Recent events in more than one local Conference have brought to the fore the problem of local entities within the Seventh-day Adventist Church seeking to establish their own doctrinal standards for pastoral employment and the selection of guest speakers by local congregations.
Two doctrinal issues in particular have come into focus in this regard: spiritual male headship and Last Generation Theology. In one particular Conference, two local churches were recently forbidden to invite a particular guest speaker—one who holds current honorary ministerial credentials as a retired pastor, who has never experienced church discipline of any kind, and whose membership is in good and regular standing—because he believes in the Bible doctrine of spiritual male headship together with the cluster of Biblical teachings known as Last Generation Theology.
The two churches in question chose to respectfully set aside the local Conference’s demand to cancel the invitation to this speaker, but the controversy surrounding the issues thus raised continues.
Seventh-day Adventist Church Authority: A Delicate Balance
From the local church on up, it is the responsibility of composite segments of the Seventh-day Adventist world structure to carry out the policies voted by the global Adventist body. For example, only the local church at a duly called business meeting has the right to place members under discipline; not even the church board has the right to do this [##1|Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual, 2022 edition, p. 70.##]. But all such actions must be taken in accordance with the standards of faith and practice voted by the General Conference at a duly called worldwide session. The Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual says:
The authority to establish tests of membership rests with the General Conference Session. Anyone seeking to apply tests other than those herein set forth does not, therefore, properly represent the Church [##2|Church Manual, 2022 edition, p. 69.##].
Elsewhere in the Manual, we read:
The standards and practices of the Church are based upon the principles of the Holy Scriptures. These principles, underscored by the Spirit of Prophecy, are set forth in this Church Manual. They are to be followed in all matters pertaining to the administration and operation of local churches. The Church Manual also defines the relationship that exists between the local congregation and the conference or other entities of Seventh-day Adventist denominational organization. No attempt should be made to set up standards of membership or to make, or attempt to enforce, rules or regulations for local church operations that are contrary to these decisions adopted by the General Conference in Session and that are set forth in this Church Manual [##3|Church Manual, 2022 edition, pp. 17-18.##].
Recent conflicts in particular fields over guest speaker invitations have focused attention on the following, recently added statement in the Church Manual regarding the authorization of pulpit speakers:
Only speakers worthy of confidence will be invited to the pulpit by the local church pastor, in harmony with guidelines given by the conference. (See “Terms Used in the Church Manual,” pp. 19-20.) The local elders or church board may also invite speakers, in consultation with the pastor, and in harmony with conference guidelines. Individuals who are no longer members, or who are under discipline, should not be given access to the pulpit [##4|Church Manual, 2022 edition, p. 126.##].
In the section of the Manual referenced above where terms are defined, the term “conference” is given the following definition:
Conference, mission, section, delegation, field, union of churches—For purposes of editorial and printing economy, “conference” in these pages means “conference, mission, field, section, delegation, or union of churches,” as the administrative context indicates [##5|Church Manual, 2022 edition, p. 19 (italics original).##].
Where the problem arises is when leadership in a local territory (either as noted above or in a larger administrative context, such as a Union Conference or Division of the General Conference) takes upon itself the authority to establish its own doctrinal tests as a guide either to the selection of pastoral and other personnel within its borders, or as a guide to the selection of guest speakers within the same. If a local congregation is disallowed by the Church Manual from creating its own tests of fellowship [##6|Church Manual, 2022 edition, p. 69.##], it follows logically that neither local Conferences nor other constituent parts of the worldwide Adventist body have the right to devise their own standards of faith and practice relative to either the choice of employed personnel or the screening of visiting lecturers within a given territory.
If only the General Conference in session has the right to establish the church’s doctrinal beliefs relative to local church membership, no other administrative body within the church has the right to establish doctrinal standards by which prospective or current employees or visiting speakers can be measured. The worldwide Seventh-day Adventist body gives to no other entity within the denomination the right to create such standards. Here we see the delicate balance in Seventh-day Adventist church polity between globally defined standards and the local application thereof.
Last Generation Theology and Spiritual Male Headship
Local congregations that have recently met resistance from certain local Conference administrators over guest speaker selection have run afoul of hostility on the part of these administrators to such teachings as Last Generation Theology (the belief that God is waiting for a morally perfected generation of Christians so that Jesus can come) and spiritual male headship (the belief that in the home as well as the faith community, men are to act as the servant-leaders).
A strong case can be made that the core of what has come to be known as Last Generation Theology is articulated in Fundamental Belief No. 13 of the current Seventh-day Adventist Statement of Fundamental Beliefs, which is titled, “The Remnant and Its Mission”:
The universal church is composed of all who truly believe in Christ, but in the last days, a time of widespread apostasy, a remnant has been called out to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. This remnant announces the arrival of the judgment hour, proclaims salvation through Christ, and heralds the approach of His second advent. This proclamation is symbolized by the three angels of Revelation 14; it coincides with the work of judgment in heaven and results in a work of repentance and reform on earth. Every believer is called to have a personal part in this worldwide witness (Dan. 7:9-14; Isa. 1:9; 11:11; Jer. 23:3; Micah 2:12; 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Peter 1:16-19; 4:17; 2 Peter 3:10-14; Jude 3,14; Rev. 12:17; 14:6-12; 18:1-4) [##7|Church Manual, 2022 edition, p. 172.##].
Though not every feature of the construct known as Last Generation Theology is found either in the above statement or elsewhere in our Fundamental Beliefs, the heart of this construct—that God is waiting for a commandment-keeping people in the last days—is clearly stated here. And lest anyone assume that the commandment-keeping here described is less than perfect—an assumption found in neither the above statement nor any other within our Fundamental Beliefs—the Bible is clear that “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). According to the Bible, divinely-empowered commandment-keeping is absolute, or it does not exist.
By way of review, the following motion received a decisive No vote at the General Conference session—1,381 to 977 [8]—in San Antonio in 2015, relative to the question of the ordination of women to the gospel ministry:
After your prayerful study on ordination from the Bible, the writings of Ellen G. White, and the reports of the study commissions, and; after your careful consideration of what is best for the church and the fulfillment of its mission, is it acceptable for division executive committees, as they may deem it appropriate in their territories, to make provision for the ordination of women to the gospel ministry? Yes or No [9].
On the basis of the above decision, it strains credulity for anyone to consider it appropriate for any Seventh-day Adventist administrative entity to disallow either the employment of, or invitation to, an individual because he or she adheres to the concept of spiritual male headship. The same holds true for Last Generation Theology. At the very least, it has to be acknowledged that neither Last Generation Theology nor spiritual male headship has received either official approval or condemnation by the General Conference in session. For any local church administrators to forbid advocates of these constructs to either hold employment or occupy the pulpit within a given territory is to create an independent, unauthorized set of fundamental beliefs beyond the guardrails of official Seventh-day Adventist doctrine.
Conclusion
To be sure, not every doctrinal teaching or lifestyle standard found in the Bible or the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy is defined by the Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Were I a Conference administrator, I would discourage invitations within said territory to any number of denominational lecturers on account of their beliefs on any number of topics. But unless one of our Fundamental Beliefs is being challenged, my response to a local church inviting such a speaker would be to remember that once the visiting speaker leaves, I will have access to the pulpit where he or she had been invited, and if in fact erroneous theology had been taught by the speaker in question, I would have any number of opportunities to visit that church and present the inspired evidence refuting the speaker’s claims.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a worldwide body, and no entity within its ranks aside from its global voice is qualified, or permitted, to presume to define the parameters of the church’s doctrinal and moral witness. Any weakening of this central authority charts a path to chaos. Seventh-day Adventists don’t have an American, a European, an African, or an Asian theology, nor do individual regions within one territory or another have the right to craft their own definition of acceptable and unacceptable theology for local employees or visiting lecturers, apart from what is defined by the General Conference at a duly called session. Such localized theological standards are no more legitimate than a local congregation deciding to craft its own tests of church fellowship—as some, indeed, have tried to do.
When it comes to its official theology, the Seventh-day Adventist Church speaks with a single voice. It’s called the 28 Fundamental Beliefs, voted by the delegates assembled at a duly called General Conference session. If a pastoral employee or candidate refuses to acknowledge one or more of these beliefs, if a speaker is invited by a local church whose public witness denies one or more of these (e.g. the Trinity, the investigative judgment, Ellen White’s prophetic authority), local Conference officials are fully within their right to forbid such a person to occupy any pulpit within its territory. Beyond these official limits, such prohibitions are out of bounds and injurious to the unity of the church.
REFERENCES
1. Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual, 2022 edition, p. 70.
2. Ibid, p. 69.
3. Ibid, pp. 17-18.
4. Ibid, p. 126.
5. Ibid, p. 19 (italics original).
6. Ibid, p. 69.
7. Ibid, p. 172.
8. “Delegates Vote ‘No’ on Issue of Women’s Ordination,” Adventist News Network, July 8, 2015 https://adventist.news/news/delegates-vote-no-on-issue-of-womens-ordination
9. “Women’s Ordination Question Goes to GC Session,” Adventist Review, Oct. 16, 2014 https://adventistreview.org/news/annual-council-sends-women-s-ordination-question-to-gc-session/
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan