I know I'm supposed to be continuing to discuss Adventist Education, but I'd like to take a little break. It was probably 4 years ago that I had an interesting conversation with my cousin sitting outside Starbucks in Redlands, California. We started talking about how traditionally Adventists have had a problem with coffee because of caffeine and some might even call it a sin to consume caffeine, (or at least they will make you feel that it is.)
That conversation morphed into a longer conversation on the nature of sin. I think that for Adventists today that conversation is more relevant to our continued success as a church than almost any other topic. Over the last 20 years the church, in trying to escape the notion that we are a bunch of legalistic jerks, has strongly emphasized (and rightly so) the concept of grace. We are saved by grace, nothing else. But then we have this thing called the law that is also important ( I would encourage every Adventist to read N.T. Wrights After You Believe: Why Christian Character Counts) to our church as well. If you break the law then you are logically sinning and by most definitions sin separates us from God so many have concluded that separation from God is Hell.
I for one am beginning to question that concept. I have a hard time believing that if drinking caffeine is a sin that I will go hell for drinking it. I also have a hard time believing that one sin is greater than another. Is murder really different than idol worship or breaking the Sabbath?
Now, I am not trying to get a license to sin, please understand me, but I'm wondering if our application of God's supposed reaction to sin is correct...What do you think? Does sin change God's view of us or our view of God? Does sin send us to Hell? How does this change SDA theology?
Monday, March 05, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Why do we need Adventist Ed
Why Keep Adventist Ed?
We like to brag that we are the second largest parochial school system in the world. And we have reason to brag. If I were to poll my pastor/youth pastor peers, I can guarantee that they would like to have the amount of hours discipling students that we, as Adventists, have with students that go to our schools. The trade off of student's being able to do evangelism on public school campuses pales in comparison to the foundation that 6 hours a day, 5 days a week can build in students taught by Christian teachers.
A book came out a few years ago, How to Kill Adventist Education by Shane Anderson, as well as a book by George Knight, The Apocalyptic Vision and the Neutering of Adventism that came to similar conclusions. While I didn't agree with all of their findings, I do agree that we as Adventists have a reason to exist. We do offer something to the 'body' of Christ, which is his Church (all denominations.) The Christian world would be worse off if Adventists didn't exist. Just as it would be worse off if Baptists, Lutherans, or Methodists cease to exist. Our distinctness adds value to the picture of God that is portrayed to the world.
Adventist Education, in my mind, is the key to holding that together in North America. Think about it, without Adventist Education my fear is that the church will cease to exist. In other words if all our schools closed today I don't think we'd have a church for my grandchildren to go to. The friends and peers that are made in school last a life time, if those relationships: friends, spouses are not Adventist or tied to the church somehow, all of the sudden we cease to exist...
Next...some ways to improve on the system.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Go Big, until we go home
Those of you who get this blog know that I'm excited about Adventist Christian Education. I'd like to start a series of posts about how we fix the system before it's too late. Some posts may sound like rants, some may be musings about how we could improve. At the end of the day however, I hope that the reader knows that I want Adventist Christian Education (K-12) to endure. It really is a great institution.
Go Big...
Right now in my church it costs our church around $10,000 for each student, each year that they go to our school. That number doesn't even include the tuition that the student pays. That is a lot of money invested in to students. Now, I'm not complaining but guess what my youth budget is? Its somewhere south of $10000 when you include all the Sabbath School expenses, VBS, etc. I have over 80 students that attend my church on a regular basis K-12 and of those kids only 8 go to the school. Do the math...We are spending over $80,000 on the 8 kids who go to the school out of our budget and $10,000 on the 70 who don't go to the school.
Some would say that is going big, and to some degree I would agree with them. I wonder how many churches face a similar problem? I hope they do. Because far to many of the churches in my area are choosing to not fund their children at all. That HAS to change if we are going to keep any semblance of Adventist Education...
Next, why do we need Adventist Education
Go Big...
Right now in my church it costs our church around $10,000 for each student, each year that they go to our school. That number doesn't even include the tuition that the student pays. That is a lot of money invested in to students. Now, I'm not complaining but guess what my youth budget is? Its somewhere south of $10000 when you include all the Sabbath School expenses, VBS, etc. I have over 80 students that attend my church on a regular basis K-12 and of those kids only 8 go to the school. Do the math...We are spending over $80,000 on the 8 kids who go to the school out of our budget and $10,000 on the 70 who don't go to the school.
Some would say that is going big, and to some degree I would agree with them. I wonder how many churches face a similar problem? I hope they do. Because far to many of the churches in my area are choosing to not fund their children at all. That HAS to change if we are going to keep any semblance of Adventist Education...
Next, why do we need Adventist Education
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
What's the Plus side for God in this story?
I was working on a study for my 5-8th grade bible study group today...We are going to be going over the Great Controversy. Now in my opinion it is hard to argue the rift between Good and Evil, God and Satan. It is hard to argue the existence of Satan. (I won't go into my challenges with using Isaiah 14, and Eze. 28 as proofs of Satan's rebellion) Anyways the belief statement ties the flood into this story and it got me thinking, how was the flood a win situation for God in the Great Controversy theme? Seems to me that the flood could have been used as proof that God was a tyrant that just wanted to get his own way?
Now I'm a believer in miracles and even in God's intervention in nature. But could the narrative about the flood be God trying to save people from an upcoming natural disaster, wanting to save everybody?
I'm not going to bring any of this up with the kids, but I'd love to hear some feedback. How does the flood make God look good? Or how does it play into the Great Controversy theme? Isn't it just like the kid who is losing at checkers so they decide to knock over the board to get a new game?
Sorry to sound sacrilegious.
Benji
Now I'm a believer in miracles and even in God's intervention in nature. But could the narrative about the flood be God trying to save people from an upcoming natural disaster, wanting to save everybody?
I'm not going to bring any of this up with the kids, but I'd love to hear some feedback. How does the flood make God look good? Or how does it play into the Great Controversy theme? Isn't it just like the kid who is losing at checkers so they decide to knock over the board to get a new game?
Sorry to sound sacrilegious.
Benji
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Lets get along
I wonder if Facebook sometimes challenges relationships. I’ve noticed a couple of groups in my youth group that are having challenges this week. I think it’s that time of year, but I hate seeing relationships hurt. Here are a couple of hints:
- Facebook is not the place to air out personal grievances. Pick up the phone, go get ice cream together, grab a cup of joe.
- Another boy/girl is not a good reason to lose a friend. God values all of our relationships and our relationships here on earth model the relationship we have with God.
- Reconcile, Reconcile, Reconcile. If you can learn to work through differences you will go a long way in life. I believe Jesus said something about forgiving 70x7.
- The way we treat each other as Christians is the way people outside the church view Jesus. Take a second to think that over.
Over the years I’ve had lots of students (and Adults) who have had challenges with each other. I know that even the biggest differences can be resolved. Let’s not ignore problems, but face them head on with candor and courage. Often we grow in our understanding of each other and as a result in our God.
Keeping Jesus #1
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Real Economics of Christian Education
I've spend a lot of time in the last few months thinking about Christian Education. (for you non SDA's out there by Christian Education right now I am talking about school, not discipleship classes on Sunday/Sabbath mornings.) Anyways now that we have that cleared up, the Adventist church is about to go through some very difficult times or is already going through difficult times depending on where you are (AUC/WAU, you know what I"m talking about.) And there are many out there that are thinking of ways we can do this more easily by tightening our belts. I think that while we need to be good stewards of God's money, this is not the first thing we should do. We have already found that this hurts us.
First of all let me tell you about our church situation. Our local congregation, a great one at that with a little over 600 members, has over the last 4-5 years pumped around 200k-400k into our school. I could go into a lot of details about those numbers, but they would not necessarily help in my points here. I ask my self, if we did not put that money into the school where would it have gone? Perhaps we'd have a new sanctuary by now, or a youth room or a few more pastors? My belief is that money and the money people paid for tuition would have stayed in their pockets. We are really good at laying up our treasures here on earth, instead of in people. Stuff doesn't go to heaven, people do.
Perhaps, one of the great things that Christian Schooling does is that it helps us not accumlulate so much worthless stuff. I spent this evening in a very nice mall in Edina. One of the stores I went into was Crate and Barrel. As I perused the store I found many things that were both useful and very attractive. But as I was walking out (empty handed) of the store I made the comment to my wife, "There was a lot of really good looking stuff in there that we don't really need." I guess I need to challenge myself sometimes do I really need that? the answer is usually know. Now, don't get me wrong I impulse buy with the best of them, and sometimes we do need to just have a little happiness in life, but perhaps its things like having a tight budget that keep our spending in check as well as our priorities in the right place. And nothing says tight budget like 2-3 kids in Christian school.
So while it may be cheaper to do Christian Education other ways, perhaps the idea of investing in people, both teachers and students is actually the wisest Kingdom Economics thing we can do.
Keeping Jesus #1
First of all let me tell you about our church situation. Our local congregation, a great one at that with a little over 600 members, has over the last 4-5 years pumped around 200k-400k into our school. I could go into a lot of details about those numbers, but they would not necessarily help in my points here. I ask my self, if we did not put that money into the school where would it have gone? Perhaps we'd have a new sanctuary by now, or a youth room or a few more pastors? My belief is that money and the money people paid for tuition would have stayed in their pockets. We are really good at laying up our treasures here on earth, instead of in people. Stuff doesn't go to heaven, people do.
Perhaps, one of the great things that Christian Schooling does is that it helps us not accumlulate so much worthless stuff. I spent this evening in a very nice mall in Edina. One of the stores I went into was Crate and Barrel. As I perused the store I found many things that were both useful and very attractive. But as I was walking out (empty handed) of the store I made the comment to my wife, "There was a lot of really good looking stuff in there that we don't really need." I guess I need to challenge myself sometimes do I really need that? the answer is usually know. Now, don't get me wrong I impulse buy with the best of them, and sometimes we do need to just have a little happiness in life, but perhaps its things like having a tight budget that keep our spending in check as well as our priorities in the right place. And nothing says tight budget like 2-3 kids in Christian school.
So while it may be cheaper to do Christian Education other ways, perhaps the idea of investing in people, both teachers and students is actually the wisest Kingdom Economics thing we can do.
Keeping Jesus #1
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