Response to "Bringing Back the Nones" article - The Visitor, Volume 118, Issue 8

Dear editor,

We appreciate the work that this publication is accomplishing and respect the articles that are featured. However, we took exception to the article by Loren Seibold titled "Bringing Back the Nones". We are three young women who are in the age range as your so-called "Nones". We acknowledge the issues presented in the article, they are very real, our generation has disappeared from the church. But we are not the only ones; other generations are also finding the church to be less and less relevant to our lives. The issues that we deal with as young people are seldom discussed in church. We are left to navigate these issues on our own. The author of this article asked if the church was the problem and failed to answer his own question. His title, however, was very revealing. The key source of our disappearance is rooted in the distrust that is heavily implied by the label given to us. Perhaps we are the "Nones" because that is how our generation is viewed, as worthless and useless. The older generations' perception of us, as the author eloquently stated, is 90% of reality. The reality is the mistrust between the generations has caused the "Nones" to have no influence, no role, no power, no leadership and nothing of value to add to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The fact that we question tradition is easily misconstrued as a lack of spirituality. Our desire to share the gospel in innovative ways is seen as too risky and rebellious. We are not trying to change the rules for our convenience we are seeking to make the rules relevant and applicable to our lives. The truth for us does not change, however, the packaging needs to be updated. As soon as we attempt to do this we are shunned and advised to review the fundamentals. We have left the church because we have spoken and you have not heard. We feel irrelevant and unneeded. It is interesting that of all the labels to assign to us, the "Nones" was chosen. We elect to call ourselves the "Navigators" because we have been neglected and tossed out into a sea of unanswered questions and doubt to fend for ourselves. Contrary to popular belief, we take responsibility for our own spirituality, our disappearance from the church is not because we do not believe, it is because our platform has yet to be bestowed upon us. As the "Navigators" the three of us started a blog to record our spiritual walk in the hopes of helping other "Navigators" and to find our place in the church. If you want us to come back to the church, send our children to SDA schools and take an active part, then make room for us and pass the baton.


Read the original article here:


http://issuu.com/columbiaunion/docs/august2013visitor/11?e=2183245/4231577