August 2015

Volume 12

Issue 08

To reach London with the distinctive, Christ-centered, Seventh-day Adventist message of Hope and Wholeness.

London, Ontario

NEWSLETTER

GENERAL CONFERENCE LEADERS ELECTED

On Friday, July 3rd majority of some 1900 delegates present in the Alamodome re-elected
incumbent General Conference president Ted N.C. Wilson to another five years in office on
In This Issue
Friday. Wilson and his wife, Nancy, entered the stage to
sustained applause from standing delegates and thousands
General Conference leaders elected.......1
of other church members. It is with very quiet respect and
humility that both of us stand before you, before God, Wilson
GC Vice Presidents elected.....2
said. And we do accept this responsibility. Wilson reiterated his commitment to God and the Adventist Church, and
Division Presidents elected........4
briefly outlined three goals that he would pursue in his second term: a greater emphasis on Christ and His righteousDan Jackson re-elected in NAD.....5
ness, faithfulness, and the involvement of every church member in evangelism and witnessing. God intends for his peoWomen Ordination NOT approved...5
ple to stand faithfully, but we have got to do it together.
Friday afternoon delegates unanimously reelected G. T. Ng as General Conference
NAD clarification of the vote of July 8.6
(GC) executive secretary. Ng, whose service for the denomination includes being a pastor, seminary professor, and GenEllen White estate resleases ..7
eral Conference administrator, was elected as GC secretary
five years ago at the GC session in Atlanta.
Adventists are most racially diverse8
Since then, Ng has emphasized the importance of
keeping accurate membership records around the world.
A Conspiracy in North America10
Combined with keeping accurate records, Ng has made
membership retention one of the key focuses of the world
Western District schedule of speakers,
church. His duty is also to coordinate the churchs extensive
August 2015 ...12
missionary program.
Ng said the greatest challenge facing the church is
changing the culture from members being spectators, where pastors do most of the work, to a culture where the priesthood of all believers is embraced and practiced. Every member is an evangelist.
Later that same Friday afternoon delegates chose the GC undertreasurer Juan Prestol-Puesn as
General Conference treasurer, replacing the retiring Robert E. Lemon. He gave perhaps the shortest
acceptance speech in General Conference history: On behalf of my wife and myself, well do our best,
God helping us.
Born in the Dominican Republic, Prestol-Puesn has served as treasurer of various church administrative levels, including the Atlantic Union Conference in North America, the Euro-Asia Division, and
the North American Division.
In an interview, he said the biggest challenges of the church involve unity and the involvement of
lay members. I am pledging myself to communication, not only what we say to them, but how w e listen to them, how we bring about a better working relationship, he said. We will do whatever we can to
communicate with our people.
London Seventh Day Adventist Church, 805 Shelborne Street, London, Ontario N5Z 5C6 Canada, 519.680.1965

3 NEW AND 3 INCUMBENT GC VICE PRESIDENTS

ELECTED. SMALLER TEAM HAS BIG PLANS FOR MISSION.

On July 6, Monday afternoon a slimmed-down leadership team of six general vice presidents has been
elected to the General Conference and charged with
helping implement three mission-oriented goals that the
Seventh-day Adventist Church intends to prioritize over
the next five years.
The lineup includes three new officersGuillermo E.
Biaggi, Thomas L. Lemon, and Abner De Los Santos
and three reelected officersGeoffrey G. Mbwana, Ella
S. Simmons, and Artur A. Stele.
The shuffle is significant, reducing the number of
general vice presidents from nine to six, a level last seen
in the 1990s. Four general vice presidents, Lowell C.
Cooper, Armando Miranda, Michael L. Ryan, and Benjamin D. Schoun, announced their retirement months
before the General Conference session. With the election, two sitting general vice presidents also will leave
office, Delbert W. Baker and Pardon K. Mwansa.
Some delegates were surprised by the announcement
of the smaller team, which was made at the General
Conference session on Sunday. Wilson said he had explained to the Nominating Committee that the General
Conference could do with fewer general vice presidents
because their workload had shrunk over the past five
years. He named as examples the General Conferences
transfer of two institutionsPacific Press Publishing
Association and Oakwood Universityto the North
American Division and the closure of Review and Herald Publishing Associations printing operations last
year.
Several delegates still questioned the decision on
Sunday and Monday, with one saying it was odd to reduce leadership at a time when the Adventist Church is
experiencing unprecedented growth. A vote on the
nominations was postponed until Monday so concerned
delegates could speak with the Nominating Committee.

Simmons, the first woman to serve as a general vice

president of the Adventist Church who was first elected
in 2005, said change in organizational leadership structure is always a part of growth.
The new leadership team will be tasked with pursuing the Adventist Churchs three goals of emphasizing
Christ and His righteousness; faithfulness; and the involvement of every church member in evangelism and
witness. President Ted Wilson identified the three goals
as his top priorities after his re-election last Friday, and
the new general vice presidents spoke eagerly about fulfilling them. All mission is eventually local, said
Lemon, former president of the Mid-America Union
Conference in the North American Division. He said he
would like to see the Adventist Church get to the place
where its members are so connected in their local communities that a community would feel a huge loss if the
church went away. I believe we have become rather
inward focused to the point that it wouldnt matter in a
number of places around the world if our churches
burned to the ground. He said Adventists have to be
more than the hands and feet of Jesus. We have to be
the boots that get things done in our communities, he
said.
Biaggi, an Argentine national who has lived the past
15 years in Russia as president of the Euro-Asia Division from 2010 to 2015 and division treasurer before
that, said he longed to see every church member reach at
least one person for Christ per year. Then that person
would reach another person and fulfill the mission of the
church, he said.
De Los Santos, a Mexican national and former vice
president of the Inter-American Division, underscored
the importance of humility in serving others. I think we
need to understand the necessity to be humble before
God and to stand before people to serve them, he said.

This Newsletter is produced by the Communication department of the London Seventh-day Adventist Church

Continued from page 2

Guillermo E. Biaggi served as
president to the Euro-Asia Division
since 2010, and prior to that served as
treasurer of the same from 20002010. Biaggis previous church work
includes administration and finance
throughout several church organizations around the world for more than
40 years. His leadership in the EuroAsia Division saw the expansion of
evangelism impact in urban centers in dozens of cities across the
territory. In addition, Adventist schools increased in number under
his leadership from 5 to 26, and a theological seminary in Ukraine
was established.
Born in Argentina, Biaggi worked 25 years in the South American Division as university vice president of financial affairs at the
River Plate Adventist University, Argentina. He also served as
treasurer of the Austral Union Conference and secretary-treasurer
of the Uruguay Mission, as well as senior accountant and assistant
accountant. Biaggi, 62, is a certified public accountant, holds
bachelors degrees in business and theology, and completed a masters degree in administration and a doctorate in ministry from Andrews University. He speaks fluent Spanish and English, and understands Portuguese and basic Russian. Biaggi and his wife, Sybel, have four adult children all working for church organizations.
He also has three grandchildren.
Abner De Los Santos served as
vice president in charge of member
retention in the Inter-American Division since 2010. Originally from
Mexico, De Los Santos is an ordained minister who began his work
as a church pastor in 1986 in southeast Mexico. He served as conference
secretary and later conference president for 10 years. De Los Santos also worked 10 years as secretary
and later president of the North Mexican Union from 2001 to
2010.
Ordained in 1991, De Los Santos, 52, earned a masters in pastoral ministry from Andrews University and completed a doctorate
degree in ministry from the Inter-American Theological Seminary
in 2012. De Los Santos is married to Leticia. The couple has two
adult children.
Thomas L. Lemon began his career as a pastor in Maryland and later
pastured in Texas. In 1996, he accepted a call to serve as assistant to
the president of the Rocky Mountain
Conference. He then was ministerial
director in Oregon (2002-2006) and
president of the Minnesota Conference (2006-2009) before accepting the
position of president for the Mid-America Union Conference.
Lemon has served as a member of boards of directors for a number
of higher education and health-care institutions, as well as media
and outreach ministries. During his tenure as president of MidAmerica Union, Lemons stated areas of focus were evangelism,
education, and health care. Lemon earned his bachelors degree in
theology at Southwestern Union College (now Southwestern Ad-

Here are short biographies of Vice-Presidents:

ventist University) in Keene, Texas, and a master of divinity degree from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Berrien Springs Michigan. Lemons wife,
Jan, is a career educator. The couple has two adult children and
four grandchildren.
Geoffrey G. Mbwana was elected as a
general vice president for the Seventh-day
Adventist General Conference in 2010.
Born on October 20, 1955, in Tanzania,
Mbwana spent time in high school and
college working as a literature evangelist
in India and Sweden. Mbwana graduated
from Spicer Memorial College in 1982
with bachelors degrees in religion and
psychology. He earned a masters degree in education from Andrews University in 1984 and completed a masters in educational
psychology at Poona University in 1986. He is married to Nakku
Mbwana, and they have two daughters: Orupa and Upendo.
Mwbanas previous church work includes serving as president the
North-East Tanzania Conference, the Tanzania Union Mission, and
for the East-Central Africa Division. He speaks three languages:
Kiswahili, English, and Kipare.
Ella Simmons holds the distinction of
being the first woman to serve as a vice
president of the Seventh-day Adventist
world church. Simmons was elected at
the 2005 General Conference Session,
held in Saint Louis, Missouri. An educator throughout her career, Simmons has
served as chair for departments of education (Kentucky State University), a ssociate dean (University of Louisville), and professor (Oakwood University, La Sierra University). She gained administrative experience while serving as academic vice president of Oakwood University and provost and academic vice president for La Sierra University. Simmons has been a prominent member of accreditation
and corporate boards within the church and in the community. She
holds a masters degree from Andrews University and a doctorate
from the University of Louisville. Simmons and her husband,
Nord, a retired high school teacher, have two adult sons who are
also educators: Darryl and Christopher.
Artur A. Stele was elected as a general vice president for the Seventh-day
Adventist world church at the 2010 General Conference Session in Atlanta, Georgia. He was born on January 30, 1961, in
Kaskelen, Kazakhstan. He graduated from
Almaty Medical College in Kazakhstan in
1979 with a degree in pharmacy.
In 1986, Stele received a bachelors
degree in theology from Friedensau Adventist University in Germany. That same year Stele married Galina, the first woman to
graduate from Andrews University with a doctoral degree in ministry. The couple has a son, Alexander. Stele earned his masters and
doctorate in theology from Andrews University in 1993 and 1996.
Steles denominational service includes time spent as academic
dean and president for Zaoksky Theological Seminary, as well as
president of the Euro-Asia Division. Stele is fluent in Russian,
German, and English.

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6 NEWCOMERS
AMONG 13 DIVISION PRESIDENTS
General Conference (GC) session delegates elected six new presidents to the
Seventh-day Adventist Churchs 13 world
divisions and kept seven incumbents on
Monday, July 6.
The six new division presidents are Leonardo R. Asoy (Southern Asia-Pacific),
Mario Brito (Inter-Europe), Michael
Kaminskiy (Euro-Asia), Ezras Lakra
(Southern Asia), Glenn Townend (South
Pacific), and Elie Weick-Dido (WestCentral Africa).
These new leaders replace incumbents
who retired, were not reelected, or, in the
case of the Euro-Asia Divisions Guillermo
E. Biaggi, moved to the General Conference as a general vice president.
Here are the names of the division presidents in alphabetical order:
Leonardo R. Asoy, newly elected president of the Southern Asia-Pacific Division, most recently served as the president of the South Philippine Union Conference based in Cagayan de Oro City. He has served as a district pastor and division Sabbath school director. He and his wife
have two grown children.
Mario Brito is the newly elected president of the Inter-European Division (EUD) is, formerly Ministerial secretary of the Inter-European
Division based in Berne, Switzerland.
Dan Jackson, 66, was reelected for a second term as president of the North American Division (NAD). Jackson, a native of Canada,
served as a pastor, teacher, and administrator in Canada and the Southern Asia Division.
Raafat A. Kamal, 51, has been president of the Trans-European Division (TED) since 2014. Originally from Lebanon, Kamal began his
denominational service as an educator. He served in England, Norway, Pakistan, and Iran.
Michael F. Kaminskiy comes to the leadership of the Euro-Asia Division (ESD) after being secretary and vice president of the division.
Erton C. Khler, 47, was reelected as president of the South American Division (SAD), a position he has held since 2007. A native of
Brazil, Khler was the youngest division president when he was elected, after serving as conference and division Youth Ministries director. He
graduated with a degree in Theology from Brazil Adventist University.
Ezras Lakra was elected as president of the Southern Asia Division (SUD) and most recently served as president of the Northern Indian
Union Section based in New Delhi. He and his wife have two children and one grandson.
Jairyong Lee is returning as president of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD). Lee, president of the division since 2005, began his
pastoral career in South Korea. He has served as a professor of theology, and was director of the 1000 Missionary Movement. He was elected
division president after serving as Ministerial Association secretary, Stewardship director, and Global Mission coordinator.
Israel Leito was reelected as president of the Inter-American Division (IAD). Leito, president of the IAD since 1994, has seen membership
in that division go from 1 million to 3.7 million members. Leito, a native of the Caribbean island of Curaao, breaks a record for longest serving
division president, a position he has held for more than 21 years.
Paul S. Ratsara has been president of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division (SID) since 2005. Before that he served as the secretary
of the division. Dr. Ratsara lost his wife, Denise, in 2013, following a battle with cancer. He married Joanne in November of 2014 and their
blended family includes nine children.
Blasious M. Ruguri was first elected president of the East-Central Africa Division (ECD) at the General Conference session in 2010. He
began his career as a district pastor, eventually becoming division secretary. He studied global leadership at Andrews University.
Glenn Townend is the new president of the South Pacific Division (SPD). He previously served as president of the Trans-Pacific Union
Mission, and before that as president of the Western Australia Conference. He has served as a pastor, church planter, and conference administrator.
Elie Weick-Dido comes to the presidency of the West-Central Africa Division (WAD) after serving as Sabbath School/Personal Ministries
director for the division. Weick-Dido has earned D.Min. and Ph.D. degrees from Andrews University and served as pastor of a Haitian congregation in North America.
This Newsletter is produced by the Communication department of the London Seventh-day Adventist Church

Daniel Jackson Reelected North American Division President

The delegates of the 60th General Conference Session voted to reelect Daniel
R. Jackson to serve as president of the North American Division (NAD), along
with 12 other presidents of the 13 divisions that make up the worldwide Seventhday Adventist Church. Jackson will serve another five years as the president of
the NAD, a position he has held since 2010.
Jackson is a native Canadian and, with the exception of five years of service in
the Southern Asia Division, has lived and ministered in the North American Division. He is a graduate of Canadian Union College (now Burman University) and
Andrews University, from which he holds an M.A. in Religion in Systematic Theology.
During his career, Dan has served the church as a pastor, teacher and administrator. Dan and his wife, Donna, enjoy the three children and four grandchildren

Womens Ordination
Not Approved

On July 8 after a day long process delegates considered

the following question regarding the ordination of women to the
gospel ministry:
Is it acceptable for division executive committees, as they
may deem it appropriate in their territories, to make provision
for the ordination of women to the gospel ministry? Yes or No
after lengthy introduction of the matter and educational
explanations, less than two hours were actually used to listen
to opinions on both sides. 20 delegates spoke against, and 18
spoke in favour, as reflected in the minutes of the session published in Bulletin #7.
At the conclusion of the vote the count was as follows:
No: 1381
Yes: 977
Abstain: 5
Total: 2363
In the past a request to ordain
women pastors was voted down.
In 1990 1,173 said No, and 377

said Yes. (76:24%)

In 1995 a
similar vote for autonomy on the decision
making also was voted down, as 1481
said No, and 673 said Yes (69:31%).
Twenty years later the margin is smaller
58:42%.

Seventh-day Adventist church

has voted to ordain women as
elders in 1975 and to recognize
women as commissioned pastors
since 1985. To address possible misunderstandings and misapplication of the vote as there was evidence in some parts of
the world that already on Thursday some were demanding
resignation of women elders and pastors, on Friday, July 10
General Conference president Ted N.C. Wilson said that a
vote on the issue of womens ordination meant we maintain

the current policy.

Wilson told delegates at the General Conference session
in San Antonio, Texas, that Wednesdays vote simply barred
the churchs world divisions from making decisions on the ordination of women.
He said the vote has nothing to do with women being
ordained as local elders, a practice based on church policy that has been in place for several decades.
Furthermore, he said, the vote was not related to commissioned ministers, who can be male or female under the
churchs policy.
So let us be clear on what was voted on Wednesday,
Wilson said. We are now back to our original understanding,
and I would strongly urge all to adhere by what has been
voted. But do not place into the vote
other things which were not listed in
the vote. We need to be fair, we need
to be open, and we all need to accept
what is voted at a General Conference
session.
Wilson asked division presidents to
clarify the meaning of Wednesdays
vote in their territories.

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NAD response to clarify the meaning of the vote July 8.

Friday, July 10, 2015
General Conference President Elder Ted Wilson has requested that
each division president of the 13 world regions, clarify the meaning
of the vote taken on Wednesday, July 8, 2015
North American Division (NAD) President Daniel Jackson would
like to make the following statement:
Firstly, we want to acknowledge that we will comply with the vote
of the world church.
Secondly, the vote prohibited the 13 world divisions of the church
from making their own decisions regarding the consideration and potential implementation of womens ordination to the gospel ministry.
Thirdly, it is important that we identify what the motion did not do:
It did not disallow women from serving as commissioned church pastors.
It did not disallow women to serve as ordained elders in the local church
It did not disallow the ordination of deaconesses.
Since the motion did not disallow these things, we therefore continue to encourage those who have been serving in these
capacities to continue to do so.
It is vital to understand that the NAD will continue to follow the directions found in the General Conference Working
Policy allowing conferences and unions to license women as Commissioned Ministers in Pastoral Ministry.
We will also continue to encourage utilizing the services of women as ordained local elders and deaconesses.
The following is a series of policies which are drawn from the Working Policy and that inform our direction:
Church Manual Policy BA 60 05 on Human Relations which states:
The Church rejects any system or philosophy which discriminates against anyone on the basis of race, color, or gender.
The Church bases its position on principles clearly enunciated in the Bible, the writings of Ellen G White, and the official
pronouncements of the General Conference.
Church Manual Policy BA 60 10 which states:
The world Church supports nondiscrimination in employment practices and policies and upholds the principle that both
men and women, without regard to race and color, shall be given full and equal opportunity within the Church to develop
the knowledge and skills needed for the building up of the Church. Positions of service and responsibility (except those
requiring ordination to the gospel ministry*) on all levels of church activity shall be open to all on the basis of the individuals qualifications.
*The exception clause, and any other statement above, shall not be used to reinterpret the action already taken by the
world Church authorizing the ordination of women as local church elders in divisions where the division executive committees have given their approval.
The 1989 General Conference Annual Council vote which allowed for:
Those who have, without regard to gender, been recognized as commissioned ministers or licensed ministers may perform essentially the ministerial functions of an ordained minister of the gospel in the churches to which they are assigned,
subject to division authorization of this provision, if the following conditions apply:
1) The individual has completed approved ministerial training.
2) The individual has been called by a conference to serve in a full-time pastoral-evangelistic-ministerial role.
3) The individual has been elected and ordained as a local church elder.
North American Division Working Policy L 33 10 which states:
A commissioned minister in leadership position is authorized by the conference, union or division to perform substantially all the functions of the ordained minister within the territory of the organization he/she serves. The functions that are
excluded are those listed in the Church Manual as follows: Organizing of a Church, Uniting churches, and Ordaining local elders or deacons.
It is important to keep in mind that God calls all of his children to serve Him in ministry. He calls both men and women to
serve His church and the NAD will continue to support the filling of these positions regardless of gender. The NAD will
also continue to utilize all of its efforts to recognize the call of those who feel moved by the Holy Spirit into pastoral ministry.
--Prepared by the Communication Department of the North American Division
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July 16, 2015 commemorating 100 years since

Ellen G. White passing. www.ellenwhite.org
At 3:40 pm, Thursday, July 16, 2015, a small crowd of people
gathered on the steps of Ellen Whites Elmshaven home in St.
Helena, California to pause for a moment of silence and then
prayer in honor of the co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church who died at that hour one hundred years ago in that
house.
Jim Pedersen, president of the Northern California Conference, offered a moving prayer. He acknowledged the sacredness
of the place, because angels visited Mrs. White there. He gave
thanks for her and her guidance to the community. Then he asked
for forgiveness for the times when we have ignored her advice,
for when we have put her words above the Bible, for when we
have used her words to judge other people.
The Centennial Legacy Conference, of which the prayer was
a part, began at noon with a keynote address by Eric Anderson,
he made the case that you dont have to be a Seventh-day Adventist to be interested in Ellen G. White. Smithsonian's ranking
of Mrs. White as one of the 100 most influential Americans of all
time was his first reason that she deserves attention.
His second reason was the book published by Oxford University Press, a scholarly study entitled Ellen Harmon White: American Prophet, that neither debunked her or defended her. The goal
of the book was simply to understand her, to put her into historical
context, he said.
Suggesting that Adventists like this attention that Mrs. White
has received, he said that it also makes us nervous because we
cannot control it. Once someone belongs to the ages as was said
of Abraham Lincoln when he died, his associates can no longer
control his story.
Anderson had more reasons for the significance of Mrs. White
and why the same educated and curious general audience that
visits Angel Island, Sutters Fort, or Bale Mill should visit
Elmshaven. Calling attention to the St. Helena Hospital just up the
road, he spoke of the ideas and health institutions that she started
that now span the world. Then he noted the educational institutions she started and mentioned Pacific Union College also
nearby.
Ellen Whites achievements and life are distinctly American he
asserted, citing Alexis de Tocqueville observations about the
America of Ellen Whites day. He said she fit the pattern described by de Tocqueville. She traveled widely, wrote tirelessly,
and promoted impossible dreams, including founding colleges,
building hospitals, and sending missionaries. In a decorous and
motherly way, she also challenged deeply rooted ideas about the
role of women. With no direct affiliation with the feminist movements of her day, she was prepared to preach to large crowds,
rebuke patriarchs among her followers, and hold men and women
to the same moral standards.
The conference continued on Friday with presentations by
George Knight, Elissa Kido, James Nix, and James and Cheryl
Peters, and on Sabbath with David Trim and Ted Wilson speaking.
That Thursday, July 16, the centennial of the death of Ellen G.
White, the most prominent cofounder of the Adventist movement

who held credentials as an ordained minister for most of her life,

about 50,000 pages of her unpublished letters, diaries and manuscripts were released on a web site operated by the White Estate.
This is the same collection that has for a number of years been
available to researchers and students at several White Research
Centers located at Adventist universities around the world.
The materials date from 1845 to early 1915. They are typed
transcripts of her handwritten originals prepared by typists under
her supervision or White Estate staff. Some of the handwritten
originals no longer exist.
The first release of Whites materials that were not published
during her lifetime was the book Medical Ministry published in
1932. In that same decade researchers began to be permitted to
study unpublished and original materials at the White Estate office with the provision that nothing could be published without
permission from the estate trustees.
Whites will named five trustees who inherited her literary materials and copyrights. She had written especially strong counsel
to some of them. So they were not excited about the materials
being released. If you were president of the General Conference,
why would you want some pastor in the middle of the United
States reading about you from the pulpit?
In the 1980s the research centers began to be set up with
copies of the files of unpublished materials, and the rules for researchers were softened. Today all of the individuals named in
the materials and their close relatives are dead, so there is really
no problem with the materials being made public.
Over the years since that time a number of books have been
published that are compilations of both unpublished and published materials on specific topics. The original versions of all her
periodical articles, pamphlets and books are also currently published.
Last year the first volume of an annotated version of this collection was published. It is planned to eventually publish the entire collection in a scholarly set of reference books with background notes on all of the names mentioned, discussions of the
issues covered in the materials, etc. The first volume includes
both a transcription and photographs of the handwritten original of
the oldest White document, a letter from 1847.
A link to the newly-released collection appears at the top of
the White Estates Web site: www.ellenwhite.org

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Adventists 'Most Racially Diverse Religious Group in U.S.'

Seventh-day Adventists are the most racially and ethnically diverse religious group in the United States, according to a
report released Monday by the Pew Research Center, a respected non-partisan organization in Washington.
After collating the data, Pew gave Seventh-day Adventists a score of 9.1 in the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, well above
the national average of 6.6, where 66 percent of church membership is white. The least diverse religious group in the United
States, according to the report, is the National Baptist Convention, a traditionally black denomination that received a score
of 0.2.
Gary Krause, director of the Office of Adventist Mission for the Adventist world church, said the churchs very mission
of preparing all people for Jesus Second Coming called for diversity.
Were not an American church. Were not an African or Asian church. Were not a European church, Krause said.
Were a worldwide movement with a mission to all people groups.
Levels of diversity vary widely within U.S. religious groups. The Pew Research looked at 29 groups including Protestant denominations, other religious groups and three subsets of people who are religiously unaffiliated based on a methodology used in our 2014 Pew Research Center report on global religious diversity. This analysis includes five racial and ethnic groups: Hispanics, as well as non-Hispanic whites, blacks, Asians and an umbrella category of other races and mixedrace Americans.
If a religious group had exactly equal shares of each of the five racial and ethnic groups (20% each), it would get a 10.0
on the index; a religious group made up entirely of one racial group would get a 0.0. By comparison, U.S. adults overall rate
at 6.6 on the scale. And indeed, the purpose of this scale is to compare groups to each other, not to point to any ideal standard of diversity.
Seventh-day Adventists top the list with a score of 9.1: 37% of adults who identify as Seventh-day Adventists are white,
while 32% are black, 15% are Hispanic, 8% are Asian and another 8% are another race or mixed race.
Muslims (8.7) and Jehovahs Witnesses (8.6) are close behind in terms of diversity, as no racial or ethnic group makes
up more than 40% of either group. Blacks, whites (including some people of North African or Middle Eastern descent) and
Asians each make up a quarter or more of U.S. Muslims, while blacks, whites and Latinos each make up a quarter or more
of Jehovahs Witnesses.
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Buddhists also rank high (8.4)

on this measure of racial and
ethnic diversity based on the
2014 Religious Landscape
Study. But this group may be
less diverse because AsianAmerican Buddhists may
have been underrepresented
since the survey was conducted in only English and
Spanish, and not in any Asian
languages.
Catholics and members of the
Pentecostal denominations
Assemblies of God and
Church of God (Cleveland,
Tenn.) both rank between 6.0
and 7.0 on the scale comparable to U.S. adults overall
largely because of sizable
Hispanic minorities. Roughly
six-in-ten U.S. Catholics
(59%) are white, while 34%
are Hispanic; a quarter of the
Pentecostal groups are Hispanic.
Among people with no religious affiliation, those whose
religion is nothing in particular (score of 6.9 on the
index) are more diverse than
atheists (4.7) and agnostics
(4.5). Most who describe
their religion as nothing in
particular are white (64%),
but 15% are Latino, 12% are
black, 5% are Asian and another 5% are something else
or mixed race. By contrast,
roughly eight-in-ten atheists
(78%) and agnostics (79%)
are white.
Although U.S. Jews (90%
white) and Hindus (91%
Asian) are not very diverse,
especially compared with Americans overall, the five least diverse groups in the index are all Protestant denominations.
Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (a mainline denomination), the Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod (an evangelical denomination) and the United Methodist Church (the largest mainline church) are all more than 90%
white. Meanwhile, two of the largest historically black Protestant denominations, the National Baptist Convention and the
African Methodist Episcopal Church, have almost exclusively black members.

This Newsletter is produced by the Communication department , Email: newsletter@adventistontario.ca

A Conspiracy in North America

Jos Cortes, Jr. an Associate Ministerial Director and Leads Evangelism for the Adventist Church in NAD

What if our Adventist Churches across North America began a conspiracy? What if we decided in
harmony with all the other churches across Bermuda, Canada, United States and the islands of Guam
and Micronesia that we are going to love our cities like Jesus did? What do you think would happen
if we ventured outside the walls of our churches, asked people about their needs, and did something
transformational for individuals and communities?
What if our local churches conspired together to do the following?

Respond to disasters in the community (fires, earthquakes, storms, tornados).

Feed the hungry.

Clothe the naked.

Mentor children after school.

Minister to prisoners, and also minister to their families.

Visit and pray for the sick in the community regularly.

Offer FREE Marital Counseling (married couples) and FREE Pre-Marital Counseling (engaged couples).

Offer FREE Parenting Classes for parents.

Donate space, FREE of charge, for community weddings and funerals.

Advertise the Services of the local Adventist Pastor to conduct Weddings, Dedications of Babies, and Funerals,
FREE of charge for the churchs community.

Provide manicures and pedicures for battered women

Celebrate communion with the homeless and bring them in when it is cold.

Lead Toy Drives during Christmas.

Stand against modern Slavery and the abuse of women, children and the elderly (not a silent church).

Teach FREE Financial Management Classes (How to budget? How to buy a house? How to become debt-free?
Financial Freedom, Income Taxes)

Hold FREE Fitness classes.

Connect with governmental leaders and work with them to support good causes regardless of their party affiliation.

Hold a reception for community business owners and pray for their success.

Promote and facilitate the adoption of children.

Co-sponsor and organize concerts with well known musicians in some of our very beautiful, historic, landmark
buildings, rather than having these buildings closed to the public most of the time.

Organize and sponsor celebrations during special days and recognized holidays such as: New Years, Superbowl,
Valentines, Easter, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and others.

Partner with the city and other organizations to serve as volunteers in events such as: marathons, fairs, festivals,
and others.
What would happen with our churches if we would venture to open our doors more often, rather than just Saturdays,
for a few hours, and Wednesdays for an hour? After all some other churches who dont have the beautiful and powerful
message we have, keep their doors open all the time. What if we dared to distribute flyers in our communities, not with
beasts on the cover, but offering the few services mentioned above and many others? What if we did this, not just for a
day, or for a season right before the evangelistic meetings, but on a regular basis as a lifestyle? What do you think would
happen?
1. A Relevant Church is never empty. Jesus was surrounded by people constantly, He did not preach to empty pews,
there is a reason why He always had a crowd.
2. A Relevant Church reaches and reclaims its community. Jesus did that on a regular basis. He went to the synagogue, sat and read, and then went out to reach and reclaim His community.
3. A Relevant Church retains its members. When a community of people are active and happy doing something
good, which they enjoy, they dont leave; the total opposite happens, more people come, youth, young adults, adults, and
children, believe me it can be viral. Jesus went viral, and thats why our church is here today because of what He did.
Its time for a Conspiracy of Compassion in our Adventist Churches in North America!

This Newsletter is produced by the Communication department , Email: newsletter@adventistontario.ca

10

This Newsletter is produced by the Communication department , Email: newsletter@adventistontario.ca

11

Pastor Golovenko

26

Rene
Lopez

Alex
Golovenko

Kirmane
Allen

Bob
Reeve

Alex
Golovenko

SDA South London Church

Servio
Cordoba

August
29

Alex
Golovenko

Rene
Lopez

August
22

Chloe
Weir

Rene
Lopez

August
15

Alonso
Lopez

Rene
Lopez

Rene
Lopez

August
8

August
1

Date

Simone Biggs

19

London
South
Church
805
Shelborne

Clara Baptiste

12

London
Spanish
649 King
Street

Earl Biggs

North
London
800 Fleet
Street

Expositor

Date

Topic

Andres
Perez

Laurie
Hacker

519.680.1965

Gord
Rayner

TBD

Daniel G,
Virginia P,
George Jr.

Juan Carlos
Atencio

Roy
West

Juan Carlos
Atencio

Alex
Golovenko

Lars
Muller
Toronto
Group

Juan Carlos
Atencio

Fred
Stele

Glenn
DeSilva

Fred
Stele

Fred
Stele

Julian
Gomez

Dirk
Zinner

Garvin
Clarke

Dirk
Zinner

S.P.
Chand

Dirk
Zinner

Pulpit Speakers @ Western District Adventist Churches

Chatham
St.Thomas
Sarnia
Woodstock
Church
Church
Church
Church
20
380
1620
594754
Croydon
Manor
Modeland
Oxford Rd
St
Road
Rd

Broadcast
via satellite

George
Perez

Kathy &
Gord
Rayner

West
London
Group
970 Oxford
Street

Spiritual Gifts

FOCUS ON DPIRITUAL GIFTS

PRAYING for EVANGELIVING CULTURE

Western District schedule of speakers, August 2015

Junior
Garcia

Maria
Capote

Alex
Capote

Roberto
Lara

Windsor
Spanish
Company
3325 Walker

Chantal
Kayumba

Marian
Kossovan

George
Mallett

Jonathan
Busiku

Living
Faith
Windsor
Group
868 Ellis
St E

12

Naomi Striemer
Joint worship of Windsor churches

Marian
Kossovan

Junior
Garcia

Wendell
Phipps

Marian
Kossovan

Windsor
Church
5350
Haig Ave

www.adventistlondon.ca

Jovin
Mwizerwa

Dirk
Zinner

S.P.Chand

Randy
Saunders

Ramon
Ettienne

Leamington
Church
220
Erie Str N