Analytical Series I - ADVENTISM IN EASTERN EUROPE
In almost every issue during the early 1990s, the "Adventist Review" used to make gleeful reports on the thousands of souls that were being baptised by western, mostly North American and Australian evangelists. (If i recall correctly, on one occasion in a former USSR Republic, three thousand people were baptised in one day by a North American evangelist). Yet, no-one would ever read (especially on a church publication) that ca. 80% of these "thousands" quit attending either shortly after their baptism, or during that same year.
To be fair, this phenomenon affected all evangelical denominations, not just Adventists. Whether for superstitious reasons, (oriental, pagan, folk-Islam and Eastern Orthodox cultural influences), emotional reasons (freedom, post-communist euphoria), or for purely economical reasons (ADRA sending food and clothes to baptised members, other financial and educational benefits), thousands joined the church for less then ideal reasons. The baptismal classes would last about a month or as long as the missionary-run evangelistic campaign would last. This phenomenon is technically called "imperialistic evangelism." The truth is that a lot of cash was poured into Eastern Europe during 1990-1995, in exhange for thousands of "converts", most of whom became backsliders in less than a year following their baptism. The sad truth was that in most cases there was no follow-up strategy whatsoever; baptism was clearly an end to itself and there was hardly any emphasis on discipleship and/or stewardship. Worse, the evangelical churches, including the Adventist Church, were and still are viewed as foreign imports, rather than a domestic movement/denomination.
Hoping I don't sound too negative or skeptical, I wonder what the real records are concerning the current state of the Adventist Church in East Europe. Has the church counted how many of the people that were baptised in the 1990s then are still attending church? More importantly, should we go through this painful analysis, so we can learn from it in the future?
A huge chunk of the backsliders have left for the more affluent Western Europe, and I wouldn't be surprised if, say in 5 years, there will be more Polish and Czech than white British Adventists in the UK. The other side of the coin is that since the second half of the 90s, with East European population becoming as secularized and materialistic as the West, the number of baptism has dwindled significantly, and consequently, that of Western evangelists.
Having said all this, due credit must be given to many Western evangelists who came to E.Europe for the right reasons and worked with endless efforts to build healthy and stable congregations. They opted not to follow a populist/imperialistic agenda, and have made real lon-term commitments in the various mission fields.
Nowadays, the church in E.Europe faces pretty much the same challenges like that in US/W.Europe. However, it seems to me that a fair and honest reporting of baptisms and regular attendance in part of the unions/conferences/missions from both EAD and TED would be a good starting point toward gradual recovery. Only then can we begin to work our way up by facing TASK NUMBER ONE: Cultivating A SENSE OF OWNERSHIP in our members (which I would like to tackle next in the Analytical Series on Adventism in E.Europe).
I would heartily invite the readers of this blog to participate with their comments on this issue that is important to me and hopefully many others that share a similar concern
To be fair, this phenomenon affected all evangelical denominations, not just Adventists. Whether for superstitious reasons, (oriental, pagan, folk-Islam and Eastern Orthodox cultural influences), emotional reasons (freedom, post-communist euphoria), or for purely economical reasons (ADRA sending food and clothes to baptised members, other financial and educational benefits), thousands joined the church for less then ideal reasons. The baptismal classes would last about a month or as long as the missionary-run evangelistic campaign would last. This phenomenon is technically called "imperialistic evangelism." The truth is that a lot of cash was poured into Eastern Europe during 1990-1995, in exhange for thousands of "converts", most of whom became backsliders in less than a year following their baptism. The sad truth was that in most cases there was no follow-up strategy whatsoever; baptism was clearly an end to itself and there was hardly any emphasis on discipleship and/or stewardship. Worse, the evangelical churches, including the Adventist Church, were and still are viewed as foreign imports, rather than a domestic movement/denomination.
Hoping I don't sound too negative or skeptical, I wonder what the real records are concerning the current state of the Adventist Church in East Europe. Has the church counted how many of the people that were baptised in the 1990s then are still attending church? More importantly, should we go through this painful analysis, so we can learn from it in the future?
A huge chunk of the backsliders have left for the more affluent Western Europe, and I wouldn't be surprised if, say in 5 years, there will be more Polish and Czech than white British Adventists in the UK. The other side of the coin is that since the second half of the 90s, with East European population becoming as secularized and materialistic as the West, the number of baptism has dwindled significantly, and consequently, that of Western evangelists.
Having said all this, due credit must be given to many Western evangelists who came to E.Europe for the right reasons and worked with endless efforts to build healthy and stable congregations. They opted not to follow a populist/imperialistic agenda, and have made real lon-term commitments in the various mission fields.
Nowadays, the church in E.Europe faces pretty much the same challenges like that in US/W.Europe. However, it seems to me that a fair and honest reporting of baptisms and regular attendance in part of the unions/conferences/missions from both EAD and TED would be a good starting point toward gradual recovery. Only then can we begin to work our way up by facing TASK NUMBER ONE: Cultivating A SENSE OF OWNERSHIP in our members (which I would like to tackle next in the Analytical Series on Adventism in E.Europe).
I would heartily invite the readers of this blog to participate with their comments on this issue that is important to me and hopefully many others that share a similar concern
Comments
I agree with that, though I have to add that in most western churches as well there is no follow-up. As soon as you're baptized, your chapter is closed and members/pastors drop you like a hot potato. The difference between western churches and eastern churches is this: Most candidates for baptism in the western church have grown up in it. They already know about ownership and stewardship, having adventist parents, and being advenstist in a secular environment like highschool. So for them, baptism is really a last step, and baptismal class doesn't have to be very long, since most of the knowledge was aquired in early childhood.
Completely different though the eastern side: Members are new, they have never heard of Adventism, and being Christian is a cool new thing for them. Since the conversion takes place in a euphoric setting like an evangelistic campaign (I don't want to blame every one to be only after the presents) their decision is a very emotional one and hence nothing more than a "hayfire" (german expression, don't know if it exists in English), meaning the repercussions of that decision don't last very long. For them the baptism is the first step of their christian life, as opposed to the last step.
Here is where the approach of missionaries has to change: they are mostly used to western kids, who already know a great deal, don't require a lot of baptismal class and know exactly what it's like to be a long-term member of a church. This is why it is essentially wrong to send pastors who are mostly used to typical western churches into the missionfield. Sadly, these are the majority of missionaries: the children are out of the house, life is boring, and they're too young to retire just yet - the answer is: mission field!
It is time for a distinction in the education between pastors and missionaries. In the present educational programm the students are only prepared to be a pastor. The education to be a missionary should be a completely different one.
Here in Spain we have had (and still somewhere) the same matter as there in E.Europe. Specially in Canary Islands where people has been baptized without any preparation and/or in their sins (concubinate, drug addictions, working on sabbath, etc.etc.). The results have been also the same, people who stopped attending church the sabbath after their baptism, or a few weeks or months after.
What has been the worse issue? The former members have been (and still on) a crisies, wandering if the standards and the doctrine has been changed. Finally, the benches are even emptier than before, but in the church members lists we find much more names...
Somebody hanged his own "medal" on his chest due to this "miracle", but there was no follow up job with the "new members". From now on, there is a challenge to rebuild these churches, and the new pastors that are going to attend these areas (starting next september) are facing a big challenge, how to restore the church there, try to track back those "new baptized" people (and act in consequence), and not to loose their honor and job as pastors in their attempt.
As you might see, the variables are quite different, but the root of the problem is worldwide spread. In my blog (in spanish, but translatable with babelfish) I posted an article about this same problem, referring another article of Mark Finley about the same issue.
For more details, copy and paste this link in your navigation bar:
http://cuenta-atras.blogspot.com/2007/07/no-todo-el-que-diga-seor-seor.html
As I have reflected on Albania over the years one of the difficulties I saw was the sheer lack of Adventist church infrastructure. THere werent churches to introduce people into, church buildings, pastors etc. I remember the Tirana frustration regarding building on the edge of the national park.
This was not the case in other eastern european countries.
Interestingly the Bible describes a similar thing happening to Jesus in the gospels. After the feeding of the 5000 etc - triumphant points in Jesus' ministry the gospels show that most - including the 70 - left Christ. Though He had been successful healing etc, at the cross only three, John the beloved, Mary & Mary His mother were at the foot of the cross. It could be argued that Christ's ministry was a failure? Was it imperialistic either? I think not!
WDYT?
First, apologies for my delayed reply. Your comments are thought-provoking and therefore greatly appreciated.
It is interesting (well, worrying, in fact), Pedro, to see that the lack of follow-up is a pan-Adventist problem. But I want to focus on what I think is one of the roots of the problem, which Sean also refers to. The pastor and the evangelist should ideally be separate roles, though not thoroughly, if we kept our feet on the ground for a moment. Take Paul, for instance, he is the perfect evangelist, but I doubt he'd be the perfect local church pastor. The NT allows for both roles. I dare suggest, Sean, that we have a handicap in our ministerial training. We learned homiletics, OT, NT Studies, some church-related stuff at Newbold, in other words, we learned how to pastor a local western church. THere was hardly and emphasis on evangelism or cutting-edge ministry. On the other hand, the concepts of leadership and management (consider yourself lucky Sean, that you were already qualified on these fields before you completed your theological studies) are hardly touched in our academic institutions. I know I have gone off the subject a bit, but I wanted to post this thought anyway, and hopefully get back on track trhough a later comment.
I agree with you that we need more training for the after evangelism meetings. In the last few years I have baptized something like 200 people - not to brag but praise God.
The problem I have seen is dead churches. As Adventist's we often feel our church ritual ends by attending a service on Sabbath. There needs to be weekly social events. 3 nights of spiritual programing - followon dan & rev seminars etc, spiritual gift training, etc. Each Sabbath we have a fellowship lunch. I find this has been a great way to attract new believers.
In Texico the conference also has a New Belivers Retreat annually for all new members who were baptized in the previous 3 years. It is a free weekend for everyone who will come. If you want any ideas I can share them with you. There are a ton of ideas which work. Many I havent used yet. The most contagious is the attitude of the pastor! :-) We have a church in Tulsa OK which has grown from a church plant in 2000 to over 700 today. Amazing story!
I believe the challenge we also had in Albania to start with was that ADRA and the church had been co-mingled. Once there was a demarcation it was easier for the members not to feel like membership of the church would equal something from ADRA - but rather to ask, how can we serve our neighbors who are in need with things God has provided through ADRA. Dont know if we got there before I left, but I remember a couple of weeks before the warehouse was looted where the church got together and sent truck loads of clothes etc up into the mountains for villagers who were in need. Do you remember that? I must look and see if I can find some photos.
Got to run.
Sean