the Word, what it means, how it affects our lives and everything about it. I recently watched a Francis Chan Sermon that truly convicted my heart.
Read MoreBefore I get on with what I am about to write, I want to first dispel any narrow association that might be assumed in my use of the word “mission”. Very often when we hear the word “mission” we think “missions”, and more specifically “foreign missions”. This is to be expected since the sort of talk in our churches that typically involves words that sound like “mission” are usually in association with short-term missions trips and supporting foreign missionaries.
Read MoreThe Facebook posts of three Millennial pastors caught my eye — one frolicking on the beach with his two young boys, another shouldering his daughter as they watched a 4th of July parade and a third holding, high above his head, a grinning son.
Read MoreOriginal Post: Identity: What does it mean to be an Advent Christian?
Answer: With the passing of our new Statement of Faith we have given ourselves a much greater sense of identity. Advent Christians are Evangelical followers of Jesus Christ who seek to make Christ’s name known throughout the world with a longing for the imminent return of Christ, finding our only hope in Him.
Read MoreSomething is happening in the Advent Christian denomination. There has been a pain that we have been carrying within us, the sharp hurt of hopelessness, the heavy burden of futility, a bitter irony for a denomination conceived in hope. If as Bob Dylan says, “He not busy being born is busy dying”, until now it has seemed that we made the latter our business, sauntering our way to a denominational dustbin. There has been no reason to believe anything else.
Read MoreIs “No Creed but the Bible” actually faithful to the Bible? It is a simple question that can spur a lot of debate, but it is worth asking and trying to answer so that our churches and the denomination as a whole can become biblically stronger, healthier, and more unified. Here are 10 reasons we should pull a Frozen and “Let it go!” (If I had hair, I’d sling it back while I sang the song, but you will just have to imagine that for yourself!).
Read MoreI’m new to the denomination and have been working as the Director of Student Ministry at Oak Hill Bible Church in Oxford, MA for the last two years. I came in as a Southern Baptist, but through the mentorship of others I found inconsistencies in my view of anthropology and eschatology; I’m now a conditionalist. As my good friend Nathaniel now likes to say, “Erik is a Reformed Baptist Adventist” or in other words, “Erik is two parts jerk and one part confused.”(I'll let you figure out the formula) During my short tenure, I’ve noticed that we have several issues as a denomination that many have tried to fix, most will recognize that we still have a lot of work to do. In this piece, I would like to tell you what I’m looking for next week at Triennial as a new Adventist who plans to stay here awhile.
Read MoreAny observer of the American political scene would likely judge that the battle over same-sex marriage is a thing of the past; marriage has been redefined in the United States and religious conservatives, inasmuch as they disagree, have largely accepted this political reality. The new front for the battle of redefinition has been planted squarely upon the issue of gender identity, with efforts appearing across the United States to give persons access to the gendered bathrooms and sports teams that match the gender by which they identify. Coincidentally, the central headquarters for the Advent Christian General Conference and the location for the 2017 Triennial Convention are found in the state of North Carolina, a notorious battleground for this issue. North Carolina’s decision to reject what has been called the “Bathroom Bill” has caused many organizations to spurn the state and to refuse to host their company events there.
Read MoreI do not believe that there is the remotest chance that this proposed [Statement of Faith] will fail to pass at the Triennial Convention. I personally know of no one, for sure, that is planning to vote against it.*
We successfully passed the resolution for ACGC to officially embrace the NAE Statement of Faith and become a full member of NAE at the 1987 ACGC Convention (in Charleston, WV, of all places; at the time a bastion of A.C. non-trinitarianism).
Read MoreThese are excerpts from an informal email exchange between Dr. john H. Roller and Pastor Corey McLaughlin that have been edited and shared with permission in hopes of creating dialogue about the upcoming Triennial vote on the Statement of Faith. This statement is the same as that of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).
Read MoreTom Loghry: We’re here talking with Andy Rice and Derek Irvine, the dual-creative force behind the “younger pastors” phenomenon that is afoot in the Eastern Region of the Advent Christian denomination. Before getting to our questions about “young pastors”, would you each mind sharing with us just a little bit about yourselves?
Read MoreDo churches need to be revitalized?
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