May 29, 2020
By Carl Greene
Executive Director
This helpful advertisement was offered in the April 17, 1873, Sabbath Recorder.1 If only I had responded sooner, maybe I could have discovered the secret to making quick money. This particular Recorder also had the opportunity to purchase a cure for rheumatism—a cure which also served as a great air freshener:
Amazing! Opportunities to be happier by making money while also getting rid of pain. But there was more! There were even tablets sold in blue boxes that can cure what I cannot see is wrong with me. These Carbolic Tablets (which should be “promptly and freely used”) promised to “equalize the circulation of the blood” and “restore healthy action to the affected organs.”
These advertisements offer three quick cures for our ongoing appetite for: personal comfort, freedom from pain, and effortless good health. Is it possible that we can treat our collective mission as a quick fix rather than an ongoing journey?
Our Mission: More Than a Quick Cure
The SDB General Conference and local churches have the opportunity for unique partnerships in this challenging year of 2020. The mission of the General Conference is to equip our churches to actively advance God’s Kingdom—to boldly share the gospel message, to sustainably train new disciples, and to be available for God to transform us individually and collectively into greater Christ-likeness. On the one hand, we can simply look at ways to roll out a program, or some sort of quick fix technique. However, that sounds more like a search for comfort or effortless good church/Conference health.
We are in search of a healthy process—a sustainable pattern that encourages good church health no matter the season. This is the key behind the SDB Church Revitalization process, or Pulse. This is not a quick fix, it is not a miracle cure—it is a sustainable process for churches and the Conference to continuously examine our expectations, our discipleship process, our outward focus, and our leadership development. If you would like to find out more about Pulse, please contact John Pethtel, SDB Director of Church Development—this is really a great opportunity to develop healthy ministry and fellowship within the specifics of your own community rather than being handed the latest fad to implement. Even if the fad happens to come in fancy blue boxes like the Carbolic Tablets, it is still a fading fad.
Our Mission: Partnership
A key piece of our mission is working together—as a Conference of churches seeking to actively advance God’s Kingdom. An exciting thing about partnership is finding ways that we can come together. This is a piece that is definitely worth reading more about.
I am really excited about another way that the SDB Memorial Board has partnered with the SDB General Conference. Together, we are providing church revitalization grants to foster ministry response to specific opportunities in your community. We are definitely in a unique season of ministry, and there are new and dynamic opportunities to bring the gospel message. The intent of this grant opportunity is to provide encouragement to look closely at how God has been at work over recent months through your church, and then implement next ministry steps that God is calling you into. Many of these next steps can be relatively low-cost opportunities that God has been opening for your church in 2020. Seventh Day Baptist Churches are eligible to apply for up to $1,000 each—and encouraged to actively pray about this partnership opportunity provided by these grants.
Want to know more? Please contact us to receive more information and an application for your church: grants@seventhdaybaptist.org. We are looking forward to hearing from you!
1 Check out the Sabbath Recorder archives provided by the SDB Council on History at https//www.sdbhistory.org/resources/sabbath-recorder-archives/
