SDA collaborative opportunities with ecumenical groups

Although the SDA Church through its General Conference executive committee has not taken a vote25on the official statement on its participation in and membership of ecumenical bodies (Communication Department of the General Conference 2010:218), it does not belong to ecumenical bodies such as the World Council of Churches (WCC) and other regional bodies and affiliates. It however does maintain an observer status in ecumenical groups. In Nigeria, the SDA does not belong to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). It has maintained a tradition through generations of no membership in ecumenical groups. This has affected how it collaborates with other denominations.

The research, however, revealed that many SDAs were of the opinion that collaborative relationships with other denominations for humanitarian projects could enhance the development of Nigeria. Out of the 25 SDAs interviewed, 22 indicated that working with other denominations strictly on community development projects could be of value. As in the case of the inquiry on collaboration with other religions discussed in 5.6.1 above, most interviewees responded in the affirmative, that the SDA Church could collaborate with other denominations or ecumenical groups but with much caution. In other words, such collaborations must not compromise what SDAs stand for or believe. This position was identical among clergy and

25 _{A democratic procedure SDAs adopt in making decisions. It indicates what the body considers the position} of the Church on issues dealt with by the representatives of the Church in a particular meeting.

148

laity. Pastor Austin Ajobi of the Western Nigerian Union Conference for example stated emphatically that such collaboration was the ideal but that any SDA pastor proposing such collaborations, being a church employee, had to follow due procedures. This meant that the particular pastor shall seek and obtain approval from the church administration and the superiors in the hierarchy before consenting to such collaboration with other denominations or ecumenical groups. This form of transparency would leave no church member or the public in the dark about the process and expected outcome of such a project.

When asked if their local churches currently or in the past worked in conjunction with other denominations, the overwhelming majority said no. Those who had witnessed any form of collaboration said it happened a long time ago and were not sure of the particular events and why such collaboration has not happened again. Pastor Jacob Agy, who worked at Babcock University at the time of the interviews, affirmed the willingness of SDAs to work with other denominations for community development. He cited the community project that the local SDA Church in Ilishan Remo, Ogun State participated in when the town’s oba26 had a particular anniversary. All the churches in the community came together to execute a project and the SDA Church contributed some money for that project. Pastor James Omoru of the Atlantic Conference was not so enthusiastic about ecumenical associations. He was of the opinion that ecumenism was counter-productive to the SDA mission. When I asked him what he thought of collaborating with other denominations, he shared his experience as captured below:

That is also very challenging. You know there is what is called CAN. We are [only] observers in CAN because of these restrictions. CAN will tell you “Go here, don’t go here.” We had an evangelism programme recently here in Lagos, that is in Church Street in Shomolu. By the time our pastor was preaching our Adventist beliefs, they27 _{sent a message to him that he was creating}

confusion because he was preaching what we believe. And they said what we want you to do here is to just preach Christ, that’s all. But how are we going to preach Christ without letting them know, just like Jesus says if you love me, keep my commandments? Because of these restrictions and conflicts, it is difficult for us to partner to do anything because we are going to have conflict. To avoid conflict, whatever projects we want to do, we want to do it as a Church, but not partnering with another religious organization to do that.

26 _{That is the traditional chief, a king or head of community that ascends to the throne not by government} democratic structures.

149

Pastor James Omoru’s experience, as stated in the interview reported above on how the CAN tried to control the content of the SDA Church’s evangelistic meetings, highlights SDAs’ concern, that is, the tendency for other denominations who do not agree with SDA doctrines to want to control or manipulate SDAs if they have to do projects together.

The response of Pastor Oluwaseun, a top administrator at the Western Nigeria Union Conference, to my question on the readiness of the SDA Church to be involved in ecumenism showed that the SDA Church has major reservations about the idea. He expressed the concern of the SDA Church about ecumenism in the following comments:

The problem is this ecumenism. We are very sceptical because when you bring the baggage, you come as you are. I believe the Bible is the only standard of any human society. As a church, we don’t compromise our biblical beliefs and teachings. So we can interface on the area of development but on the area of doctrinal issue, no compromise.

Pastor Oluwaseun emphasized the difficulties SDAs anticipated when it had to relate to ecumenical groups, namely demands that could be made on the SDA Church to abide by decisions that can hinder its mission, the extent to which the Church can be limited to propagate its doctrines, or compromise its doctrines. When I asked him if the SDA Church had ever cooperated with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), he answered in the affirmative. He made reference to when he and other SDA Church officials in Nigeria joined other clergy and CAN officials to pray at the inauguration of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in Abuja.

Apart from this empirical research on SDAs’ attitudes towards ecumenism, the denomination takes the writings of Ellen White as guide and authority for its belief and practice. Ellen White (1939:482) warns that the spiritual compromises in the Roman Catholic Church system would eventually influence even Protestants. The latter would eventually see less reason to be positively separate from the Catholic Church. She guarded against the possibility that Protestants form alliances with the Catholic Church, which would lead to theological compromises that Protestants once rejected. This alliance would soon degenerate into fierce persecution of people who do not agree with this alliance; religious liberty would be violated. SDAs do not want to be in such alliances and this may have been one of the major reasons for its non-ecumenical stance.

150