Advent Christians Must Plant Churches- Here's What We're Doing About It

As we look at the figures on churches in America across denominational lines, we see most groups are losing ground.  We are currently averaging more than three churches per year closing in the Advent Christian denomination. However, numbers are not the most important thing to consider. The real heart of ministry is sharing the message of Jesus Christ with those who desperately need to hear it.

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The Fragmentation of the Christian Worldview (4/4)

As we come to the end with this last post we have covered the problem of fragmentation by…well, fragmenting the problem into four parts and offering suggestions for how to put humpty dumpty together again in each section (see previous posts Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and the end of the article for a link to the full pdf).  This final contribution will not rehash or summarize the previous posts, but will instead add a more practical tool to tie the major concepts together. 

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The Fragmentation of Christian Perspective- with special attention given to the Book of Acts (3/4)

“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity,”[1] but what are the essentials?  While both R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur can share a pulpit to give their differing positions on baptism (infant vs. believers baptism respectively), and speak at the same  conferences, the fact remains that if R.C. Sproul were faithfully attending MacArthur’s church he still would not meet the requirements for membership and therefore could not join.  While the general concept of baptism is necessary in order to be unified with the essentials o

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International Missions: A Greater Focus on Unreached Peoples

The united missionary impulse of the Advent Christian Church in North America is in danger of flickering out. To be sure, some local Advent Christian churches and individuals exhibit a strong passion for the spread of God’s kingdom. But looking at the “united” mission of our churches through the International Missions[i] of Advent Christian General Conference, there is much evidence for a noticeable decrease in mission fervor.

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"What is Theological Fragmentation?" A Four-Part Leadership Series Pointing the Church Forward

At the 2017 ERA annual meeting, President Steve Brown of BICS presented the idea that the major barrier to unity within the Advent Christians is “theological fragmentation.”  The major proposed solution, assuming one accepts the premise, was a call for a hermeneutical reformation (a la Kaiser as exemplar) to reinvigorate and reestablish basic, core, essential principles of interpretation in hopes of gaining unity of mind together. 

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Leadership Development: Where We’ve Been, Where We Must Go


1987. This was the year campus operations ceased at Berkshire Christian College. At that time, Berkshire was the primary means through which pastors were trained and developed within the Advent Christian Church. It had been more than a decade since pastoral studies programs had ceased at the Advent Christian Church’s other college, Aurora College, so with Berkshire’s closure, the Advent Christian Church was left without a clear avenue through which pastors and key denominational leaders could emerge.

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Hold on Tom and Corey...I want to go on vacation!

Corey McLaughlin and Tom Loghry have levied some heavy charges over the last couple of weeks. They have indicated that it is our responsibility  as Advent Christians to hasten the Second Coming of Christ. I want these good and well meaning servants of Christ to know this…I’m not ready for that.  I certainly want Christ to return, but can’t he wait until I’ve gone on vacation first?

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The Dawn of Neo-Adventism?

The title of this article is punctuated with a question mark because of the embryonic stage at which it is being put forward. In his latest two-part series, “Advent Christians in the 21st Century”, Corey McLaughlin has set before us what is in my estimation one of the most pivotal reflections on Adventism in late Advent Christian history. Conditionalism has dominated Advent Christian identity in the latter part of our history, but McLaughlin has reminded us of our other hand, in fact what was once our dominant hand, which is our Adventism.

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Putting to Death the Flesh

There is possibly no greater challenge to the faithful Christian than living this life with eternity in mind. Paul warns us in Romans 13:14 that we should “make no provision of the flesh, to gratify its desires”. In 1 Corinthians 15 we are reminded that if it is in this life only that we have hope, we should be pitied. Indeed, our life is not our own, it belongs to God, “For none of us lives to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:7-8).

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Advent Christians in the 21st Century Part 2 - Living Forward

The passionate, zealous, spirit of the Second Advent movement is still sought today by many in the Advent Christian denomination who pant with drought stricken desperation for the same radical demonstrations of faith as our early brethren.  David Platt’s challenging call in Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream, and John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life capture the essence of this spirit many seek while avoiding the pitfalls of fanaticism and abuse.

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Advent Christians in the 21st Century Part 1 - Looking Back

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards,” says Søren Kierkegaard.  This is all the more crucial for the new generation of Second Adventist leaders as they ponder the four stages of social movements and apply them analogously to our denomination, noting that we are currently in the final stage of decline and therefore soon failure.  The grave is dug, the tombstone is written, but the body has yet to fall.  Is there yet still vibrant life in this mortal frame?  In order to understand who we are, we must first look back:    

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Emmanuel Has Come- a Devotion (4/4)

“O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel!”

 Each Advent season, these words are sung in churches around the nation and likely, in some form, around the globe. They are words of hope and longing. They are words of expectation and yet to be fulfilled promise. They are words that capture, very well, the mood of the Israelite people at the time of the incarnation. There was longing and pain, yet there was hope.

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The Fig Tree

The Advent season calls us to consider the promise of Jesus to come again. When asked about the time of his return, Jesus gave us all kinds of signs that we could observe in the interim between his two advents. He said there would be wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes and all kinds of things like that would happen but that we were not to get perturbed or anxious about any of them because the end was not yet. He also said the gospel will be preached to all people groups before the end would come. That is something that it would seem could possibly be completed at the rate is happening now within this generation especially with the advent of the internet. There was, however, one particular sign that he associated with his second advent and with which he gave a very strong admonition... 

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Tweaking Tim Keller's Tweet

Early yesterday afternoon, Tim Keller sent out a tweet that set Twitter ablaze with controversy. Keller tweeted, “Jesus didn’t come primarily to solve the economic, political, and social problems of the world. He came to forgive our sins.” Accusations immediately began to pour in that Keller was claiming that Jesus does not care about social justice.

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