News: August 2007

Participants at the WEA-Adventist meetings

Spirited Discussions Mark Evangelical-Adventist Meeting

Representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) met at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, August 5-10, 2007, for theological conversations. The discussions, which were warm and cordial, featured lively exchanges of views.

The current conversations were a follow-up to the initial round of discussions held in Prague, Czech Republic, August 8-11, 2006. Most of the participants this year also took part in the Prague meeting.

Dr. Rolf Hille, chairman of the Theological Commission of the WEA, and Dr. John Graz, secretary of the Council on Interchurch/Interfaith Relations of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, organized the conversations. The theological discussions were jointly chaired by Dr. Hille and Dr. William G. Johnsson, assistant to the president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for Interfaith Relations.

The WEA was also represented by Dr. Jürg Buchegger, Mr. Bonn Clayton, Pastor James Kautt, Dr. Herbert Klement, Mr. Sven Wagschal, and joined by Dr. Reinhard Hempelmann; and the Adventists by Dr. Niels-Erik Andreasen, Dr. Bert B. Beach, Dr. Teresa Reeve, and Dr. Angel M. Rodriguez. Four professors from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary made presentations and participated in the discussions: Dr. Denis Fortin, Dr. Roy Gane, Dr. Miroslav Kiš, and Dr. Peter van Bemmelen.

The conversations revealed a common love for the Lord and his Word, and a large measure of theological agreement. The Adventist participants could agree wholeheartedly with the WEA Statement of Faith, which focuses on the Bible as the Word of God, the Trinity, the person of Jesus Christ and his saving work, justification by faith, prayer, conversion, sanctification, and the Second Coming of Christ.

At the same time several areas of disagreement became apparent. The Adventist teachings regarding the Sanctuary and the pre-Advent judgment, the role and authority of Ellen G. White, the Sabbath as the day of worship for Christians, and human nature and destiny led to spirited exchanges.

The participants concluded that, despite disagreement over these distinctive Adventist beliefs, the large measure of common ground allows for Adventists and the WEA to cooperate, where advisable, in areas of shared interest.

Those involved in the conversations developed a joint statement of their findings and recommendations. This will be forwarded to the respective governing bodies.

The WEA represents some 420 million Evangelical Christians in 127 countries drawn from many denominations. The Adventist Church has 15 million members in more than 200 countries.

[PARL News]

Philippine Ambassador Willy C. Gaa speaks; seated right Dr Jan Paulsen, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Chuch [photo: Ansel Oliver/ANN]

Philippine ambassador affirms Adventist Church for community impact

Adventist Church president Jan Paulsen, right, with Philippine Ambassador Willy C. Gaa at the church's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, August 30. Next October, the world church will hold its yearly planning session, Annual Council, in Manila. [photos: Ansel Oliver/ANN]

Next year the Seventh-day Adventist world church is taking its annual planning session on the road.

Plans are underway to hold the church's Annual Council in Manila in October of 2008. Philippine Ambassador Willy C. Gaa said he was pleased to welcome Adventist delegates to his country next year, he told church officials in an August 30 visit to the world church's headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.

The church's Annual Council is usually held in October at the church's headquarters near Washington, D.C. The last such meeting held outside the United States was in 1998 in Brazil.

"The Philippines is probably one of the very few countries in Asia where freedom of religion is respected," Gaa told Adventist world church President Jan Paulsen and other church leaders, including a delegation of Philippine citizens employed at the church's headquarters.

Church leaders commended the Philippine government for supporting religious freedom, noting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's hour-long meeting with delegates from the International Religious Liberty Association during its 2002 world congress.

Both Gaa and Paulsen remarked on the Adventist Church's impact in the South Asian nation during their first meeting. Gaa thanked Adventists for humanitarian programs the church has implemented there.

"I'm aware what the church has given to its members and also to the community," Gaa said.

Paulsen said the Adventist Church has long committed to raising awareness of health issues and establishing educational infrastructure -- the church operates one of the largest global network of integrated private schools, second only to the Roman Catholic Church, the most prominent faith in the Philippines.

"Clearly we are also dealing with eternity and spiritual values, but we also have to address the life we are now living in," Paulsen said.

More than half a million Seventh-day Adventists live in the Philippines. [Source: Adventist News Network]