Seventh-day Adventists representing more than 500,000
church members throughout Belize, the Caribbean and the West Indies
voiced their concerns and posed questions to Inter-America's
Seventh-day Adventist Church President Israel Leito during a special
June 6 live program called Facing the Issues. The
program, which took place at the University of Southern Caribbean in
Port of Spain, Trinidad, was the fourth in this series of unedited and
unscripted conversations between top church leaders and a select panel
of church members. The panel represented the English speaking regions
of Inter-America.
More than 800 were in attendance during the
two-and-a-half-hour program, along with hundreds of online viewers. In
addition, Inter-American Division's (IAD) website received a record
111,369 hits during the webcast. Because of this, church leaders are
convinced that the membership cares strongly about the outcome of these
meetings.
"This program is a modern way of surveying by using a
focus group and from what you get from that group you generalize the
general population," said Pastor Leito at the start of the program.
"It's scientifically done expecting to get questions and reactions from
them [focus group] in order for us to learn things we can work on."
Accompanying the Adventist president during the program were top administrators and departmental leaders from the IAD.
"I don't pretend to have all the answers," said Pastor
Leito to the group. "If your question is such that a departmental
director can answer, they will come forward."
The 17-member panel comprised of children, young people
and adults asked their own questions on issues about church planning,
youth initiatives, health, Christian education, growth consolidation
and social issues.
The first question, asked by Joan Wint from the Central
Jamaica Conference, dealt with the large percentage of members in the
church who are not actively participating in church programs.
"One of the problems is that they [inactive members] see
the church as a place to go to, but not something that belongs to them
and we have to help it push forward," replied Pastor Leito. "We are
endeavoring to...create this awareness among church members that this
is their church and it will be successful to the degree of their
participation."
Many questions dealt with initiatives available to the
youth and their leadership development, as well as challenges the youth
face in and outside of the church.
"Is there a youth development strategy that includes the
empowering of young people fully participating in policy making
decisions?" asked Andrew Francis from Kingston, Jamaica.
Pastor Leito responded that the Division has included
youth representatives at its executive committee meetings every year
for the last four years, where young people have had the opportunity to
observe, comment and vote on issues affecting the church.
"Our job is to provide an environment for our young
people to be involved in church administration to help in planning,"
Pastor Leito said. "We want young people to feel that this is their
church and this is the message we preach hoping that it trickles down
so that when it comes to the local congregations the youth are not set
aside and they can be an integral part of the church." In addition,
church leaders mentioned the youth program Life Management-a developing
youth leadership program available throughout the church in
Inter-America.
Curtis Henry from Guyana brought up a concern with the
dropping of moral standards in our society today and the need to uphold
a certain level of morality in the end times.
"How do we deal with it [keeping standards] without
chasing the youth out of the church, without chasing new converts...we
need a manual, that will help deal with this problem dropping
moralities and raising moralities,"
In response, Pastor Leito commented that "some of our
standards are very unattractive to a world out there. At issue is that
our young people have to live with those circumstances. We don't want
the church to lower its standards to attract others. Rather, we must
learn to understand them," he added. "Can we modernize in order to
attract young people more?" Pastor Leito asked rhetorically. "We can
make services more attractive."
Another concern was voiced by Kevron Reid from the
Cayman Islands on the connection between the older and younger
generations within the church.
A suggestion was brought up to top leaders to develop a
youth exchange program that could move young people from throughout the
English, Spanish and French territories of the church in Inter-America.
"I have heard preachers say that children are the future
leaders of our church but seldom do we get to participate [in church]
like once a year during a children's program. What can we do to improve
the situation," asked 12-year old Abilio Cima, Jr., from Belize.
"We must be willing to let the children and young people
participate not only once a year," said Pastor Leito. "Please church,
this is a cry from our young people in our division, open the church
for participation and don't be afraid, let them participate and they'll
grow in the church."
A young girl from southern Trinidad asked if there were
"new methods to reach our peers who may be going through their own
challenges."
"It is a major issue when young people are going through
traumatic times," answered Pastor Leito. "The church needs to reach out
and understand young people. We have many programs but no program
specifically to address this [pre-teen] group." Pastor Leito said it
was something church leaders would look in to.
The church's roll in environmental conservation was brought up by Arlette St. Ville of St. Lucia.
"Are there any plans to create awareness in the environment as far as the Division is concerned?" she asked
"The church is very much concerned about the environment," answered Pastor Leito.
"We are not activists, but wherever we are, we encourage
people to be environmentally oriented as we have always been. In our
stewardship teaching it talks about environmental issues as part of
being good stewards."
Other questions dealt with making Christian education
more affordable, initiatives to promote health and wellness, literacy
programs, and how initiatives and programs in the church are being
evaluated, among others.
Additional questions submitted online and by telephone ranged from sexual abuse to dancing.
One segment of the program saw Pastor Leito posing
questions to the panel members. Audience members were also given the
opportunity to ask questions of church leaders on the last segment.
Among the issues Pastor Leito addressed to the panel was the dwindling attendance at Wednesday night prayer meetings.
"What can we do to help your local congregation to help you come to prayer meetings?" he asked.
Another question dealt with what leaders at the Division
do to help church members to be happy Christians. In addition, Pastor
Leito asked the panel what the church could do to foster more marriages
among the young people of the church.
Panelists offered several suggestions to Pastor Leito and church leaders.
For Andrew Francis of the Advent Fellowship in Kingston Jamaica, participating in the program was a great experience.
"This program was quite impressive because it captures
the views and expressions of the membership of the church which is
something that doesn't happen very regular at this divisional level,"
he said. Francis, who is pursuing a master's degree in communication
for social behavior, said that there is still a need for further
dialogue - not only for purposes of broadcast but for continuous
dialogue at the local church level.
Arlette St. Ville of St. Lucia, who is pursuing a
master's degree in natural resource management and teaches at the
University of Southern Caribbean via satellite, agreed that the
dialogue program was beneficial.
"I think the process is good when we get into a place
when we all sit and talk about the issues in front of everyone," said
St. Ville, who believes the church should do more about creating
environmental awareness.
"I see the administrators reaching out to become
relevant to the church and an inter-generational representation was a
good move," said Joan Wint of Jamaica. She added that the this type of
dialogue "is something that should be done throughout all levels of the
church because we run the risk of not meeting the needs of the people
we serve."
Learning the needs of the church was the main objective of Facing the Issues, said Balvin Braham, creator of the program and assistant to Pastor Leito.
"When you are doing a program, it is important for you
to be able to assess what you're doing and what those whom you serve
say," said Pastor Braham. "This program serves as a kind of empowerment
for both the workers and the laity because the higher organization is
listening to them."
"What this program is doing for us as leaders of the
Inter-American Division is helping to evaluate our own actions and
programs with a view to take in corrective actions where necessary,"
added Braham. It is the type of open dialogue that top leaders are
hoping to see at union conference and local church level, he said.
To view the Facing the Issues Trinidad program on-demand, go to http://facingtheissues.interamerica.org
The next unscripted Facing the Issues dialogue
will take place in Martinique where the French Antilles region will be
represented on June 27, 2009. The dialogue program will be webcast in
French and English.
