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Ministers Summit: Update two
08 February 2008
"Primitive godliness" key to reaching postmoderns
Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer, Avondale College
The key to reaching postmodernists is modelling ministry on "primitive godliness," Seventh-day Adventist ministers learned during their five-yearly meetings at Avondale College this past week.
Sarah Asaftei used her plenary session at the Adventist Church in Australia's Ministers' Summit on Thursday to stress only Jesus Christ's method of ministry will successfully reach "people who look like you but think totally differently."
Referring to Bible writer Paul's letter to the church in Corinth, in which he writes of trying to "find common ground with everyone" (9:22, NLT), Asaftei challenged the delegates to respond strategically to the challenge of postmodernism. "Build friendships, think of evangelism as a process not an event and nurture." The crux: postmodernists need to belong before they believe. "How far are you willing to go [to connect with them]?" Asaftei asked.
Asaftei is assistant director of the Center for Secular and Postmodern Studies (CSPS), one of five study centres of the worldwide church's Adventist Mission Office. According to the CSPS, postmodern cultural philosophies value tolerance and acceptance more than behavioural modification. Postmodernists do not disregard truth or the existence of God. However, they do not believe there is only one way to find truth or to prove God's existence. They believe there can be many ways to find truth and there may be more than one divinity.
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