I attended Adventist schools all my life.
When I look around, the majority of my school friends are no longer in the church. I have my own theories for why this is. However, most of my friends don’t know basic Bible truth even though they grew up in our “Adventist system”.
Earlier today, one of our friends said "As a teacher who is working at an Adventist institution, I would love to hear your reasons so we don't make the same mistakes." I think this is a great question!
For what it’s worth, and I don't claim to have all the answers, I will share my two cents...
When I was in Loma Linda, I got a taste of what the world had to offer. I knew that my new worldly lifestyle was not compatible with Scripture. I was not deluded to think that I could have one foot in the church and one foot in the world. My mantra was "If I'm going to hell, I'm not going to hell on a moped, I'm going to hell in a Ferarri,” and I welcomed and embraced all that the world had to offer.
Through all of this, I never doubted the existence of God or the cogency of our Adventist truth, BECAUSE I had been taught Bible prophecy and our church doctrines at a young age. I believe that when our doctrines (church teachings) are taught correctly w/ Jesus at the core of each teaching, our church’s message is coherent, cohesive, and compelling.
So after many years of being a proverbial "prodigal child", I came to the realization that "all that glitters is not gold." It was a very easy transition for me to come back into the fold and I LOVE our church.
I've lived both as a "heathen" and as a "Christian", and I can attest to the superiority of the Christian life.
When I look at the vast majority of my friends who have left the church, they knew little to nothing about what our church espouses. They don't know Bible prophecy, they have read little to nothing from SOP, and they couldn't tell you what the mission of our church is. They grew up in nominal/cultural Adventist homes... there is no foundation (built on sand), so it is no surprise that most of them have left.
I went through 19 years of Adventist education. There were only a few teachers who taught us anything worthwhile spiritually, everything else was fluff (no solid meat). It was my church youth pastor who taught me Bible prophecy when I was about 12 years old!
If I was a teacher/admin in a school, I would put the students—starting in Jr High—through good old fashioned "It Is Written" or "Amazing Facts" Bible study guides for their Bible class course work. I would supplement this w/ Desire of Ages, Steps to Christ, Christ's Object Lesson, etc. Teach the students how to give "one on one" Bible studies.
I know this is not the same for everyone, but for me personally, the logic and lucidity of Daniel 2, 7 and Revelation 13 was hard to refute.
At a minimum- Academy students should have to read Great Controversy before graduating. Or better yet, the entire Conflict of the Ages series before graduating high school.
In college, I'd start the school year by bringing in an evangelist and doing a full 4 week evangelistic series to start the school year. I look back and think of all the non-Adventist students that I went to college/grad school with. What an incredible opportunity it would have been to hold an evangelistic series and expose these nonbelievers to Adventist truth. I look back and it boggles my mind that our school admin never did anything like this.
I had never heard of Youth Rush when I was in the academy, I also would be encouraging all the students to do summer canvassing.
Undoubtedly, many of our young people will still leave the church just as I did. But when the proverbial "house of cards" falls down, how likely it might be that they would find their way back into the fold if they had been given a solid foundation in their younger years.
I won't get into the other issues of those who left for other reasons, such as hypocrisy/painful experience/poorly treated etc. I am only speaking from my own experience and my observations. I also acknowledge that a great responsibility to teach and live truth rests on us as parents.
One of the best parts of moving back to CA is I’ve been able to reconnect w/ old friends from academy (from 29 yrs ago). Tonite, three of my old classmates who aren’t really in the church anymore have agreed to come over for dinner and Bible studies! I’m super excited and eager that my friends will come to “taste and see” that the Lord is good! If you could please pray that God would bless our study tonite!
Calvin Kim is a dentist from Olympia, WA and enjoys spending time with his wife Amy and their two daughters, Charis and Caia. He is the co-founder and director of F5 Challenge, a friendship evangelism ministry that seeks to enrich the lives of others through the use of fellowship and fitness in a faith-enriching environment.