n this segment, General Conference President Jan Paulsen talks with Roy Adams about the Adventist Church in Africa. Next month he will speak with Kimberly Maran; excerpts will appear in the Cutting Edge edition (March 21).

RA: Africa at the moment is experiencing explosive growth in membership. The two divisions with headquarters on the continent have each launched programs aimed at bringing 1 million new believers into the church by 2005. What are challenges for the local infrastructure, for leadership, for nurture?
JP: The goals the two divisions set are very reachable, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they are exceeded. At this time we have on the continent of Africa about 4.5 million baptized members. I would expect, if we are still here at the end of this decade, that there will be 10 million members just on the African continent.

When you say "the African continent,"
you're talking about the total land mass?
That's right--all of Africa. The last time we seriously reviewed the division structure in Africa was about 20 years ago. Responding in a positive manner to the idea that our work in Africa should be administered from Africa, we established one division headquarters in West Africa and the one in East Africa. (Now, there's been other variations to the structure since then, but basically the major restructuring happened 20 years ago.) How many members did we have in Africa then? Roughly 1.5 million, maybe, maybe not quite that many. Since the function of structure is to serve the mission of the church, we have to ask ourselves: Is there still an adequate structure to serve Africa? I don't think so. And there should be consultation between the church in Africa and our world headquarters to determine whether the structures we have in place are adequate to meet the needs of the church in Africa today--both in terms of the nurturing needs, and in terms of mission, witnessing, and outreach.

How about education?
My wife and I came to Africa in the early '60s--in1962. At that time we established the first full-fledged college in sub-Saharan Africa, with a full undergraduate program in theology. Located in Nigeria, it's known today as Babcock University. Apart from Helderberg College (with its own limited program), that was our only senior college in Africa. Today, there are some 10 to a dozen programs offering a full undergraduate spread, with some of them offering a number of graduate courses. But it's clear there's a huge need for education for our young people in Africa. We must provide a broader and more comprehensive education program on the continent.

Is this under active consideration?
Yes. We've set up a commission to examine with our people in Africa the organizational structure and to basically ask the fundamental questions we just touched on: Are the structures presently in place adequate for the needs of the church of tomorrow in Africa? There is a second assignment, and that has to do with the establishment of a graduate program, a stronger, more comprehensive graduate program for our church on the African continent. Both of these are big assignments. Any major development, whether it be in terms of establishing a graduate school in Africa or setting up another division headquarters in Africa--these are huge steps, with major financial consequences for the church.

Do you anticipate that the financial burden would
be borne by the entire world church, or by Africa itself?
There's no doubt that if we were to establish a graduate school in Africa, there has to be significant financial participation by our church in Africa for that to happen. By the same token, if we established, say, another division headquarters in Africa, there will need to be some involvement by the General Conference. Division headquarters are regional offices of the General Conference, so we have a certain responsibility to see to it that these are established. But there is a pattern that also in the establishment of division headquarters, local resources will also be channeled into it.

Just so everyone understands, do you anticipate a third division with headquarters on the continent of Africa in the very near future?
The issue which is under review by the commission set up for this purpose is whether the two divisions which are presently based on the African continent are adequate. The signals coming back to us say No, we need three divisions on the African continent.

How do you see the future of South Africa?
Will it ever find a home in one of the African divisions?
Yes. I expect it will. I hope by the end of this quinquennium.

South Africa itself is not totally united yet, is it?
They're working on it. They have made progress. It's been a slow process, but it's difficult to--you know, the course of history moves very slowly. But they are working on it.

Can you say a word about the AIDS crisis in Africa.
How is the Adventist church relating to this situation?
The AIDS issue in Africa has become a huge global concern. It's a scourge that is too big for any one nation or for any one organization to address. Therefore, rightly, I think, it has gained a very notable place on the public agenda of nations and of the United Nations. It's a big issue. But we need to ask ourselves as a church, is there something we should do also on this? And I think there is. I think we have a situation indicating that we have not made ourselves known as being a community that was--what's the word I should use--that feels that this is a particular service or ministry that we should address. We have been somewhat reluctant. And yet today, our church throughout Africa is saying to us that the Adventist church--our own families in Africa, are affected by this scourge. We owe it to our own people. But more than that, we ought to provide some involvement as a signal also to the public that we care for them, and that whatever resources we have, we will put into use to help them deal with this.

Where would be the emphasis--on care?
on cure? on prevention? Or on all three?
I think on all three. I think it is now a joint initiative by our own Health Ministries Department here at the General Conference, by ADRA, and by institutions such as Loma Linda to find a way by which they jointly can define the initiatives needed. We have in mind to establish an AIDS office for Africa in connection with the new ADRA headquarters for Africa that is to be established in the southern part.

During your trip to Kenya and Ethiopia last April, you talked a lot about unity and the quality of life. Unity everybody readily understands, but can you elaborate a little on what's involved in the concept of "quality of life"?
When I think of "Quality of Life" my thoughts fall into two interrelated but still somewhat separate segments: (1) Those that are characteristic of and describe me as a SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST believer; and (2) those that are characteristic of and describe me as a Seventh-day Adventist BELIEVER.

In the first group come those qualities that express values that are peculiarly or specifically Seventh-day Adventist, ranging all the way from attending Sabbath School and caring for my daily spiritual needs to abstaining from tobacco and alcohol. They cover faith and conduct--spiritual, ethical, moral, social, political--that are instructed and disciplined by a Seventh-day Adventist understanding of Scripture. They are part of the "visible" identity of the Seventh-day Adventist community.

Then there are those values that are characteristics of what it means to be a "believer"--an area in which we may not always have been as strong and consistent as we should. It has to do with feeling strong and secure in Christ; with assurance of salvation; finding daily joy in the Lord; being able to express a life in Christ as wonderfully rich and fulfilling; expressing warmth and acceptance towards individuals who may be less "successful" in their spiritual journey; being outgoing towards those who are not part of my spiritual community; being a tolerant and kind person; etc.

In the context of Africa, would "quality of life" address issues of poverty and the widespread deprivation we see there?
Yes, it would. An organization such as ours should be identified with ministries that combat poverty, that are aimed at justice and equity, and that provide education for the people, broadly speaking. As far as Africa is concerned, these are the areas in which I think the Adventist Church needs to mark itself as being more involved in everyday life. It is not adequate, it's not satisfactory for us to solely see ourselves as a spiritual community which subscribe to a set of spiritual values, to which we are committed--and to nothing else. God has placed us here with the responsibility to reach into the lives of the people who surround us, to offer them better qualities of life, to help them deal with issues of health, education, dietary habits, ethics, and morality. And that is happening in Africa.

You and [your wife] Kari have served as missionaries in Africa. How do you reflect on the changes since your time?
They're enormous. It's unbelievable. When we first came to Ghana in 1963 there were 10,000 baptized Seventh-day Adventists in Ghana. Today I expect that it is somewhere in excess of 300,000 just in Ghana alone. There's been a phenomenal growth in the church! One of the interesting things that we've seen in our church in Africa is that when the work was led by foreign missionaries, we built an infrastructure (which was very good for the church); we established a number of institutions and set the church on a course that was not only spiritual, but at the same time supported by educational programs and by hospitals and health work. So a pattern was set for how the church should function in society as a spiritual community, but at the same time provide education and provide the elements of health for the people. So the pattern was set. But explosive growth in membership has basically taken place after the foreign missionaries handed over the leadership to the local people. It is as though you are saying to the people, "You are the owners of the church. You are responsible, under God, to be His faithful stewards and give the direction to the church." When that happened, we had an explosive growth.

Anything else you'd like to add?
Here's something I'd want to say to the church in Africa: There is so much in Africa--I refer to the resources, the potential, the people masses, the leadership that we have in our church--there is so much in Africa that can take creative ownership of the church--every aspect of the church. I have a huge amount of confidence in the church in Africa being able to take our mission, take our work, on. I have a huge amount of confidence in them. We need to find ways from which we can demonstrate, in consultation with them, how we can help them realize that which they see and believe is the road that God would have them to go. So for us it is not to impose on them something that we have wonderfully crafted somewhere, but that we listen to what they say and see what we can do to help them accomplish it. This is basically how I view both the consultation on the structures and the consultation on higher education. And I'm saying to our church in Africa, we have to look for ways and means by which to accomplish these things. We have to examine critically what's possible. And once we have prioritized the needs, we need to work with our people in Africa to see how this can be accomplished, within what time parameters can it be done. But I would stress throughout all of this, it is a constant consultation with our people in Africa, for they are the ones who at the end of the day will own everything.

_________________________