How the Church Works

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In the last 10 episodes of this podcast, we've explored who the Seventh-day Adventist Church is and how it got to be that way - its mission, beliefs, structure and struggles. But the world we live in has a changed a lot since 1844. And really, it's changed a lot since 2014.  So in our final episode we look to the future and ask - what's next?   Guests: G. Alexander Bryant, George Knight, Lowell Cooper, Pedrito Maynard-Reid, Berit von Pohle, Frank Hasel, Kevin Burton, Ken Denslow, Gary Thurber, Joseph Kidder, Dwain Esmond. 

The local church is the foundation of everything the Adventist church does, but sometimes we think that local church ministry is a one-size fits all approach.  If we've learned anything from this podcast series it's that context matters. So for this episode, instead of looking at the larger institutional church, we're zooming back into the local setting: four "churches", four different communities, four approaches to ministry.

After Ellen White's death in 1915, the Seventh-day Adventist Church had to answer several questions about both the past and the future. Would there be a successor to Ellen White's "prophetic gift?" How did prophetic inspiration work? And was she inspired at all? As the church wrestled with these questions, the world was also dealing with the existential aftermath of a World War I. This journey would bring many interesting chapters - controversy over Ellen White's writings, a furious debate that split the church into factions, and even murder - that we're still living through, generations later.  Guests: Dwain Esmond from the White Estate and historian Michael Campbell

Ellen G. White is one of the most well-known figures in Adventism.   She was a co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Adventists regard her as a "prophet." She's even listed on Smithsonian's 2014 list of "100 Most Influential Americans of all time."   That's a big legacy. And with that legacy comes a lot of lore, tradition and baggage.   So how do we find out who Ellen White really was, and what her role in the Adventist church should be?   Guests: Dwain Esmond of the White Estate and historian Michael Campbell

There's no new episode this week, but we'll be back on Friday, December 10.  In the meantime, want to help us out? 1. Rate us and leave a Review 2. Tell a friend about the podcast 3. Check out the bonus content on our website, howthechurchworks.com That’s all for now. See you next week! 

There are two main ways the church is funded - through tithes and offerings. It's pretty easy to see where your local church budget offering goes - every time you turn on the lights, sing praise music through a wireless mic, and give aid to somebody in the church's local neighborhood - that's offering at work.   But what about tithe? If it's not used to keep the local church's lights on, where does it go? And how can we trust that the pastor isn't just pocketing the tithe money for their new Tesla, but that it's being spent in a way that benefits the local church?   Well, we follow the money.   Guests: Bonita Shields, Randy Robinson, Gary Thurber, Michael Campbell, Ken Denslow, Kevin Burton

In our last episode, A Better Way - Part 1, we learned of the strong connection between Adventism and the Abolitionist movement. So it's no surprise that after the American Civil War, Adventist churches were some of the very first to integrate.   But by the 1920s, the landscape of the Adventist church was extremely segregated. The General Conference had separate cafeterias for white and black employees; Black Adventist leadership was regularly denied seats at the table where important decisions were being made; and it wasn't until 1965 that Southern Adventist University officially desegregated - ten years after Brown vs. Board of Education, and five years after six-year-old Ruby Bridges marched with police protection into an all-white school, signaling the beginning of desegregation in public schools.   How did we get from abolition to segregation?     Guests: Dr. Calvin B. Rock, Claudia Allen, Pedrito Maynard-Reid, Kevin Burton, and Michael Campbell

The Seventh-day Adventist Church officially formed in May 1863, right in the throes of the American Civil War. Adventism was born into a tumultuous time for the country and for Christianity - American churches were splitting on the issue of slavery.   Adventists decided to take a clear moral stance - abolition. But for the Adventists, this belief was more than just lip service.   How deep do Adventism's abolitionist roots go? And what happened once the war was over?

The Seventh-day Adventist pioneers had major issues with the idea of any kind of unchangeable creed. So how did we end up with a list called, “The 28 Fundamental Beliefs”?   Does someone have to know, understand, and believe all 28 to still be a part of the Seventh-day Adventist church?   And what does the early Adventist's pursuit of "present truth" mean for us today?   Hosted by Kaleb Eisele and Nina Vallado Guests: Frank Hasel, Joseph Kidder, George Knight, Ken Denslow, Stan Patterson   CORRECTION: Ken Denslow is now serving as the President of the Lake Union Conference in Berrien Springs, Michigan.