B R E A K I N G N E W S
Paulsen Brings a Challenge
to Church Leaders
The GC president's keynote address opens Annual Council 2001
BY JONATHAN GALLAGHER
"The plans of the Lord stand firm forever," quoted General Conference president Jan Paulsen, reading from Psalm 33. In his keynote address to General Conference Committee members on September 25, Paulsen commented on what he called the "heinous acts" that had occurred in New York two weeks previously Paulsen reflected on how such events "are burned into your mind."
"I remember as a five year old boy fleeing from the occupying forces in Norway during World War II," he recalled. "Similarly, when I was told during ADCOM two weeks ago that a plane had hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York, like everyone else I thought, �what a tragedy!' Then we heard that another plane had hit the other tower. How do you continue with business as usual at times like these?"
Yet, he continued, the church cannot become frozen and inactive. "As a church we have things to do. We have a mission."
Though the terrorists attacks and the resulting disruption to air travel had a major impact on this year's Annual Council, with union presidents, pastors, and lay representatives absented if they so wished, and the agenda heavily trimmed, the administration was determined to continue with the business of the church.
Formally opened by vice-president Leo Ranzolin with GC secretary Matthew Bediako, the Annual Council agenda was adopted, with the president's keynote address the main section of business for the evening session.
"As a prophetic movement, with a sense of mission and purpose, we cannot have come to this point in time and history without reflecting on what this all says to us," Pastor Paulsen affirmed. " Most of us are probably uneasy; wary about what we will meet tomorrow. Do we go back to yesterday or do we face another day of terror�or, the Lord's return? We believe that while nations make plans, God will unmake them and replace them with His own. God is the one who owns the future and who decides finally how it shall look. God will end it all, at His chosen hour; but until then we must attend to our personal readiness, and we must attend to the mission we have been given to accomplish by Him."
Dr. Paulsen identified current events as "surely a wake-up call for us individually and for us as leaders of a church with plans for missions." Whatever is considered safe and secure�buildings or stocks on the market�are in reality fragile, and not the most important. "I must be able to know that for myself, personally, that knowing Christ is quite enough. Yes, I will be responsible about all my material goods, I will be a responsible steward. But I can do without the goods I have collected. I cannot do without Christ. That is how I would like to face the end-time."
The president also pointed to healthcare as an example of mission, and prayed that each institution be "a place which discharges the �aroma of Christ . . . the fragrance of life (2 Cor 2:15, 16). When that happens they become beacons of hope for a better future."
He also pleaded for greater visibility of the church: "I want the public to see us for what we are. We are part of the community, the city, the world. I want them to know us. I want the public to see us as a community �with them.' I want this Church to be very visible. Why seek obscurity? What is so attractive about that?" He singled out religious liberty, commending those involved in "that special ministry for the fact that they are increasingly seeking public exposure and using it to good effect both in lobbying and in seeking potential partners. The same religious liberty we seek and promote for ourselves is God's gift to all humanity. Days will come when we will understand better than we do today why we are promoting this one of life's valuable qualities."
Concluding with the verses of Jude 24 and 25, Paulsen said that "the diet which the news networks have served us these past two weeks has been of one kind. It is almost hypnotizing to watch. What we have seen is very painful and very unsettling. Fear and questions about what will come next are constantly pressing in on us and our communities. That is the way the world is, and we are part of the suffering world. But we are also Adventists, and we long for Him to come back and close this chapter on human suffering. And to that end we live our lives, and make our choices, and engage in His mission."
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Jonathan Gallagher is an associate director of the General Conference Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department.
Annual Council 2001 convenes from September 25-27.
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