ADVENTIST HISTORY


Research in recent decades has produced a wealth of


information and has provided a new view of her person and work. But members of the church have been largely kept in the dark about these discoveries. And, of course, when people do find out, they oſten feel deceived and may wonder whether they want to stay with the church that has kept the truth from them.


Many brothers and sisters may have told us that they left the church because of doctrinal differences, but perhaps an unspoken reason was that in the small community in which they had to experience their Adventist faith, they were not given the space they needed to be who they are.


Most of these disputes have not led to the founding of a


competing denomination. (Te Adventist Reform Movement, with around 40,000 members in 132 countries, is perhaps an exception.) Some who leave Adventism connect with other Christian communities, though others lose interest in organized religion or abandon their faith altogether.


Too Big for a Small Church? Why do people such as Johannes de Heer leave the Adventist Church? More than a century later, the available documentation is too meager to give a full picture. Te things that bothered de Heer have perturbed many others and have undoubtedly driven some to exit the church. But it seems to me that another factor could have played a role. Could it be that the small Adventist community of fewer


26 AD VENTIS T T OD A Y


than 50 members in Rotterdam (of about 200 members in the entire country) was simply too small for an innovative and multi- giſted individual such as de Heer? Could it be that he was just one of those people who—because of extraordinary personality, creativity, and other competencies—find that the church is not big enough for them? When we think of the history of Adventism in Europe, the


name of Louis R. Conradi inevitably comes to mind. He, too, was an extraordinary, visionary leader. In his departure from Adventism in 1932, several doctrinal issues played a role similar to what de Heer reported. I wonder: was European Adventism in the 1930s perhaps still too small to accommodate such a visionary leader as Conradi? In North America, the history of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg


is no doubt better known. Several books describe in detail the increasing riſt between the doctor, the “brethren,” and the prophet. Te conflict climaxed in 1903 with the publication of his supposedly pantheistic book Te Living Temple. Kellogg may not have been an easy person to deal with—he was undoubtedly an eccentric, and he was also a genius. Was he too big to fit within the small denomination of his days? Tis question could perhaps make an interesting topic


for a dissertation. But in the meantime, allow me to raise a related idea that may be worth considering. Te majority of Adventist congregations in the world are quite small and do not resemble the churches of 1,000 or more members, which exist in some major Adventist bubbles. It is essential that in small congregations, of perhaps a hundred or even fewer members, men and women with a unique personality and/or extraordinary qualities feel welcome and are given the space they need to breathe and to fully participate, without being judged or ignored. Many brothers and sisters may have told us that they leſt


the church because of doctrinal differences, but perhaps an additional unspoken reason was that in the small community in which they had to experience their Adventist faith, they didn’t have the space they needed to be who they are. I do not know to what extent the departure of Johannes de Heer


was due (at least partly) to this. But I do personally know several very talented and erudite people who, I believe, leſt the church not solely because they had questions about Ellen White or 1844, but because the congregation they attended was not spacious enough for them to be, and remain, happy Christians. Tey were not accepted for the talented women and men they are. I believe this matter needs our urgent attention.


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