Adventist 1

Running head: SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST

References

Seventh-day Adventist Church: Structure for Success

David Wendt

March 19, 2009

Adventist 2

Abstract

This study investigated the best strategy and structure for the Seventh-day Adventist church and

addresses key human resource issues pertaining to that model. The problem of the study was to

determine which model was the best for church growth—one church with one or more pastors, or

one pastor with multiple churches. Master’s level classes were taken in church planting, church

revitalization and human resource management. Private and group interviews were given in

casual settings, by phone and email. In addition, ideas and theories were tested first hand on

actual churches. This paper will reveal clear evidence showing that the multidistrict and church

planting model is the best.

About the Author

David Wendt pastors a two-church district in the Georgia-

Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He has a

Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management and is

currently pursuing a Master’s of Science in Administration with an

emphasis in Church Administration from Southern Adventist

University. He is happily married and has two children.

Please email ideas, questions, and comments to

dswendt@southern.edu

Adventist 3

Seventh-day Adventist

Introduction and ThesisReferences

A church, like a business, should consider the external environment before making

decisions. But what happens when a church focuses too much on the external environment

without considering its own strengths and weaknesses? One bad decision leads to another, and

soon the church’s mission and vision are crippled by external ideas of success. For example,

name some successful Seventh-day Adventist churches. Which come to mind? Is success defined

as having many members, a beautiful church structure, a pastor who preaches excellent sermons

each Sabbath, great music and many different programs? All these things sound successful, but is

it possible for a church to have all of these things and not be successful in God’s eyes? It is easy

for a church to lose its vision. The Savior’s commission to carry the gospel into all the world

(Matt. 28:19, 20; Mark 16:15) is impossible if we do not maximize our resources. Increasing the

church-to-pastor ratio and planting new churches is the best plan for: fulfilling the great

commission, creating spiritual giants out of church members and increasing funding to support

the global movement of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

History

Most Seventh-day Adventists are familiar with how the church started after the Great

Disappointment on October 22, 1844. What may shock many Seventh-day Adventists is how

different the church structure looked compared to the structure that exists today. For example,

when our forefathers organized in 1863 they followed the New Testament model. Our fore-

fathers decided that “Theirs was to be a mission-driven church. Therefore the structure had to

support the mission” (Burrill, 1999, p. 50). The mission to carry the gospel into all the world had

Adventist 4

not changed since apostolic times, so they decided that the new church must be similar to the

structure of the New Testament church.

So how is the structure of the early Seventh-day Adventist church different from our

structure today? One difference is that they did not have a designated pastor for each church. All

pastors were evangelists and church planters. A pastor would start a church and train local

leaders. Once the church was able to function on its own, the pastor would leave and start a new

church. This process was repeated over and over.

This model enabled the Seventh-day Adventist Church to grow at a remarkable rate.

Burrill notes that, “in the 1870s a new church was planted each year for every two ordained

ministers” (p.52). While that rate went up a little bit in the 1880’s and 1890s (6:1 and 4:1

respectively) it is still a far cry from what we are experiencing today ( p.52). Even at the lowest

rate of 6:1, we would need to be starting 500 more churches a year in the North American

Division than we are currently planting to equal the rate of growth of our early history.

Somewhere along the line we must have lost our vision.

The Bible says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Not long after

the lady died who had the visions, the Adventist people cried out for a king. Soon

Seventh-day Adventist churches all over America had their own pastors. Apparently, the

leadership looked at the external competition of the other mainstream churches that had settled

pastors and decided to listen to the people and give them their own pastors in an effort to stay

competitive. This structural change started a reduction in church growth that brought the church

to a pitiful condition in the 1990s. At that time, the church was dying because more churches

were closed than new churches were being opened.

Adventist 5

Why were there so many churches closing? Churches, like businesses, have life cycles.

These cycles include birthing, growth, maturity, decline, and death (Daft, 2007, p. 327).

Churches surrounded by institutions like colleges can survive longer, but nothing is forever on

this earth. For evidence, consider the Graysville Seventh-day Adventist Church. Note that

Southern Adventist University started in Graysville, Tennessee, many years before it moved to

Collegedale. The Graysville church can seat about 250-300 people, yet there is only about 30

who attend regularly and most of them are older members. This is what would happen in time to

many churches in Collegedale, Tennessee if Southern Adventist University had to close or move

for some unexpected reason. Without the support of a large academy, college, or hospital, all

churches will go through this life cycle. The issue was not that so many churches were closing,

but rather that not enough churches were being planted.

Thankfully, the general decline started to turn around towards the middle of the 1990’s.

This turnaround started with the net series, education through books and classes by Russell

Burrill and the Seeds conference. Church members and leaders gathered together to learn how to

start new churches. Currently, the growth rate for the North American Division is about 2.5% or

an average of about 130 new churches each year (Burrill, class notes).

While this trend is good, we must ask ourselves, “Is it enough?” In light of our mission to

carry the gospel into all the world, how long will it take us at the rate we are going? The answer

to that question is not so clear, but we must admit that if we were to add more, God would have

more to multiply. Let’s take a closer look at the problem.

Adventist 6

The Problem

White, one of the leading founders of the Seventh-day Adventist church wrote, “We have

nothing to fear for the future except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us” (White,

2002, p.31). The problem is not that we have forgotten how the Lord has led us. Many young

pastors have left our educational systems with a good understanding of how the Seventh-day

Adventist church was started and what it should look like. They enter their ministry with lofty

dreams, but like a man trying to cross a raging river, they are soon swept down the traditional

stream of unbiblical job expectations. Further, they become mixed in a current of spiritually lazy

members, who for generations have been baptized into pews instead of discipleship. A pastor-

dependent church has its own culture that is very hard to change.

The church members are not the only problem. Many pastors have become accustomed to

the system as it now exists. They have enjoyed the power that comes with the position and have

trouble sharing the pulpit with others. They reason that if they empower the laity to preach,

something may go wrong. What if the speaker offended a guest, or what if someone complained

to the conference? Pastors remember the years invested in theological training to become an

adept speaker, and wonder how can they give someone else the chance to lead who does not have

the specialized training. Just as some parents reason that they can always do a better job at a task

and never give their children a chance to try, some pastors are afraid to let members experience

leadership opportunities. Hence, some pastors foster the current church structure.

The current educational system is also to blame. Yes, one or two classes talk about the

need to get back to the good old days, but the majority of the classes in a pastor’s career is

focused on how to preach. Pastors are told that the Master’s of Divinity degree is not so

necessary for a smaller church, but is more important for their careers as they move to larger

Adventist 7

churches. Once they are in these big churches where “high church” is performed, their degree

and education become more needed. I heard a member in one of these large churches exclaim

about her pastor, “I am so glad my pastor understands Greek and Hebrew, because I could not

understand the Bible without him.” I am sure the pastor felt needed and was glad that he could

bring clarity to the Bible, but to me this environment sounds too pastor-dependent. In fact, I

wonder whether we have so separated ourselves from the church members that we have caused a

similar state to that of the dark ages, where only the priest could correctly understand the Bible.

If this is the case, then it will be hard to empower the laity when members and pastors do not

believe they can do it. Part of a pastor’s education should be spent on how to teach and empower

the laity, including teaching them how to preach.

The local conferences make up the connecting link in this chain. It is their job to hire the

pastors while listening to the wants and needs of each church. I believe that many conference

leaders sense the need to get back to our roots and empower the laity, but it is not easy. Like

turning a ship around, it takes time. Even turning a small ship around is not easy. During my

time in the United States Coast Guard, I tried to serve lunch to the officers while other crew

members participated in war games. Suddenly, the ship began to turn as sharply and as quickly

as possible. Dishes and food began to slide on the table. My hands were busy trying to keep

drinks from spilling and food from hitting the floor—it was very stressful. Likewise, it must be

stressful for conference leaders who see the need for change, but realize that it may take a

lifetime to turn the ship around without causing stress to those serving below.

So, what is the solution? Consider the following graphs. The first one represents our

current structure while the second graph depicts some modifications that could help us be better

stewards of our resources.

Adventist 8

This chart represents the current structure of many conferences in the North American

Division of Seventh-day Adventists. This is just a sample—each ministerial director has

several pastors and churches under his care. Notice that the country pastor has only 100

active members, but spends more time on the road and in meetings (three board meetings,

three prayer meetings, three elders’ meetings, three nominating committee meetings, etc...).

President

Ministerial Director:

Northern Region

Ministerial Director: Central

Region

Pastorcountry

Church 150 active

Church 230 active

Church 320 active

Pastorlarge town

Church 1300 active

Large Church 1,200 active

Pastor 1 Pastor 2

Pastor 3

Ministerial Director:

Southern Region

Ministerial Director

Adventist 9

Is the above model a good use of resources? I don’t think so. Notice that the country

pastor has only 100 active members between his three churches while pastors of larger

churches have an average 300 to 500 members. I currently have about 110 active members in

my two-church district. If the average country church has about 50 members, I would need to

pastor about 8 churches to equal the 400 member-to-pastor ratio of the larger churches.

This chart represents the proposed solution. Note that the country pastor has become a

regional pastor and has taken over two other districts. Also note that the larger churches are

now planting new churches.

President

Ministerial Director:

Northern Region

Ministerial Director: Central

Region

Regional Pastor

District 3Church

Original District

Original District

Original District

District 2Church

District 3Church

District 2Chruch

District 3Church

Pastor Large Town

Church 1300 active

Plant New Church

Large Church

1,200 active

Pastor 1

Pastor 2

Pastor 3

Plant New Church

Ministerial Director:

Southern Region

Ministerial Director

Adventist 10

Proposed Solution

Obviously, the problem is multifaceted. It involves the church members, the pastors, the

educational system and the conferences. Open communication among all parties involved goes

without saying, so I will not spend too much time on that subject. Rather, I will devote most of

this article giving them something to talk about. I have learned that ideas can be enhanced and

made better from group involvement. At the very least, I hope that this proposed solution will

become a catalyst for change.

Increasing the church-to-pastor ratio and planting new churches is the best plan for

fulfilling the great commission. By looking at the first graph, it is clear that the small country

churches are eating up resources that could be used to plant churches in bigger cities. Obviously

changing the country pastor to a regional pastor, who is in charge of eight or more churches,

would provide resources for planting churches in areas with more dense population. In the

example given in the chart above, the pastors that were in district 2 and 3 would be free to go

plant churches using a core team that would be hand-picked from the larger churches.

It sounds good on paper, but who wants to pastor eight churches? Not only would the title

change for the regional pastor, so would his job description. The short answer is that he would

become a mini-ministerial director for the group of churches he serves. He would preach in each

church only once every two months. In addition he would provide training and support for the

lay pastor/head elder for each church. Each church would be responsible for most sermons,

prayer meetings, visitations, and some board meetings. This would allow the regional pastor the

freedom to focus on training or helping churches through tough issues and decisions.

Wait, someone will argue, “no church is going to go for this”. I would agree, except that I

have discovered evidence that it could happen. After the first year in my two-church district, I

Adventist 11

talked with the elders of the Pikeville church and told them that I wanted them to take turns

preaching when I was at the other church. A few of them were sure they could not do it, but after

I gave them some training and encouragement, they did it with no problems. Recently I started

my master’s degree and could not be at either church for prayer meeting. I outlined a program

that made God’s house a house of prayer, and gave it to each church with the instructions that

someone new should lead out each week. It has been almost seven months since I have been at

prayer meeting, yet the attendance actually grew from five to twenty and sometimes forty

members each week. This was a direct result of lay leadership. I have also empowered the

nominating committees to function without me, and they have done a great job.

In addition, if the churches were not so pastor-dependent their members could become

spiritual giants. When the pastor is around, it is easy for church members to relax and become

pew-warmers. After all, it’s the pastor’s job to do all the Bible studies, they reason. When

members realize it’s their responsibility to make the church grow, they will be forced into action.

When church members start working for the Lord, they will grow spiritually. This will cause a

revival in the church and the community will take notice. Spiritual growth will result in church

membership growth.

The country churches and pastors are not the only ones called to sacrifice for Jesus. It is

time for us to redeem the time. It is time to start planting churches in a big way. Why take five

years to grow a church plant from 50 members to 100 members? As alluded to earlier, the larger

churches will give up 200-300 members to start the new church plants in the surrounding

metropolitan area. These churches will have the ability to grow faster because they started with

enough human resources to meet the time and energy commitments needed for a new church

Adventist 12

plant without causing burnout. The extra pastors relieved by the creation of the larger country

districts could lead these new church plants.

At first glance, giving up 200-300 members of a large church could seem like a death

blow. Everyone knows that only a small percentage of the members in the large churches

actually support it through offerings and leadership. What would happen if 1/3rd of the leaders

left to go help in the church plant? Good things! The new church plant would start with good

leadership, and the void in the large church would be filled by people who were not involved

before. These new leaders would grow spiritually and cause a revival in the church. In fact,

Russell Burrill shared from his experience that churches which plant new churches grow faster

than churches that don’t.

The good news does not stop there. Because of the slight modification in the conference

structure, membership could increase in all the churches. New members bring more tithe and

offerings. With these dollars, we can hire more church planters and evangelists. With God’s

blessing, this could become a model for other conferences to follow. Soon the Gospel would go

around the world and Jesus could come and take us all home.

Refutation

Nice idea, someone might say, but I do not see it working anytime soon. Perhaps not. Yet

what would happen if the tithe dropped by 10% to 15% due to the current economic conditions?

Would pastors lose their jobs and churches be forced into larger districts? That may be a reality

that catapults us into this change whether we like it or not. However, if we were already heading

in this direction before a crisis happened, we could actually grow during the downturn instead of

Adventist 13

decline. In addition, if churches knew that this was the goal, they would not cry for a pastor once

the economy picked up and the church could continue to grow.

Recap and Refocus

As stated earlier, the problem is multifaceted. It involves church members, the pastors,

the educational system and the conferences. We can spend our time blaming each other or we

can do something. Peter Senge, in the book Rethinking the Future said, “Changes in mindset

usually don’t start on a large scale” (Gibson, 1998, p. 130). So let’s start small by implementing

this plan in one region of the conference, and then others will see that increasing the church-to-

pastor ratio and planting new churches is the best plan for fulfilling the great commission.

Before we start we should also look at the successes and failures of other conferences.

What is working? What is not working? The rest of this paper will focus on different conferences

that have planted churches and have lay pastors. Human resource details, such as job

descriptions, member and lay pastor training and ROI of that training will be analyzed.

Roles and Job Descriptions

What is the role of the church member? Is it to be entertained? What is the role of the pastor?

Is he to entertain and do all the work? According to Ellen G.White, nothing could be further

from the truth. She wrote “In some respects the pastor occupies a position similar to that of the

foreman of a gang of laboring men or the captain of a ship’s crew. They are expected to see that

the men over whom they are set, do the work assigned to them correctly and promptly, and only

in case of emergency are they to execute in detail. The owner of a large mill once found his

superintendent in a wheel-pit, making some simple repairs, while a half-dozen workmen in that

Adventist 14

line were standing by, idly looking on. The proprietor, after learning the facts, so as to be sure

that no injustice was done, called the foreman to his office and handed him his discharge with

full pay. In surprise the foreman asked for an explanation. It was given in these words: "I

employed you to keep six men at work. I found the six idle, and you doing the work of but one.

Your work could have been done just as well by any one of the six. I cannot afford to pay the

wages of seven for you to teach the six how to be idle." {ChS 70.2}

This incident may be applicable in some cases, and in others not. Many pastors fail by not

trying or knowing how to get the full membership of the church actively engaged in the various

departments of church work. White says, “If pastors would give more attention to getting and

keeping their flock actively engaged at work, they would accomplish more good, have more time

for study and religious visiting, and also avoid many causes of friction” (White, p. 197, 198).

It is clear that pastors have a job to do and so do church members. Many churches have slid

into the entertainment tradition and need to be re-educated and trained. Most conferences offer

welcome/orientation training to new members. Bohlander and Snell in their book Managing

Human Resources, say “Orientation is the formal process for familiarizing new employees with

the organization, their jobs and their work units” (p. 328). What if this time was used to its

fullest and new members were told that they had a job? According to Bholander and Snell,

“Most executives…believe that formal orientation programs are effective in helping to retain and

motivate employees” (p. 328). If we took this orientation time seriously, maybe we could retain

more new members. But is the orientation training enough?

Adventist 15

Training for Members

According to Jeanne Hartwell, the Associate Ministerial Director for the Pennsylvania

Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, continued training is needed. For the past three years the

Pennsylvania Conference has held trainings called Equipping University. Pastors and a group of

church members come to the same weekend training event. The pastor and the members learn

how to work together, witness, and learn new tools and ideas on how to reach their community.

Members are being re-educated about their duty as Christians and what it means to be a Seventh-

day Adventist. Jeanne reported that churches have become more understanding of the roles of the

pastor and what they need to do as members (phone interviews, March 16-19, 2009).

Training for Lay Pastors

Some conferences are experimenting with lay pastors. A lay pastor is similar to a bi-

vocational pastors found in other denominations. The lay pastor works at another job and also

fills the position of lay pastor in the local church. How does someone become a lay pastor?

According to Michelle Vazquez, the Assistant to the Ministerial Director in the Florida

Conference, becoming a lay pastor starts with a church plant. A sponsoring church with a full-

time pastor selects someone whom they think would be a good lay pastor in the new church they

are trying to plant. A volunteer pastor is appointed for one year. Annual recertification is contingent

upon attending recertification training twice each year, annual review by the Florida Conference

Ministerial Department, and the recommendation of the sponsoring church.

When the new church plant has 40 members, it has reached company status and the lay

pastor is afforded an allowance to offset cell phone and travel expenses. That allowance stays the

same even when the group reaches church status (60 members and $80,000 in tithe per year).

Adventist 16

The training that the lay pastor receives is very important for the future growth and vitality of the

church. Currently there are 64 lay pastors who have gone through the training. In addition to

training, the Florida conference has hired a lay pastor coordinator. He helps the lay pastors in the

field by having occasional breakfast meetings were they discuss problems and share sermon

ideas (phone interviews, March 16-19, 2009).

Full Time vs. Part Time

Similarly, the Pennsylvania Conference also has lay pastors, but its training program is

spread out in smaller segments throughout the year. Each lay pastor spends one Sunday morning

a month with the trainer for a year. According to NAD policy, only full time pastors can be

licensed or credentialed. However, when they have completed training, lay pastors get a

certificate that proves their qualifications. This allows access into hospitals and recognition as a

pastor in the community. Like the Florida conference, there are no benefits except for travel

reimbursements and help from the conference whenever questions arise.

Training ROI

Is the money spent in training paying off? Consider the Pennsylvania conference for

example. They saved three full-time positions by training lay pastors. The training for the lay

pastors was minimal because the lay pastors paid their own mileage and bought their own books.

The training I would like to include is the “Equipping University”. This training is not a direct

cost to lay pastors, but I believe it is important for making the program work. After several

members go through the training, they bring an infectious missionary spirit back to the church. It

Adventist 17

is this missionary spirit that helps churches choose a lay pastor so the message of Christ’s soon

return can spread farther and faster.

Equipping University, which is usually offered twice a year, costs the conference about

$55,000 per year. Realistically we should not include that whole amount, but for argument’s sake

we will. One of Georgia Cumberland Conference’s accountants, Rick Claus, provided an idea of

how much a pastor costs. An email he wrote stated, “For 2008 we had 148 FT pastors who were

here the whole year. Their average salary and benefits including medical, retirement, moving,

duplicate housing, travel budgets, etc. was $69,089.74 per pastor” (email, March 19, 2009). We

need to multiply that number by three since three positions were saved in the Pennsylvania

Conference. So is the training profitable? Let’s take a look at the formula:

ROI (Return on Investment) = Results/Training Costs

ROI = $207,269.22 ($69,089.74 x 3)/ $55,000 = 3.768

It does not take a rocket scientist to realize that the Pennsylvania conference is getting a

great return on its investment dollars. “If the ROI ratio is >1, the benefits of the training exceed

the cost of the program, and if the ratio is <1, the cost of the training program outweigh the

benefits” (Bohlander p. 327). So, 3.768 is an excellent number!

Adventist 18

Incorporating What We Have Learned Into the Plan

Based on what we have learned, it may be beneficial to have a lay pastor in each of the

country churches that are part of a large district instead of just relying on the elders. Dr. Martin, a

professor at Southern Adventist University has started many churches in his career. He stated in

President

Ministerial Director:

Northern Region

Ministerial Director: Central

Region

Regional Pastor

District 3Church

Original District

Original District

Original District

District 2Church

District 3Church

District 2Chruch

District 3Church

Pastor Large Town

Church 1250 active

Plant New Church

Large Church 1,000 active

Pastor 1

Pastor 2

Pastor 3

Plant New Church

Ministerial Director:

Southern Region

Ministerial Director

Adventist 19

a personal (March 17, 2009) interview that it is important that the lay leader have the title of

pastor, instead of local elder, for a couple of reasons:

1) The church needs to know they have a leader.

2) It brings community recognition for hospital visits, ministerial associations and

evangelism.

3) It gives the lay pastor permission to lead.

In addition, the training of lay pastors and church members is crucial for this plan to

work. Just as much training would need to be done in the bigger churches as the smaller ones.

Church members, pastors and conference leaders need to be unified for this program to work.

Conclusion

How does a person conclude a work in progress? Undoubtedly, there is more to consider

than the points made in this paper. But forming larger country districts, truly empowering the

laity, increasing training and awareness, and helping larger churches plant new churches are

steps in the right direction. If we stop going forward because of obstacles such as tradition, lack

of communication, and lack of faith in lay members’ abilities, then we will have nothing to offer

Jesus when he comes except the resources that we have buried. Let’s rediscover our calling in

the great commission and align our resources for success. Let’s work together, let’s sacrifice

together, so we can soon go to Heaven together.

Adventist 20

References

Bohlander, George & Snell, Scott. (2007). Managing Human Resources. Mason: Thomson South-Western.

Burrill, Russell. (1999). Rekindling a lost passion. Fallbrook: Hart Research Center.

Daft, Richard. (2007). Organizational theory and design. Mason: Thomson South-Western.

Gibson, Rowan. (1998). Rethinking the future. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Holy Bible. (1996). King James Version Super Giant Print Reference Bible. Nashville:

Broadman & Holman.

White, E. G. (1925;2002). Instruction for effective christian service. Hagerstown: Review and

Herald Publishing Association

White, E.G. (2002). Testimonies to ministers and gospel workers. Nampa: Pacific Press

Publishing Association.