New Name, Broad Mission

This is only our second issue and already the baby has a new name! The change of name from Affirm to Adventists Affirm became necessary to distinguish our paper from a similar one within the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod under the same title Affirm. We trust that our new name will serve to better express our mission to address issues of concern to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As parents often did in Old Testament times, we have chosen a sentence name, with both a subject and a verb.

"We believe that Adventists have a mission to affirm the clear teachings of Scripture in a secular and permissive age."

We believe that Adventists have a mission to affirm the clear teachings of Scripture in a secular and permissive age. The need to affirm the validity and relevance of our historic Adventist teachings has become urgent in view of the fact that some are doubting or redefining our beliefs in the light of the spirit of this age. We believe God would have us demonstrate that His truth has captured our thinking and motivates our living, as we choose "to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world," while "awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:12-13).

Response

In our first issue we indicated that continued publication of this paper would depend upon our readers' response. The overwhelming expression of support we have received from readers in this country and overseas has convinced us that many Adventist members would greatly appreciate a paper which helps them to better understand what the Bible and Ellen G. White have to say on issues confronting our Adventist Church today. Adventists Affirm will try to do this in areas of crucial concern to the Adventist Church.

The theme of this issue grows out of the discussion generated by our first issue, which set forth the Biblical basis for the role of women in the church. A major argument raised by some Adventists who favor women's ordination is that they claim there is no correlation in the Bible between the headship role of an elder/pastor in the church and that of a father in the home. In other words, role structures in the church are radically different from those in the home. This argument also appears prominently in several of the papers which have been prepared for the General Conference Commission on the Role of Women in the Church, which is scheduled to meet in March of 1988.

We felt that this argument needs to be examined closely because it affects the fundamental structure of the Adventist home and church. Thus, from different perspectives, five of the articles in this issue examine God-ordained roles in the home and church.

First Glance

Samuele Bacchiocchi, Professor of Theology and Church History at Andrews University, has prepared an extensive Biblical analysis of the question (p. 5), and I have looked at the matter in the writings of Ellen White (p. 15). Hedwig Jemison gave invaluable support in research for the latter article.

C. Mervyn Maxwell, Chairman of the Church History Department at the Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, offers a perceptive analysis of Paul's "submission" statements in Ephesians 5:21-6:9 and Colossians 3:18-4:1 (p. 23). Who is to be submissive—men or women? Or both? In what way? This study, by merely calling our attention to what the passages actually say, will cut through much of the smokescreen put up by those who claim that "mutual submission" does away with role distinctions.

"This study will cut through much of the smokescreen put up by those who claim that 'mutual submission' does away with role distinctions."

Betty Lou Hartlein draws on her extensive experience in Christian counseling, seminar ministry and college teaching to explain the importance of maintaining our God-ordained roles in the home as well as in the church. Melissa Wallace, a teacher and homemaker, reviews Elisabeth Elliot's Let Me Be a Woman, which drinks deeply of the Biblical perspective on true womanhood (p. 32). Dolores Slikkers, a lay member of several of our denominational boards, including the Board of Trustees of Andrews University, shares her "testimony" on some of the ways a woman can serve God (p. 43).

We hope these articles will help fill a gap left in our first issue and respond to the main objection raised by some of our pro-ordination friends.

Larger Issue

Since the controversy over women's ordination centers largely on different approaches toward interpreting Scripture, two articles by C. Raymond Holmes, Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary here, look at this larger issue. In the first (p. 27), Holmes reviews The Truth in Crisis, by James J. Hefley, who provides a penetrating analysis of the current conflicts in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant church in the U.S.A. In many respects the conflicts in that church are similar to those that are emerging in our own church. Thus, this case study offers valuable lessons that, if heeded, could spare the Adventist Church the agony of the internal polarization being experienced in the Southern Baptist Convention.

In the second article (p. 35), Holmes presents a homily on Paul's charge to Timothy to "preach the Word." Pastors and laity will be challenged by his stirring call to uphold the teachings of the Word of God.

In "Who Is the Greatest?" (p. 44), Mrs. White challenges all of us to view position and leadership in the light that God does. I have also included a brief article that examines Mrs. White's relationship to the major reforms of her day, including women's rights (p. 40).

Plans

What is coming in future issues? Our current plans call for the next issue to deal with the beleaguered Adventist home and family. What is happening to our homes? What can be done to prevent the breaking asunder of what God has joined together? What principles does the Bible offer us to preserve the sacredness and indissolubility of our marital relationships? What does Scripture really teach us on divorce and remarriage? These are some of the things we plan to take up next time.

In subsequent issues we plan to address such matters as the Sabbath—its meaning, its sacredness, and its observance; alcohol use and drug abuse in the Adventist church; abortion—what guidelines do Scripture and Ellen White offer us? Biblical standards of holy living—entertainment, adornment, etc.; and the role of Ellen White in Adventist teaching and living today.

We are excited about the prospect of grappling with these themes! And we would like to invite you along to explore them with us. In the meantime, we hope this issue will prove a blessing to you. Thank you for encouraging your friends to subscribe to Adventists Affirm. With your support this humble beginning can become a mighty instrument to strengthen Adventist beliefs and practices around the world. Pray for us and for the Church, that the name of Jesus will be glorified and that we may live lives worthy of the calling to which He has called us (Eph 4:1).

"Let all Adventists Affirm the lordship of Jesus through His Word and in our lives!"