One of my favorite hymns since childhood is No. 361 in the current Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal, titled, “Hark ‘Tis the Shepherd’s Voice I Hear.” The third stanza is especially moving:
Out in the desert hear their cry
Out on the mountains wild and high
Hark ‘tis the Master speaks to thee
“Go find My sheep where’er they be.”
Coming as I do from a family where a number of members have left the church, this song holds special meaning for me. Its lyrics also resonate when I receive Facebook messages from old friends with whom I attended school, who give every evidence of having drifted from our fellowship as a people, and who can only talk of the many worldly adventures they seem to be enjoying. When I ponder the words, “Out in the desert hear their cry, out on the mountains wild and high,” I can’t help thinking of the deserts and mountains of cyberspace and social media, where beneath the façade of apparent contentment can be heard the cry of empty, unfulfilled hearts.
Only Yesterday
As I entered the barber shop on the Andrews University campus for my monthly haircut yesterday, I was startled to hear a familiar name with whom I hadn’t had contact for nearly four decades. He had just finished his own haircut appointment, and I recognized him at once. He had served on the faculty of the academy in California where I had attended and from whence I had graduated.
This man and I had enjoyed a cordial relationship when I was a student at the academy. He had helped me with various projects, scholastic and otherwise. I had attended his Sabbath School class during my junior year. And perhaps my fondest memory of him was when he gave his testimony at a Friday night vespers, along with a few other faculty members. He spoke of his multi-generational ties to the church, and his joy at having been raised a Seventh-day Adventist. Unlike others from a similar upbringing, who had taken their faith for granted and never made it their own, this man spoke of how the motto of his spiritual journey had become, “The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows.”
But when I saw him yesterday, I was not prepared for the heartbreak that awaited me.
After our mutual recognition, he spoke of a fellow faculty member from the same academy who for the past several decades has become infamous as an ex-Adventist and fierce critic of our faith. As we spoke together there in the barber shop, it didn’t take long for this former faculty member to let me know that he too was now a former Adventist, that he no longer believed in the investigative judgment doctrine, etc.
My heart sank. I gave him my business card, we exchanged a few more pleasantries, and he went on his way.
“Who’ll bring them back?”
Reasons abound, as we all know, as to why certain ones choose to leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Thankfully, the Bible tells us that God alone knows the heart (I Kings 8:39). But I found myself wondering why the former faculty member noted above had chosen to move to a large Adventist community, and why—as the barber proceeded to tell me—he was attending one of the large Adventist churches close by. One can argue, to be sure, regarding degrees of spiritual fidelity within any Adventist congregation or institution, but why an avowed ex-Adventist would deliberately choose to place himself within a large group of professing Adventists, raises more than a few puzzling questions.
If one views the church’s shortcomings, doctrinal or otherwise, as sufficiently egregious to warrant the withdrawal of one’s membership, why would such a one deliberately relocate to a setting where guideposts and symbols now rejected were so ubiquitous, and where memories now regarded as negative would likely be recounted so often?
Why, as was noted in another recent article in our site [1], do former Adventists have such a difficult time leaving their erstwhile church behind?
But rather than dwelling in the present context on varied rationales for apostasy and/or remaining nearby after one leaves, I would like for now to focus on how we might reach out to such persons within our respective circles, and how—by the grace of God—we might win them back.
In truth, there are no easy answers. Those who deliberately abandon the church (as distinct from those who simply drift away, perhaps not knowing exactly why) often familiarize themselves in depth with what they believe to be the church’s faults—real or imagined. Persuading them to give their former spiritual home a second chance is supremely challenging. Friendship and prayer are not only the best means available; in most cases of my acquaintance they might be the only means.
A lady who was almost a surrogate grandmother to me during my teen years once admonished me, “We really need to pray for those we especially love within the church, lest they fall away from the Lord.” She was right, of course. Friends and loved ones in whose company we find special joy and comfort face numerous allurements and obstacles that can divert them from the paths of righteousness. But we also need to make a point of praying for those we know and love who have gone out from us, whatever their motive. We need to ask the Lord for insights as to how we might reach out to them in non-threatening, winsome ways.
The second stanza of the song quoted at the beginning asks:
Who’ll go and help the Shepherd kind
Help Him the wandering ones to find?
Who’ll bring them back unto the fold
Where they’ll be sheltered from the cold?
We need to ask the Lord to impart wisdom and suggest methods whereby we can reach these wanderers. The world of today is truly colder and less sheltering than at any time in history.
“Many who have strayed from the fold will come back . . . “
Thankfully we have an inspired promise that is especially dear to me, and to countless others who yearn for the fellowship of friends and family no longer residing within the fold of truth. The modern prophet writes, speaking of the aftermath of the end-time shaking:
When the storm of persecution really breaks upon us, the true sheep will hear the true Shepherd’s voice. Self-denying efforts will be put forth to save the lost, and many who have strayed from the fold will come back to follow the great Shepherd [2].
May each of us find new ways to heed the Master’s directive, “Go find My sheep where’er they be.”
REFERENCES
1. Kevin Paulson, “Within a Stone’s Throw,’ ADvindicate, June 25, 2021 http://advindicate.com/articles/paulson-hdy8e-yzry5-kd4pa-km8ha-2fggs-2pbw2-xhpj9-mp7z6
2. Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 6, pp. 400-401.
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