Awhile back I wrote an article about how the magazine Adventist Today is not really Adventist or at least has a lot of work to do to get back on track. In the article I talked about how they were promoting an offshoot organization called Mission Catalyst. Adventist Today published a letter that Ron Gladden had written and in the letter was an invitation to leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church and plant new churches with Mission Catalyst.
Do not get me wrong, I love the idea of breaking free of the current bureaucracy and politics that slow down mission growth, but after prayerfully considering Mission Catalyst, I have come to the conclusion that we can develop a movement within the movement that allows us to create prevailing churches.
Instead of leaving the Seventh-day Adventist Church that God has set up in these last days, we need to do one of two things (when it comes to healthy churches)…
- Prayerfully recreate our established churches into prevailing churches that are visitor-friendly, family-focused, spiritually-balanced, and mission-driven. If the current leaders in our established churches do not want to obey God’s command to “GO into all the world” and continue to use methodology that is cold and 1800’s formal, then it is time to move on.
- Instead of remaining in spiritually dead churches, we need to form church plant teams and create new churches that are visitor-friendly, family-focused, spiritually-balanced, and mission-driven. These new churches do not need to compromise God’s wonderful truths (including the Ten Commandments and 28 Fundamental Beliefs) while being modern and relevant. There is nothing wrong with creating an environment that is spiritually safe for believers and unbelievers… a place that proclaims, “Come as you are!” We need churches that use a nice blend of new and old music, provides a nursery ministry for young parents, has growth and life groups, and is willing to try new things to evangelize the world for Jesus.
Our communities will not be impacted for God if we do not do something now. Instead of waiting for someone else to be the catalyst to bring change to your church, you need to begin to pray… asking God what He wants you to do to enlarge His eternal kingdom. If you do not do it, who will?
Well…………. Adventist Today ran the letter that Ron Gladden had written and now we have another Adventist family leaving the church. This family has decided to plant a new church through Mission Catalyst instead to planting within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Here is what our former members have to say about leaving our Church…
“Seven years ago, God brought my family to Austin, Texas…. We quickly became active leaders in our local (Adventist) church and severed in a variety of capacities…. One Friday, my husband and I had a late night conversation. I shared with him a sense that God had something else in mind and that, as crazy as it sounded, I thought we would be starting a new church someday. A few years went by, and the nagging sense would not resolve. Then, my mother-in-law sent me an article – an interview of Ron Gladden in Adventist Today.” – Mission Catalyst News, April 2011
This family of five is no longer a part of our worldwide Adventist family. They are putting together a Mission Catalyst team to plant a new church in Texas instead to working within God’s end time Church.
Something to think about: How would this situation be different if we had equipped this family with the tools needed to plant a new Seventh-day Adventist Church in Texas?
The time has come for us to stop messing around and get serious about God and His mission to seek and to save the whole world. Instead of playing politics over districts and playing church, we need to do whatever it takes to reach the lost for Christ (as long as we do not compromise God’s truths).
Every church should be using newer music and different kinds of instruments (minus the drum set… it only creates divisions). Every church should be more visitor-friendly and make sure visitors are truly welcomed and befriended (get some young and happy faces at the front doors of our churches as greeters). Every church should be creating growth/small groups for fellowship and Bible study. Every church should have a “fellowship” meal every single Sabbath. Every church should be actively engaged in public evangelism.
We need to do whatever it takes to be JESUS to the world around us.
Let us begin to think outside the traditional box and discover ways for everyone to be active in the harvest. If someone wants to start a new youth group, children’s ministry, growth group, or church plant… so be… let us do it in the name of Jesus and see His awesome power flow through us like never before.
QUESTION: What are you going to do to impact the harvest for God this week?
INVITATION: We are preparing to plant a new Adventist church in Albuquerque, New Mexico… if you have a passion for Jesus and leadership skills to be used in His service, please contact me and let us talk about creating a healthy church that is visitor-friendly, family-focused, spiritually-balanced, and mission-driven.
ctgeisler
April 15, 2012
I just checked out Mission Catalyst and I was very impressed. My family and another are strongly considering there program. The most important thing to me is the message and the delivery of it. The multiple pastor model is what is needed. Most churches cannot sustain growth with just one pastor and some volunteers. There are not enough workers and without a balanced workload there is too much to do for core workers without being in a part time or full time position. Our society has changed. In 1863 we had one system and that was out of date and needed changed by 1901. Our system has got to change if we are going to see results. The top down approach to fixing problems is always going to fail if the system doesn’t work.
I can spend the better half of my life fighting for change from within or actually go and get involved with changing peoples lives from the outside. In the end I don’t see Christ trying to change the system in his day from the inside. He created a whole new system. It is too bad we place the system above bringing people to Jesus.
thecarpentersministry
July 19, 2013
I am an associate pastor in a Mission Catalyst church and wanted to share a few thoughts with you.
1.) Mission Catalyst is not a denomination. It is a church planting organization.
2.) The local church has all the authority. This is the same as it was when the SDA Church started but it’s not that way anymore. Reading through your blog, you are suggesting that churches do church a certain way. That is the problem with the SDA Church now. Each individual congregation needs to do “church” the way it is needed in that location.
3.) Each church is run by several pastors with different spiritual gifts. One pastor can’t do everything.
4.) Why the big need to stay within the Adventist system? Being in the system doesn’t save you. Only Jesus can save you. There will be more people outside the SDA Church saved than within it.
5.) You don’t need to accept all 28 fundamental beliefs in order to be saved. You can’t be baptized and become a member of an Adventist church without agreeing to all 28 fundamental beliefs.
These are questions I asked myself before leaving the SDA Church. You say God brought up the SDA Church. How do you know He didn’t bring up other churches that are not a part of the SDA church?
Bill Davis
January 25, 2014
I’m sure you’re finding something that you’re enjoying with MCN but when you understand that the SDA Church is a movement in these last days and is the largest organization today that is keeping all the commandments and is a witness to the whole world concerning the Sabbath Truth. This church is a fulfillment of prophecy (Daniel 7 and Revelation 12,13, 14,18). The MCN organization is more congregational in style and message, as the tithe stays local. It doesn’t support at this point a world view and as you said, the SDA church started local but that was when a real awakening was taking place worldwide concerning the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. This was where the Adventist church was born and in looking at all Sabbath keeping denominations from this time in history, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has grown to it’s present 17.5 million plus even more than Judaism today. I’ve been in this church since 1976 and took theology at WWC in 1980-83 during the Desmond Ford Glacier View problem. The church was rocked by his take on Daniel with quotes and support from a Princeton University scholar on the Greek text. Things have a way of repeating themselves. The devil’s polity is in division and any way he can get his foot in the door he will take it. I’m a retired SDA pastor now but I’ve seen a lot. One of the issues I’ve had a problem with is the entertainment aspect of some of these worship styles that follow after apostate Protestantism. Our influence shouldn’t be in following this but God with His Truth. MCN tried to branch out all over but many organizations following it has since folded. Not too good for having the impress of the Holy Spirit as the motivation factor as was the case with the Adventist Church with it’s world covering aspects. As we look at the times that are upon us with the terrible disasters that are taking place on a global scale, the terrible financial crunch the world is in currently and many other signs, to me it doesn’t look like there is that much time left to try to build a new way to heaven with MCN. I agree there are many who will be in heaven that are not SDA but my understanding is that according to Rom. 2:15-17, they will be judged by what they know and not what they didn’t know. One lesson we as pastors are to do is to obey leadership and let the checks and the balances have their influence on us to keep us in the humble line of obedience. But when a solitary figure who has some influence with the many and talks of revolt it reminds me of a time in heaven when a highly ranked angel became disgruntled with the leadership and caused 1/3 of all the angels to side with him. You know the rest of the story. Think about it.
Roger Metzger
May 4, 2015
Young people are leaving our denomination in droves. I’ve read reports about several “studies” on the subject. I’m not saying those “studies” have no validity but, of the reports I’ve read so far, none of them have identified what I consider to be the main problem, namely, that the majority of the members of our denomination–and a super majority of the young people–think of themselves, not as an intragal part of the structure of the organization, but as merely attached to it. An “adherent” is someone who is as much a part of the structure as a barnacle is part of a ship.
To the extent that the Mission Catalyst model is encouraging faith in the Lord, that may be a good thing but that model, as I understand it, is actually exacerbating the problem we have in our denomination. The decisions are made by the Mission Catalyst team; the rest of the people in the congregation are merely attendees.
I agree that “think(ing) outside the traditional box” is what is needed but what is the next step where the pastor has veto power over anything other than what he wants us to do or what he thinks the conference officers want us to do?