Serving Your Community: Filling in the Cracks
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LEAD ARTICLE JAN PAULSEN Jan Paulsen, ThD, is the retired president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.1 Serving your community: Filling in the cracks person casually scanning artistic director at Det Norske Teatret, perhaps with pity that I should live my Norwegian newspaper which staged the Bibelen play. Far from life beholden to a belief system that, headlines recently could be expressing surprise at the popularity of to his mind, is little removed from the Aforgiven for thinking that his play, Ulfsby told a reporter that even realm of fairy tales. this secular European country is in the if Norwegians do not go to church, they This type of response confronts so midst of a Christian awakening. For a still see the Bible as “an important part many of us who pastor within postmod- start, the surprise best-selling book of of their literary heritage.”2 ern and secular communities. It is not 2012—selling more than 160,000 copies usually outright hostility that creates and outselling every secular title—was a Neutralized Christianity barriers to our witness, nor is it that newly released Norwegian translation of And here, in these few words, lies interest in Christianity has been com- the Bible. The Norwegian Bible Society a clue to one of the most pressing pletely extinguished. It is simply that had mounted an impressive advertising mission challenges facing all of us who the notion of a faith that actively shapes campaign for its updated, easy-to-read minister in countries of the secular life seems alien to the postmodern version of Scripture, but even this does West: How can we effectively witness to mind. The idea that there is an ultimate not wholly explain its unprecedented the power of the living God in a society truth—a truth that makes demands market popularity in Norway. that has largely consigned Christianity on our thinking and behavior—seems And then in 2013 came a six-hour to the realm of history, literature, or absurd to someone steeped in a culture play called Bibelen, Norwegian for “the to the very naïve? How can we speak of relativism, which regards absolutes Bible,” staged in one of Oslo’s well- compellingly of the Christ of Scripture of morality or spirituality with deep known theaters. The play’s six-month when the language of Christian faith suspicion. run drew more than 16,000 people and has such a quaint, anachronistic sound Much of Seventh-day Adventist generated a stir in the media as critics to the secular ear? How do we reach evangelism has specialized in per- and commentators alike speculated on men and women whose interest in suasive and effective presentations of what could be fueling interest in such a Christianity, if they have any at all, more biblically based, propositional truth. topic in a society where only 3 percent likely stems from abstract curiosity But what are we to do when the people of the population regularly attends rather than spiritual seeking? In short, we want to reach are ambivalent about church. how can we make the gospel alive and the very concept of truth? When they Is Norway poised on the edge of real for those who see Christianity as do not accept the Bible as authorita- Christian revival? It is unlikely, for unreal and irrelevant? tive in any sense? What should our there is more going on here than meets My wife, Kari, has an uncle in east mission outreach look like? How can the eye. The relationship between Norway whom we sometimes visit, and we authentically communicate Christ’s Norwegians and Christianity is he likes to talk to me about faith. Our salvation to the deeply skeptical, complex, shaped by historical and con- conversations are amicable and wide humanistic mind? temporary forces that are difficult for ranging. He is unapologetic about his non-Scandinavians to fully appreciate. atheism, yet is not hostile to my views. Retelling the old, old story Some of this complexity was captured Rather, his attitude is one of indul- For some of us to accept that in in an offhand comment by Erik Ulfsby, gent amusement, which is touched many secular contexts traditional Ministry® SEPTEMBER 2014 evangelism is simply a nonstarter may not become frozen within a particular in our day. We must walk in the light be difficult. We yearn for the “good old approach but should be adapted to which shines upon us, otherwise that days” of evangelism where, through best allow it to be understood and light will become darkness.”5 judicious advertising, we could draw a believed. Our mission responsibility remains crowd of people to hear someone give She wrote, “We cannot be accepted unchanged. The truth and hope we a clear and compelling presentation of or honored of God in ren- offer remain the same truth. But a nostalgia-driven approach dering the same today as they ever to outreach may often be an exercise service, or have been. in futility and self-indulgence. I believe doing But what we can be true to our historic mission the about without necessarily embracing every our method of yesterday for every context today. Ellen White often urged early Adventist workers not to be “one- idea men” in their presentation of the gospel.3 On one occasion she advised, “Whatever may have been your former practice, it is How can we effectively witness to the power of the living God means in a society that has of communi- cation? Our method of sharing Christ’s salvation? We must largely consigned Christianity “walk in the light which shines upon us” today, or else our inflexibility and to the realm of history, blindness to reality will render us inef- literature, or to the very naïve? fective as God’s instruments of mission. Opening church doors By 2010, when I retired as General Conference president, my wife and I had spent more than five decades living not necessary to repeat it again and same works, that our fathers did. In and serving away from Norway—in again in the same way. God would have order to be accepted and blessed of Africa, Britain, and America. But in new and untried methods followed. God as they were, we must imitate their recent years, we have had the chance Break in upon the people—surprise faithfulness and zeal,—improve our to spend more time in the country them.”4 In her writings and ministry she light as they improved theirs,—and do of our birth and the opportunity to made it clear that our outreach should as they would have done had they lived experience firsthand the challenges of SEPTEMBER 2014 Ministry® LEAD ARTICLE JAN PAULSEN faithful mission in an environment that Yet over the past five years, the It is unusual in Norway—indeed, is profoundly secular and postmodern. Mjøndalen congregation has pursued in Western Europe—for a Seventh- A few months ago, Kari attended a model of outreach that, today, is day Adventist Church to be viewed a special health expo held at the regularly engaging with members of the as an open-door community institu- Mjøndalen Seventh-day Adventist community. Increasingly, the church is tion rather than as a private religious Church, approximately 50 kilometers positioning itself as a community hub. enclave. And yet this reputation for from Oslo, which has become our home Its distinctive building, erected in 2012, openness is what the church members congregation when we are in Norway. centrally located on a traffic circle, at Mjøndalen are deliberately and care- This event brought some 250 people has become a community landmark. fully fostering. The operative word here from the community through the doors Attached to the church is the highly is deliberate; their plan is well thought of the church for a regarded Rosendal church school, out and long term, and it is making vegetarian which consistently attracts some impact. Throughout the health more applications than expo, people from the community— there are student men and women who would otherwise places available. never think of entering a church build- The church ing—mingled with our members. A few It is people He came to save— not statements or doctrines or denominations. These exist to serve Christ’s mission, not the other way around. meal and a series of seminars on weight management and nutrition. For us, this was an astounding sight. has also launched a regular twice weeks later, the church again attracted In Norway, where the Lutheran Church monthly Wednesday evening “Café,” a crowd to hear a well-known local has long been intertwined, financially which offers vegetarian meals for 75 trio in a concert marking the start of and administratively, with the state, Norwegian kroner (about US$12.50). the Advent season. The concert was church buildings are most often viewed Church members have extended their followed with a vegetarian “Christmas as either historic relics or places to Wednesday evening efforts to include Table”—a Norwegian smorgasbord visit for christenings, baptisms, wed- a variety of seminars that are designed traditionally offered by companies dings, funerals, and little else. And to meet particular needs in their local and institutions as a seasonal gesture non-Lutheran Christian churches—such neighborhood. They offer different of generosity. as the Seventh-day Adventist Church— courses on personal finances, religious have the aura of foreignness and are freedom, psychological health, tracing Standing in the cracks often treated with an extra layer of family trees, and photography as well Since the Mjøndalen health expo, I caution. as studies on biblical topics. have reflected on why their approach is Ministry® SEPTEMBER 2014 helping them swim against the tide of Norwegians have been personally con- adapt our approach and language so community irrelevance.