It is about numbers, and numbers equal money, there is no membership, so nobody really cares if people stay or leave. Unfortunately, it is a Mafia, high turn over, means more cash. More cash means one can buy a Audi and live in a private condo. If one visits a conference, one will see a board with district objectives, and not once have I seen Bible studies as the prime objective, it is baptism. Consider, the printing house, prints material based on the “book membership”, and not on the attendance. Also, more representative at meetings, which are by invitation, not by church nomination.
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If you read, it is about the pastor, not the Holy Spirit, it is about the pastor, being the only source of salvation. If it has not dawned on some of you, many of the countries in the IAD are Catholic, and the culture is Catholic, and what has evolved is that the pastor is the priest, having the same powers and authority which the Catholic church has bestowed on its priest. Pastor’s do not like being called brother, they are offended, and regard that as being disrespectful of their position and authority, that I found out when I called a pastor brother, he almost died. Also, the church members, have been disenfranchised of membership by the pastor’s, we have conferences which are controlled by a unknown entity, their constitutions define clearly, that the non pastor is not members.
Lastly, why does this Division not move to one of the country’s in its territory? So, as the dollar strengths, Latin America countries currencies devalue, which means these people need more members to pay the bill
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Jocelyn –
If one is baptized, but does not “join” a church, then that person
is a “0” [zero] added to the number baptized.
Baptize and only “attends” church is also a “0”.
The pastor cannot count that person as “saved”.
That would be the SAME for ANY SDA pastor in the World Wide
Church. The pastor cannot count that person as one he/she “saved”.
Many want to be a Daniel, but few want to be a Martin Luther.
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In the NAD this is hard for us to understand even though it’s been a numbers game here in the past. I think this is cultural and these are Catholic countries which influence culture (just as Islam influences some parts of the world concerning women). Numbering is not a mature religion in my opinion. However, we need to be tolerant and recognize the circumstances. The Bible does say to spread the Gospel and “baptizing” as well. Though baptism can’t be a requirement for salvation or it would be a work or sacrament (as in Catholicism). Perhaps the problem is making baptism a part of a particular church’s membership. That isn’t biblical. Organization is important as a servant of the faith, but it is not the faith itself nor a requirement for baptism. Building an institution is not our goal. If one hears the Gospel, it is up to them to act on it by conviction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus saves, not a church. We are not to make people feel they must join to be saved as the Catholic missionaries who came to Latin America did. But there still needs to be companies where those with similar beliefs can get together for worship as they did in the NT.
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i do think there’s a relationship between making efforts to reach others and retention, in terms of those who are already members…if you just keep your religion to yourself, and never try to share it with anyone, you lose the fervour and luster of your first love…it’s like never exercising, and wondering why you end up getting FAT…i hope this effort by IAD succeeds…
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