Send Me (Part 3): Innovation

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear it’s sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8

Jesus said these words to a member of the Jewish ruling council, Nicodemus. His world was consumed with efforts to maintain a specific religious form. The focus was preservation not innovation. It was prescribed. It was predictable. Then, he met Jesus who told him that the Spirit goes where it wants to. This was outside of the box of Nicodemus’s structured religious experience. He had known man’s preservation of the way they relate to God. He was less comfortable with God’s innovation in the way he relates to man. He was caught in the tension between preservation and innovation.

Santa Fake: What are we preserving?

Take a look at the house in the picture.

Does it offend you? Probably not. It’s just a house, a bit different but not offensive. In 2004 the residents who lived in this house woke up to find an outside wall of the house painted with a swastika and the words, “Nazi architecture.” Someone was really upset. A lot of people were.

In order for us to understand what they were upset about, we have to know a bit about the rich heritage of the Pueblo culture and the attempts to preserve it.

This house is in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a town that presents an amazingly relevant case study of the tension between preservation and innovation.

Santa Fe has a heritage, worth preserving. For centuries, this region has been home to the Pueblo people and their rich culture. One distinctive feature of their culture is their buildings, earthen, mud-based structures made from materials gathered on site. A family would sculpt their own home from dirt they dug up and trees they cut down. Kids would have a hand in building their own bedrooms. The style was born out of necessity. But it didn’t just speak to poverty and lack of resources. The homes had a beautiful simplicity. They were practical. They were personal. Being made from the same natural resources, they all looked very similar.

As New Mexico worked to gain statehood status they wanted to outgrow their primitive reputation. They built European style buildings and tried to move away from their traditional structures.

In 1912 New Mexico became a state. But Santa Fe’s economy was in trouble. City leaders planned to save their city by promoting tourism. The tourists came but they didn’t stay. They went north to the Pueblo villages, fascinated by the charm and distinctiveness of their traditional homes. The city noticed what the tourists wanted. Their great innovation was preservation. Santa Fe passed preservation laws that ensured the preservation of all Pueblo style buildings and required all new construction to be done in the Pueblo Revival style.

It worked. Tourism boomed in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Large commercial buildings were constructed with steel and concrete and covered with plaster to mimic the traditional Pueblo style. It wasn’t exactly authentic but it preserved the look and the look brought tourists.

In the 1950’s modern construction continued to threaten the preservation of the Pueblo style. In 1957, Santa Fe responded by taking further steps for preservation. They designated a large historic district and created the Historic District Review Board to give approval to all building changes. Everything from new construction to painting a window frame had to be approved by the Review Board, it still does.

The preservation of Santa Fe worked so well that it threatened the preservation of the culture and the people in Santa Fe. Tourism continued. The Texas oil boom in the 1970’s brought in wealthy new residents. Santa Fe became an international travel destination. Rich people from around the world rushed to buy their own piece of history. It was preserved… for the rich. The native people moved out; they couldn’t afford it. Their culture went with them.

Today Santa Fe is beautifully staged with imitation Pueblo Revival style chain restaurants and department stores. The natives call it Santa Fake. They ask the question, “What are we preserving?” There is a lot of talk on the Review Board about preserving the “community character”. What character? There is a tragic irony in their preservation. The well-preserved look of the buildings are a memorial to the culture they destroyed.

This is how Santa Fe got to the point that a house that is a little too angular and a slight shade off color gets vandalized in the middle of the night. Preservation of style is too important to risk innovation.

This case study is so relevant for the church. We are caught in the tension of preservation and innovation. We also have a rich heritage worth preserving. We too have been guilty of the spiritual equivalent of defacing someone’s house to make the statement that innovation is not welcome here. We too have preserved specific pieces of our heritage at the cost of other, more important pieces. We too have allowed this tension to grow into arguments and division. On the other side, we have pushed forward in the name of innovation and left behind some important things unnecessarily. How do we navigate the preservation/innovation tension?

This is what Nicodemus was wrestling with that night he spoke to Jesus. He was considering that “the wind blows wherever it pleases” but he was working among people that were rightly accused by Jesus of having a fine way of setting aside the commandments of God for the sake of their tradition.

The innovation that is good for the church is not a denial of how God has led in the past. It is not just a quest to be cleaver or different. It is a commitment to following the Holy Spirt wherever he wants to go. We can trust the unchanging character of God while following his unpredictable ways.

We must ask ourselves, “What are we preserving?”

Our Heritage

Like the Pueblo people and culture, our church has a rich and attractive heritage. A huge part of that is missions. Our heritage goes back to the Old Testament call to be a blessing to all the nations (Genesis 12:3). It goes back to the authority of Jesus. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18-19). And our heritage includes every act of the mission of God throughout all church history.

In more recent history our church looks back to a man named William Miller who studied the message of the second coming for 13 years, then he felt a strong conviction that said, “Go and tell it to the world”. We have a heritage of a worldwide movement of the Holy Spirit.

The founders of our church continued a heritage of seeking after that Spirit that goes where it pleases. They poured their hearts out in pursuit of truth. They didn’t want to depend on what other people had taught them, they wanted to learn from God. Our founders broke tradition when they left their established churches to follow the Spirit. This is our heritage.

As the movement grew other pieces were inserted into our heritage. From the beginning, Adventists have been overachievers in the publishing ministry. The message got out in print. In the 1850’s, 60’s and 70’s the Spirit led to an emphasis on health, education, systematic benevolence, church organization, and foreign missions.

In 1863, the year our denomination took the name Seventh-day Adventist, James White reiterated in the Review and Herald, “Ours is a worldwide message”. They began work that year to send a missionary to Europe. It would be another ten years before J.N. Andrews was sent. In the meantime, missionaries were sent to California (1869) and the church formed a missionary society (1869). This too is our heritage.

Consider where the movement is today. Please understand, these statistic are not to boast or to suggest that the large numbers establish our credibility. I share them to illustrate the heritage we are a part of.

The movement has continued to include 92,186 churches, 72,749 companies and 21,760,076 members worldwide. The message is published in 516 languages. The movement includes 227 hospitals and sanitariums, 133 nursing homes and retirement centers, 673 clinics, 15 orphanages, over 1.5 million annual inpatient visits and over 20 million annual outpatient visits. The movement includes 23 food industries, 60 publishing houses and 20,31 active literature evangelists. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) works to bring long-term development programs and immediate emergency response to communities in more than 118 countries. Adventist Frontier Missions is an indigenous Seventh-day Adventist church-planting movement among unreached people groups.

We have a heritage of following the Spirit of God on his mission. How do we preserve this? This risk is that we do what Santa Fe did, choose one expression of our heritage to preserve at the cost of the rest. We could choose a specific style over the Spirit. We could choose a certain method instead of the movement. What are we preserving?

Jesus said, “The windblows where it wishes, and you hear it’s sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8

The centerpiece of our movement is a wholehearted pursuit of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that Spirit we can’t control. The goal is not the old or the new but the Spirit.

How do we feel about the tension?

The Send Me Survey has some thoughtful responses concerning this tension.

View all Send Me Survey Responses

Someone responded, “I think our church is filled with wonderful people, but sometimes we are so set in our ways that we miss our purpose.”

We get some very specific mental images when we think of words like “evangelism” and “missionary”.

Send Me Survey: What is “evangelism”?

The survey responses show a wide range of definitions.

Specific:

“Efforts taken to spread the Gospel, or a specific message from the Bible, with the intention of bringing non-Adventists into the Adventist community – examples include the 3 Angels Message, or a series on Revelation.”
“An aggressive effort to spread the gospel as quickly as possible and as far as possible.”

Broad:

“Following God’s leading into other people’s life.”,
“Doing life together.”
“Evangelism is sharing who God is.”

Send Me Survey: What is a “missionary”?

The word “missionary” brought out a similar range of answers.

Specific:

“Someone who leaves their home behind for a period of time to do evangelism?”
“Someone whose sole focus is to teach others about God.”
“Someone who leaves their geographic area or culture with the purpose of evangelizing.”

Broad:

“Someone who fills needs”
“A missionary is a nobody, who is somebody to everybody.”
“Someone who approaches life with missional intentionality.”
“A disciple of Christ – anyone, who is willing to be used of God to spread the Good News.”
“All are missionaries for either good or evil.”
‘Every Christian is a missionary.”

The specific and the broad are both good. The caution is that we should not preserve our definition and loose the Spirit. Evangelism is not just “that”, it is also what God has called you to. A missionary is not just “them”, it is also us.

The Innovative Spirit

God is more creative than we are! His will is not restricted to our tradition, our comfort level, our ethics, or our budget.

I read a chapter written by Jon Paulin entitled, Our Unpredictable God. Paulin surveys the Bible for those things that God does that we never would have imagined him doing. Below is a sampling of Paulin’s reflections.

God told Abraham to sacrifice his promised child. (Genesis 22:2)
God chose to bring the Messiah from the family line of Judah (who slept with his daughter-in-law), Rahab (the prostitute), and Bathsheba (the wife of David’s adultery).
God called Isaiah to be a naked street preacher for 3 years. (Isaiah 20:2-4)
God called Micah to go naked and to howl like a jackal and mourn like an owl. (Micah 1:8)
God called Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman. (Hosea 1:2)
God gave one of the most familiar biblical visions to the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar.
God used the language of pagan philosophers to describe himself. (John 1:1, “theos” and “logos”)
God shocked Peter by sending him to welcome the Gentiles into the faith. (Acts 10)

Paulin’s point hit home with me when I read statements like the following:

“While God never really contradicts himself, he is never totally predictable either.” p. 89

“The unpredictable God is likely to be at work in the place where we would least expect it.” p. 89

“If I am serious about aligning myself with scripture I cannot ignore the picture of an unpredictable God who does things I would least expect on the basis of my comfortable selection of proof texts.” p.102

God’s Innovative Creativity Among Us

The Send Me Survey asked the question, “What is your favorite memory of how you have been blessed in the Palmer SDA Church?”

Unfortunately, not all answers reflect well on us. Like one response that says, “More often than not I have found the church to be a source of bitterness rather than blessing.”

I appreciate the honesty. We need to acknowledge how we have fallen short.

Others say that there are, “Too many blessings to limit to one.”

Listen to some others tell of their favorite memories. Notice that they are little things. Not insignificant things. But things that didn’t require a big budget, things that weren’t voted and advertised. They just happened in community.

“Our first Church attendance, members came and sat with us and went out of their way to make us feel welcome.”
“The activities I have done with other members, such as going up to Kent’s mine, flying with people, going on canoe and camping trips with others and just getting together for Sabbath afternoon activities. Quality friends. Friends that accept me for who I am even after they get to know me. In the past we had a Sunday Brunch during the winter once a month and that was a lot of fun.”
“I have felt most blessed when we have joined together to serve someone in our community.”
“Several guys showing up to help us unpack the day after we arrived in Alaska for the first time.”
“Being asked to sit with a family.”
“My baptism”

Other memories that made the favorites list are

Music
Prayer meeting
Sabbath School
Personal Testimonies
Building our church

In the responses to these questions there are four ministry areas that repeatedly show up in the survey:

Amazing Grace Academy
Prison Ministry
Small Groups
Serving our Community

These are areas where we see the Spirit moving! As you read the following response, look for the movement of the Spirit.

List the most meaningful ways you have seen the Palmer SDA Church be a blessing in the past.

“In the way the people talk with each other.”
“fed us when Covid hit our home”
“When my daughter went to AGA”
“Bringing in non-Adventist kids into the Church School.”
“Hosting events like funerals for community members, vacation Bible schools for the children during the summers”
“Family Promise”
Getting together to do some greater good for others.
“evangelistic meetings”
“Egyptian series”
“food pantry”

List the most meaningful ways you feel the Palmer SDA Church is currently being a blessing.

“Sadly, I can’t think of anything.”
“Online presence”
“Growing Young
‘Helping people in need.”
“Feed the Need”
“Giving so much to make sure any child can go to Amazing Grace Academy”

List the most meaningful ways you feel the Palmer SDA Church could be a blessing in the future. Share your ideas! Dream big!

When you read the responses about the dreams people have for the Palmer Church, it is obvious that loving our community is where we feel the Spirit moving us. Of the 23 responses 13 of them are clearly about engaging with our community.

Here are your God dreams:

“Joining the fight against drug addiction and homelessness within the community in a more direct manner.” counseling, supporting, operate a recovery house.
“feeding those families who are struggling to get food on the table due to financial hardship – there should not be hungry children in a community where there is a significant Adventist presence.”
We have a big beautiful building that sits empty 90% of the time. I think we could find ways to use that blessing to help other churches.
“build a garage/home behind the church for visiting pastors or families in need at the time”
“huge green houses out back in the field”
“Changing oil for single moms, healthy food booth at the fair (not just tracts), host a family movie night for the community, make a radio station, outdoor concert during summer, youth rallies, sports camps…”
“More group “informal” small worship services like the Friday night glow that foster personal connections between people without being too formal or intimidating. More music.”
“Go into homes, help young mothers get clutter free, cleaned and organized and then start a church Dorcas with the excess (clutter) to help those in need in the community.”
“Trash pick-up day in the spring after the snow melts”
“Glean in the potato fields for Salvation Army in the fall”
“Building beds again for Heavenly Peace, ect.”
“soup kitchen or food bank”
“Car give away ministry.”
“Raising service dogs.”
“Working with the amazing non-religious organizations in the valley and supporting the ministry to those they are trying to help. Connecting the valley churches in healthy relationship as fellow partners in the plan of God.”
“Stronger prayer ministry; prayer walks, vespers services; serve meals for folks combined with fellowship.”
“Evangelistic series, get out to the community and let them know we are here and what we believe.”
“Remote learning as a part of Amazing Grace Academy to reach and educate those in Alaska who are unable to attend AGA… That one day, is my vision for our school.”
“A pilot program”
“Having a community garden.”
“Opening a thrift shop.”

God’s creativity has a calling for you!

Some good news about God’s innovation is that his mission is for everyone. God’s creativity gets rid of excuses that we don’t have time or we don’t have the right personality, or we don’t have the right opportunities. He is creative enough to work in your situation. When we make God’s mission about a specific piece of our heritage, we say things like, “I can’t serve because I could never be a preacher”, “I would love to do ministry, but going door to door is not my style”, or “my personality and gifts are not suited for evangelism.”

This is all wrong.

God is more creative than we are. The Spirit goes wherever he wants. God made you with your personality and your gifts. He has a ministry that is perfectly suited to the way he made you. This movement is for all personality types and skill sets. Yes, God will call us to do things that are uncomfortable for us. But he also gives us callings that are in line with our gifts, interests, and personalities. The give-a-car-away ministry doesn’t require a preacher. Feed the Need doesn’t require a strong singing voice. There are other ways to serve. In the name of preservation, we could reject the moving of the Spirit and stay on the sidelines of the movement. But we don’t have to.

We live in this tension of preservation and innovation. God is calling us to preserve our commitment to following His Spirit. He is stretching us to trust His innovation in loving this world. We are not called to defend our territory but to follow his Spirit. Live the innovative life of a believer that sees ministry wherever the Spirit wants to go.

Here I am, send me!