I have a question… and a moral dilemma that has not been giving me peace for a while.
Here is the question: What should an Adventist do if they love their church and are committed to supporting it, yet feel their part of the world has been kidnapped by an official church entity that does not comply with the world church?
Can a layperson do anything within our church structure?
Here is a situation: an entity (or maybe it’s better to say “entities”) of the church protects the employment of a bisexual pastor. The local division of the General Conference states that they do not approve of this, yet months are passing, and nothing seems to change—at least from the perspective of lay members.
Conservative voices say: “Stop giving tithe to that union.”
Very liberal voices: “Stop giving tithe and supporting the GC.”
Optimistic voices in the middle are heard to say: “We have no choice but to continue to give tithe to that union/conference. Things will get better.”
And the more pessimistic ones: “We have no choice but to continue to give tithe to that union/conference, yet probably nothing will change.”
This is not an exhaustive list of solutions, but the suggestions above raise the following questions:
If we have a decentralized structure, why do lay people get the impression that neither lay people below nor the GC above can do anything against a rebellious union/conference? Does this not mean that power is centralized “in the middle”?
And what is the church’s stance on what members of non-compliant entities should do with tithe? Can we make a difference in the current situation, and if yes—how? I hope I am wrong in starting to lose hope and thinking that it is too late for a positive change.
I look forward to answers that will bring hope to those worried about the future, as well as those seeking clarity on their moral response as people living in a hijacked jurisdiction.
Blessings!
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Hope Müller is a young European who loves her church. She prefers to stay out of the spotlight because she wants to keep trying to make a difference in her part of the world. She has shared her questions with Fulcrum7 in an attempt to find answers.
