HOW BIG IS OUR GOD?
Annual Council Keynote Address: October 5, 1992
By: R S Folkenberg

(ILL) I have heard a lot of stories about people accepting calls to other fields of labor and when they arrived the job description was not exactly what they had planned on.

They were told they would be moving up, but on arrival, they learned they were going to drive the moving van.
They were told that they would manage the hospital, but on arrival, they found it hadn't been built.
They were told they would be mission president, but on arrival, they found there were no members.

It is one thing to accept a call and not end up doing exactly what you thought you would be doing.

But how would you respond if you received a call that promised:

No salary,
No job description,
No travel budget, and, most important,
Not even a map to show the way.

One of God's children received such a call. I read in Hebrews 11:8  "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."

Would you accept such a call? Let's be honest. Before most of us answer a call to a distant field of service we are likely to ask about our human needs:

How we will be able to survive financially?
How many pounds is our freight allowance?
What is our term of service?
What committees will I be a member of?

But, Abraham received a call and he:  "obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." [Heb. 11:8]

Abraham obeyed and went. His reference point wasn't..

the difficulties in the field of labor,
how long the term of service,
the benefit package, or
the size of the paycheck.

Abraham's focus was:

On God's power, not on personal perks,
On God's conditions, not on living conditions,
On God's goals, not on financial goals.

His frame of reference was not "How big is the field," but "How big is our God!"

How big is our God?

Abraham lived in a culture of regional and tribal gods, but Abraham's God was bigger than territory. His God was bigger than local concerns.

How big is our God?
How big is the God of the Seventh-day Adventist church?
Is our God big enough to include supporting ministries?

Abraham and Lot's shepherds got into heated arguments over grazing rights for their flocks.

Abraham's God was big enough to allow him to say..  "If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left." [Genesis 13:9]

We can so react to splinter groups that have broken from the balanced Gospel that we cut off even those supportive ministries whose goals are the same as ours even if their strategy is a little different. We must lengthen the cords of the church to include those who share the same fundamental beliefs and mission of our church. Let us not be reactionary, for we need the strengths of everyone willing to do work for God.

Instead, like Gamaliel, let us say,  "if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." (Acts 5:28-29)

(ILL) Last week I listened to a tape of a minister friend who drifted into criticism and established his own "independent, combative not cooperative, ministry." He told the story of how the Spirit ministered to him and of his decision to come back to the church. For two years he sat in a congregation receiving cold shoulders, until my father reached out and touched him with love. I thank the Lord that today, because Dad cared, God is blessing his ministry in the Pennsylvania Conference.

How big is your God? Big enough to let others work in their armor as long as they are supporting the fundamental vision and mission of the church?

Is your God big enough to allow some change in how we do things?

(ILL) Abraham Lincoln, at the close of the Civil War, challenged Congress:  "The dogmas (policies) of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew."[American Quotations, Carruth and Ehrlich p. 131]

Today more than ever, in a rapidly changing world, our methods as a church must also be subject to change. You will notice some procedural changes which will be tested during this Annual Council.

Plenary sessions should be the primary forum for giving general direction to the church. It is vital that we reserve major blocks of time during plenary sessions to debate essential, direction-setting issues.

To make this time available, we will consider a procedure that will enable the full body to affirm a consensus, after that consensus is fully debated in smaller groups. Our agendas are getting so big, and the issues so complex, that all delegates can't be in on everything. Each delegate has varying degrees of interest in, or information relevant to, specific agenda items. Both the need to spend more time on thematic issues and the need for efficiency demand that we trust others to debate those matters in which we have less interest or information.

Some things are changing at the General Conference as we implement the changes recommended by the Commission on Governance:

• We have reduced the number and size of committees,
• We are finalizing more decisions in designated sub-committees so far fewer decisions must be re-considered by higher bodies,
• We have developed and put into place a staff flow-chart which will be distributed to you this week,
• We have begun the Strategic Planning and Budgeting process,
• We have operated for the past two years well under the "operating cap" voted at the 1990 Annual Council, and will do so again next year.
• We have taken the first steps to conducting a mid-term staff performance evaluation, and
• We have put to work two major commissions voted in Perth, The Commission on the State of the Church, and The Commission on World Church Organization.

Submitting our organizations and institutions to the vision and demands of the Gospel Commission must characterize our church at every level.

We must make our structure subservient to our soul-winning and soul-keeping mission. Our budgets and policies must both reflect the reason for our existence. As leaders we must hold ourselves accountable to measurable progress and quantifiable objectives.

The Lord has not called us to operate institutions, large or small, whose services can be delivered just as effectively by similar secular institutions. Educational institutions, hospitals, publishing houses, and every element of the entire church organization, from the local church to the General Conference, all need to evaluate their activities, priorities, and products in the light of our unique, God-given mission.

How big is our God?
How large is our world?

Abraham's home, the City of Ur, was a pretty comfortable place. It was a center of culture, learning, and trade. Before Abraham's time it was the seat of the powerful 3rd dynasty whose kings ruled over all Lower Mesopotamia.

Abraham had no reason to leave the comforts of home, except that his vision was not limited by culture or creature comforts, it was enlarged by God.

How large is the world of the Seventh-day Adventist Church? Are we large enough to place the needs of others above our wants? Is my world large enough for me to consider your interests as important as mine?

The vision of some is narrow. They never would have left Ur for Canaan. Their world is too small. It only encompasses: their field, their home, their needs.

In our individualistic society it is a temptation to put our own good as churches, as conferences, as unions, as institutions, ahead of the common good.

Is our God big enough that we can have a world-wide vision at a time when:

• countries are splintering into pieces,
• the pieces are breaking up into ethnic enclaves, and
• the ethnic enclaves are participating in genocide?

In our world, local interests tend to obscure the needs and pain of others. We belong, not to a national church, not to a cultural church, but to a vibrant world-wide church, dedicated to the sole purpose of taking the gospel to the far corners of the world.

Paul recommended in Romans 12:10 of "...brotherly love; in honour preferring one another," and

the servant of the Lord wrote.. "We have a duty to do in eliminating self from our plans, in feeling a personal responsibility to act as Christ would act in circumstances similar to those with which we are surrounded." (TDG 79)

Part of our witness to the world today is to demonstrate that the body of Christ can unite divergent groups, cultures, races, and nations into one body.

Our community of faith must be a place:

• Where black and yellow, red and white all are precious not only in His sight but in the sight of each member of the body,
• Where the concern for Afghanistan is equal to our concern for Anchorage,
• Where needs in Soweto are just as important as those in Sydney, and
• Where Mobile and Munich do not eclipse Mongolia.

The battlefield of nations today isn't between political super-powers but between ethnic, national, tribal, clan, caste, and even family groups. In this fractured world the Seventh-day Adventist Church must demonstrate the unity of the body of Christ.

Our church operates in 205 countries, and about 620 languages, but that doesn't necessarily mean we have a large view of the world.

The question is whether we as a church have the vision to encompass our exploding membership in all of its diversity.

The question here is one of vision,
   -not how many languages we speak.
The question is one of vision
   -not of how many missionaries we send.
The question is one of vision
   -not the size of the General Conference Budget

• Is our vision just a home vision?
• Is our eyesight covered with scales of narrow, local needs rather then broad priorities?

Can our vision be enlarged to encompass the whole church in all of its cultural diversity?

Jesus constitutes the only majority in the SDA church. We are all minorities.

Our church was founded on a vision of a mission to the world. This must not be lost today. Wherever our territory, we must look beyond our borders into the land of others. We must demonstrate a commitment to unity in diversity.

Our church has done an outstanding job of developing local leadership. While this is a positive trend, it is not without danger. It reduces the enrichment that comes from the blending of workers who cross national boundaries, resulting in a better understanding of the world-wide nature of our church.

In our church,

• every field must be a mission field.
• every member a missionary.
• every church a member of the world community.

We need to continue to send missionaries from every field to every field so each part of the body can understand what each part of the body is about.

It is easy to say, "Amen!" to general calls for unity but where the rubber meets the road is in stewardship.

We need to ask ourselves some difficult questions.

• By what mechanism do we balance local wants against the needs of others?
• How do we prevent ourselves from doing so many good things to care for ourselves that we neglect to care for those who have never heard the name of Jesus?
• How can our board and executive committee decisions illustrate the same spirit of sacrifice we expect our members to practice individually?

For example, are we willing to sacrifice local needs in order to finance a national media-awareness campaign?

How large is your world? How can it be expanded?  Is your world large enough to include the youth?  As real contributors, not mere tokens.  As first-class members.  As deacons and elders carrying the full weight of responsibility, not "junior" deacons or elders.

We must not ignore the capabilities and willingness of our talented, enthusiastic youth to join in completing our commission. It was largely to idealistic, consecrated youth that God entrusted the founding of His remnant church. Today He is again looking to them. Challenge them, and no mountain is too steep to climb. They will either become intensely involved as they shoulder responsibilities or they will surely loose interest and drift away from the church. The role they assume must provide a meaningful contribution and not be simply window dressing.

As authorized by a previous Annual Council, we recently added 9 more of our youth and young adults as full members of the GC Committee.

I urge each leader here to encourage the placing of dedicated young people on boards and executive committees throughout the church. Their inclusion is vital.

We must find ways to unleash their vision and energy for the Lord. Though largely functioning on an inter-division basis, our Student Missionary (or AYS) program has been a resounding success. Institutions around the world make up a list of places where youth might serve. Then we search for young people able to answer these calls. The result is about 300 SM's serving each year. Notice, the limiting factor is the number of calls we initiate.

During this Annual Council we will consider another additional channel for service, a channel in which the initiative resides with the youth. A channel through which they can indicate their willingness and ability to serve.

As a church our task will be to search, not for young people but rather to search for a place of service. Our role will be to match their willing spirit with an opportunity to labor for the cause of God.

We must also extend our reach to grasp the hand of young people who are not in our educational system. They too should feel needed by the church. They too should have the opportunity to serve.

I enjoyed meeting recently with the NAD President's Youth Kitchen Cabinet. Their depth of commitment evidenced by quality and variety of their ideas. One suggestion stands out in my mind.

The Youth Kitchen Cabinet suggested that each academy and college board annually survey all its students to evaluate the spiritual impact of that year of education.

• Were they, as students, brought closer to Christ?
• Do they enjoy assurance in Christ?
• Did their confidence in the authority of Scripture and each of our fundamental beliefs increase?
• Which classes contributed to their spiritual progress? Which didn't?
• They even went so far as to suggest that if there wasn't measurable spiritual progress, their next year's tuition should be discounted!

This process would hold us accountable to our primary reason for operating educational institutions, which is the spiritual well-being of our youth. I have asked the education department to consider this process as a requirement for denominational accreditation. If we succeed in the academic yet fail in the spiritual, we have failed utterly!

Our commitment to encouraging and empowering our youth must not be temporary, highlighted in a sermon, then passed by. If the youth truly are the army that will hasten the Lord's return, we must enlist them and commission them today.

How big is our God?
How large is our World?
How close is our neighbor?

Hebrews 13:2   "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." (NIV)

Abraham was sensitive to people outside of his own tent. He extended the boundaries of his tent.
When Lot got in trouble, Abraham rescued him.
When God revealed His plans to destroy Sodom, Abraham pled for the city.
Abraham's Neighborhood reached beyond the walls of his tent. How close is your neighbor?

Global Mission must be redefined:
It is the 2,300 population segments of 1,000,000 each with no Seventh-day Adventists. But it is more.
It is the 27 unentered countries, like Afghanistan and North Korea. But it is more.
It is the enormous challenge of places like China, India, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist world. But it is more.

We must not forget the part of "Global Mission" that is found in our own backyard. It is as close as our neighbor.
Global Mission means developing a plan to enter every community in every city.
Global Mission means planning to enter every town in every conference.

Soul-winning and keeping must be our highest priority. How do we know what our organizational priorities really are? I suggest a simple "smell test."

(ILL) I was once asking an attorney about the legality of some financial proposal and he said to me, "Well, first let's use the smell test." Like the test you would use before eating an old piece of fruit, "How does it smell?" Lets look at our budgets. Do they pass the "smell test?" An operating budget provides a clearer analysis of our priorities than does a mission statement!

Permit me to suggest that giving lip service to the primacy of soul winning, without a reflection in our budgets, activities, and agendas will not cut it any more. Every employee, institution and organization must be held accountable and evaluated in the light of our spiritual mission to the world. The General Conference budget should also be an expression of this philosophy. I hope you will see reflected in the '93 GC Budget.

For the first time, at this Annual Council we will consider a proposal to allocate a portion of General Conference operating gains to Global Mission evangelism!

How we spend our time also reveals our priorities. You will see this in the block of time set aside at this Annual Council for considering Global Mission and Youth related issues.

Strategic planning, Global Mission and all the administrative activities that we work on at these meetings are important but

• the one thing that moved Abraham to the promised land wasn't the allocation of a camel's budget.
• what moved Abraham to the promised land wasn't his Global Mission statement.
• what moved him to the promised land wasn't a generous travel budget.

"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. {9} By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. {10} For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." (NIV)

It was faith that moved Abraham to the promised land.
It was a vision of a city whose architect and builder was God that moved Abraham to the promised land.

"By faith Abraham..." Visualize the scene with me. Abraham is an old man. He was 75 and his wife was 65 when he left Haran. He and Sarah are now nearing 100 years old and the promise "I will make you into a great nation" [Gen. 12:2] is fading with each passing year.

Abraham tries in his own way to fulfill the promise by taking Hagar as his wife, but that was not God's plan. Abraham's faith was not always strong. His confidence in the covenant wavered.

There are those today whose confidence is wavering. There are those who have been with this message many years and they are saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?" For, like Abraham, the temptation to doubt is strong.

• Some even consider taking on other brides than God's church to fulfill the covenant.
• Some would substitute manipulating the machinery for giving the message.
• Some, looking at our task and at our world, could easily lose faith. How can God possibly fulfill His promise?

My question for us is: "How big is our God?"

Some, with the vision of a world Adventist body obscured by trends of individualism, suggest that they might solve their problems by retaining resources for a narrower vision.

My question for us is, "How large is our World?"

Some, with a wavering faith might suggest we focus on the sheep in the fold rather than the lost sheep.

My question for us is, "How close is our neighbor?"

One night when God came to Abraham in vision to affirm His covenant Abraham expressed doubt. At that point the Bible says something very interesting. "He took him outside" [Gen 15:5] God took Abram outside. Can you visualize this. I think of Him taking Abram by the hand out under the stars. He points up and says,  "Look at the heavens and count the stars - if indeed you can count them....So shall your offspring be." [Gen 15:5]

And then the Bible says, "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." [Gen 15:6]

We have the assurance that our God is with us. He has made a covenant with us. We must have confidence in that covenant. Unfortunately, too many members suffer from a lack of assurance of salvation in Christ.

The leadership we provide our members must be primarily spiritual. We certainly have goals in relationship to governance, youth, and global mission, but nothing must have a higher priority, collectively or individually, than affirming the covenant with our Lord. We can do nothing effectively outside the beautiful gospel message of assurance in Christ and the joy of salvation.

Permit me a word of warning. While preaching Righteousness by Faith, let us shun extremes. One extreme confuses the evidence with the means of salvation. The other extreme undermines the life-changing power God promises to provide for victory over sin and considers a commitment to victorious living to be proof of legalism.

The theme pervading our ministry should be the beautiful, balanced message of righteousness by faith, which provides the believer both with full assurance of salvation in Christ as well as the evidence of that salvation in victorious Christian living.

When we claim the assurance provided by Jesus, when as a people we are confident of God's love for us, Abrahams will rise among us, leading us to the Promised Land.

It is happening today:

• I think of the young man in Sri Lanka that went to an unentered district, organized a body of believers amid terrifying persecution. In the process he was beaten, their place of worship burned and his life was repeatedly threatened. And yet, today the hope of this message shines in that community.
• I think of the 24 young taskforce workers in the predominantly Muslim Sudan laboring to establish our church in 12 unentered cities. I have pictures of six new groups of believers they have established with testimonies of how the Lord has given the taskforce teams courage in the face of danger.
• I think of the Spicer College taskforce teams. I have read many of their reports. Many walk 10, 15, 20 miles a day giving Bible studies, holding meetings in towns that 12 months ago were without an Adventist. Why do they walk? Because they don't have the $50 to provide them with a bicycle. They could be more effective with a bicycle, but they go on undaunted.

15 baptized here, 34 baptized there, 6 Bible studies started here. I quote from one report, "even though gathered under a rented plastic tarp the 26 new members still faithfully come." Another quote, "Between us, my evangelism partner and I have a pair of shoes and a pair of slippers. Whoever gives Bible studies in the village 9 kilometers away gets to wear the shoes." Bicycles, rented tarps, shoes.

You see why collective sacrifice is so important. The Holy Spirit is moving upon this church. Today in Spicer College there are 182 members of the "New Mission Generation," student-evangelists, daily counting it a privilege to be ambassadors for Christ in India. They have formed the 91 new congregations that are now meeting.

Contemporary Abrahams of faith are rising today to lead our church to the Promised Land. People of vision are moving forward to the Promised Land.

(ILL) One pitch-black, starless night my son, Bobby, and I stepped out of a thatched house on the tiny San Blas island of Pidertupo to walk the narrow trail to our little hut for the night. He said, "Daddy, I'm scared. I can't see," as he reached up and put his little hand into mine. After he was holding my hand I heard him say, to himself, "There, now I can see."  Bobby's eyes were opened when his hand was securely in mine.

We live on a dark planet. There are a lot of reasons for insecurity but, with our hand in the hand of our heavenly Father, we can see. We may not see all we would like to see. There are times when we would like to see more. There are times when we see through a glass darkly (I Cor 13:12) but we are secure because we know who holds our hand.

Do you know who holds your hand?
Are you prepared to move to the promised land with faith in God's covenant with His Remnant Church?
If it is your desire to grasp the hand of Him who will give us vision to see in a dark world will you stand with me?

Remember:

• It is God's promise,
• It is God's work,
• It is God's covenant.

How big is our God?
How large is our world?
How close is our neighbor?

Copyright ^© 1992 by R S Folkenberg