Our new members may be interested to know the Seventh-day Adventist Church was started by young people as a movement within traditional protestant churches. These young women and men, in their teens and early twenties, were attracted to the teachings of William Miller, who discovered the Bible taught a literal and soon return of Jesus Christ to rescue His followers from a sin-cursed world that was about to end.

Many of these young enthusiasts, dismissed from their churches for accepting the Bible over denominational traditions, banded together with the Bible only as their sole rule of faith and doctrine. They continued meeting to pray and study, and looked for innovative and creative ways to share with others. They began an unprecedented, monumental publishing work.

As the movement spread across the northeastern United States, some suggested they organize into an official church denomination. Many resisted for fear they would lose the ability to adjust to new light from Scripture as it was revealed by the Holy Spirit. They wanted to avoid becoming like so many denominations that preceded them. One of the foremost in this opposition was our first General Conference president, James White, who reluctantly agreed with the organizational plans under certain conditions. Unfortunately, in the 150 years that have transpired, a number of his fears have been realized.

There is a new movement within the Adventist Church that many sense is the movement of God and a return to the kind of relationship He enjoyed with our founding young people (the word “fathers” is an inaccurate and misleading word to refer to our founders who were young women and men). It is a movement once again among our young people and, quite frankly, it’s a bit scary. Our young people are taking us out of our comfort zone with their radical discipleship to Jesus. It is born in the context of this generation’s need for intimacy and connectedness, a sense of belonging, peace, stability, a quest for personal identity, an encounter with power, and a longing for purpose and meaning, all of which are found in discipleship to Jesus. This generation craves a spiritual life based on relationship.

We witnessed it at Wawoka Woods, Oklahoma, in 1995, at the birth of what has become the teen prayer movement. It is reminiscent of the spiritual revival phenomenon on our college campuses that took place during the early 70s and has now developed into theSe7en Signs discipleship movement. Young disciples involved in innovative worship, ministry, evangelism, and mission are stretching our imaginations and our resources.

Throughout history it appears God chooses young people whenever He is up to something big, radical, and earthshaking. Maybe it is time we learned the Basic 101 lesson God has been trying to teach us all along—we must take on the characteristics of the young, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Gary Burns is the Lake Union Conference communication director and Lake Union Herald editor.