New leader for Adventist Church calls for “differentiation”

The newly elected leader of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific has called its members to “differentiate, or cease to exist.”

“Adventists are a community of people bound together by a structure of beliefs, but we need more than good theory to maintain the reason for our existence,” says Dr Barry Oliver, president of the Adventist Church in the South Pacific. “We need to find out what makes us special, rearticulate it in a way that’s relevant in the 21st century, and then roll up our sleeves and get involved in our community.”

Dr Oliver believes this means “we share the gospel and serve the communities with everything we have to meet their needs: mind, body and soul.”

For the last ten years, Dr Oliver has been serving as the church's general secretary. He was nominated by his peers as the president of the Adventist Church in the South Pacific in an end of year church business meeting in 2007. He officially began his new duties on January 11.

“There is a strong tension between how we see ourselves and how others sees us,” says Dr Oliver. “Australia is a pragmatic society. We can never be relevant unless we get involved.”

There are more than 5000 Adventist Churches in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands and other Pacific Islands. There are almost 400,000 church members in the region. Dr Oliver's position as regional president means he is also a vice-president for the Adventist Church worldwide. 

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