I am a firm believer that, before diving into any topic, context is always key. That’s why I think it’s vitally important to understand the background of the SDA faith with regards to politics before unpacking current generational trends.
For centuries, religion and politics have had a complex and intriguing relationship. Although Seventh-day Adventism is a relatively new denomination in the grand scheme of things, it is certainly no exception to this rule. From its founding years in the mid-19th century, official SDA church stances on sociopolitical issues offer a lens into the church’s relatability with the non-SDA world — and many times, an indication of where it’s headed. After the Great Disappointment, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was officially founded in 1863. Among the most prominent leaders of the SDA faith was Ellen G. White. Her writings are heavily focused on issues of social injustice, activism and care for human life. White pioneered social activism in the SDA Church from 1863 onwards, but the rest of the church’s history isn’t as clear-cut.
The women’s rights movement was backed by several Adventist leaders. Further, certain General Conference leaders have spoken out on various hot button issues. Some of the moments that stand out are the church’s adoption of a non-combatency stance during the second world war, the church’s view on voting, and Adventists’ involvement in the Civil Rights Movement (and, more recently, with the more recent social justice protests). An overview of some of the significant moments and statements coming out of the Seventh-day Adventist Church help to better understand current generational trends.
Before embarking on this project, I knew exactly who I needed to speak to. I sat down with my roommate, Richard Thomas, and discussed the role of politics and civic engagement in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Richard is a senior social work major who is passionate about community development and engagement. He also grew up in a conservative Adventist household, which has caused him to reflect a great deal on the issue of politics in the church, often a taboo one.
What is striking about Richard’s experiences is the relatability they seem to have with Gen Z and Millennial Adventists in general. According to Richard, the apparent discrepancy between younger and older Adventists when it comes to politics extends beyond his own family — it was something observable in the church and in the wider SDA community.
In order to better understand his perspective and to examine the nature of this divide, I sat down with Richard and asked him to share his point of view on how Adventists should approach politics, why various generations’ approaches to politics often seem different, and what we can do to bridge that generational gap.
As I look back in retrospect, one of the happiest days of my childhood—despite the fact that it might seem difficult to believe—was the day I was baptized for the first time. I was baptized with a group of friends. We had been the best of friends for a long time. We were all about 11-years-old at the time and had attended the same church. I haven’t heard from them in over 25 years, apart from occasional messages from mutual friends about their separation from the church, which I was also until three years ago.
I have never been able to find out the reasons why they deviated. With peace of mind and sobriety, I can now attribute my separation from church to my arrival in the United States at the age of 14 and the strong cultural shock that came with it. As I reminisce about my friends and our active involvement with the church as children and early teens, and how now almost all of them have left the church, prompted me to consider and research what the statistics are for the decrease in membership among the Hispanic community.
A study commissioned by the Seventh-day Adventist North American Division Office of Education showed a decrease in the Hispanic population from 2008 to 2018. The research was presented by Monte Sahlin, director of the Center for Creative Ministry, to an Interactive Journalism class at Southern Adventist University in 2019, and later reported on a blog by Southern student Estefania Sanchez-Mayorquin.
Sahlin attributes the 2018 decline to the political environment in the U.S.
“I believe the reason why is that we had great difficulty getting input from immigrants that year,” he said. “And, if you think about the political environment in the United States then, you can understand why lots of Adventists who are immigrants did not want to answer any survey about information about themselves and their families, even though it’s anonymous.”
Sahlin believes that there has been at least a small drop in the number of ethnic minorities.
“It probably is true that there has been a slight decrease in ethnic minority Adventists,” Sahlin said. “One study that I did in the interim period with one local conference, they discovered a significant number of immigrants who, during the recession, actually went back to Latin American countries that they had come from because the economy that they had come from was better there than their circumstances in the United States.”
In another presentation, this time to my Interactive Journalism class on Feb. 17, 2021, Sahlin presented other reasons for the drop in percentage among those who identify more with younger generations.
“Other reasons are not understanding why it is necessary for religion to have structure and procedures, a feeling particularly in the teenage years,” Sahlin said. “They feel that the church is unfriendly to people with different attitudes, different opinions. That you have to fit into a fairly narrowed pattern or you are not welcome.”
After his presentation, I had the opportunity to ask questions and gather additional information that would assist my study. Here are a couple of the questions I asked and the answers that were given.
Q: Are there any reasons why young adults are abandoning the church?
A: In addition to the decline of Hispanics in the SDA Church is the abandonment of the church by young adults. This is attributed to the negative experience with institutions and organizations. This situation is a worldwide issue; organized religion has been abandoned by young adults not just in the U.S, but in Canada, Europe, and Latin America as well. In the United States, some patterns have to do with life experience. They graduate and move to another city, marriage, family, a lot of movement. One other thing that Millennial generation young adults do not understand about the Adventist bureaucracy is this business of transferring membership.
Q: Are there any other reasons to report, perhaps on older generations abandoning the church?
A: Some of the decline also has to do with life transition. We know that in the Gen-Xers group, people dropping out of church has a lot to do with divorce. Almost every case when that happens at least one quits attending church, if not both.”
So, there you have it: Is the decrease among Hispanics in the Adventist church an abandonment of faith? Or, is this a reflection of a lack of accountability, which perhaps influences the statics?
Citation: Sanchez-Mayorquin, Estefania, “Adventist researcher reports drop in black, Hispanic church numbers. He blames national immigration debate.” (2019). Blog. 12.
