Faithful to God or to the church?

[Chief]

Many believers grow up learning that to be faithful to God means being faithful to the church. Over time this can lead to a subtle but important shift. Rituals, traditions and institutional norms can come to stand in for the living relationship each believer is called to have with God. In some contexts conformity becomes the measure of faith, and outward motion takes precedence over inward substance. When leaders or members use isolated Bible verses out of context to enforce loyalty to an organisation, honour that belongs to God can be transferred to the institution instead.

This is not to deny the biblical calling to love, support and submit to Christian community and godly leadership. Churches provide teaching, communion, accountability and pastoral care that are vital to spiritual growth. The question is where we draw the line between healthy loyalty to a church and an allegiance that obscures or displaces our primary devotion to God. How do we hold institutions accountable to Scripture without undermining church unity? How do we protect individual conscience while fostering corporate faithfulness?

In our experience, do Adventists tend to be more faithful to the church as an institution than to God personally? If so, what are the signs and what has caused this tendency? Share examples from Scripture, church history or personal experience, and suggest practical ways our community can encourage authentic devotion to God while maintaining respectful and healthy loyalty to the church.

1. How do you personally distinguish being faithful to God from being faithful to a church?
2. Can you recall times when church tradition helped your faith, and times when it hindered it? Please give examples.
3. What practical steps can members take to nurture a primary allegiance to God while still supporting their local church and the wider denomination?

Please keep answers charitable and evidence based, citing Scripture or experience where possible. I look forward to a thoughtful and respectful conversation.

 

[rob]

Well Chief I was disappointed with my Church when COV19 hit. The Church did not support us. I needed a religious exemption for a COV19 vaccine, but none was forthcoming. The Church also shut its doors, so that was a worry.

We are not supposed to spoil our bodies in any way that is considered unsafe. That is why I do not drink Chlorinated water, or aluminium cooking water, or GMO foods. Yet my brother who is a SDA Pastor took the COV19 vaccine many times, and I wonder about him and his health now.

Another point is the preparation for the Sunday crisis, in the early 70's our Church has places of refuge for those trapped in the cities, now it seems our Church has nothing for us, and no plans for preparation of Sunday decree. It is if we are entirely on our own. If the no buy and selling is a global problem, could not our Church establish a bank for holding SDA deposits and thus prevent this unlawful decision? It's the same stand we don't take against GMO foods?

We could also publish Creation magazines, but we don't.

We could publish our own medical journals and our own farming practices and our own health systems, but instead we are registered with secular medicine, industrial farming and modern science, not spiritual science.

Another sad thing I was involved in personally was the shutting down of QLD country schools by our local division. How sad they shut down the only country school - in those days was Stanthorpe.

Another sad thing they shut down was the AAA services, though I know little about this one.

I do know about the blind services, and we do very little indeed for blind people, as I was involved in this back in 1988.

Here is a thought for our Church, when I saw the manna falling in a remote SDA village, I fell off my chair and I want to know why the SDA church does not find out why they receive manna and the rest of us don't? It has to be insights into how faith works, but alas the Church has not investigated the story of faith in Namba.

Shalom

 

[Chomsky]

I do not wish to sound pessimistic, but we have reached a stage in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church where being faithful to God and the church simultaneously is becoming almost impossible. Whenever I think about this split, I am reminded of Matthew 7:21-23

​

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’​

​

At the same time, verses such as Ephesians 4:16, Hebrews 13:17, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, and Hebrews 10:25 emphasize unity as Christ's body, submitting to leaders, serving one another, and gathering together.

If I can marry these two cases, I would think that being faithful to God should come first, because without Him, there is no church. A true church should demonstrate its faithfulness to God first before asking members to be faithful to it. Our leaders, administrative processes, financial management, and all other aspects of our church should be rooted in the Scripture, and if not, being faithful to the church becomes meaningless.

I wish to support my argument by citing what happened during the time of Jesus. While everyone was so focused on the sacrificial system of Israel (which could be compared to the church today), they missed the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Those who remained faithful to Israelite traditions failed to acknowledge the messiah.

Here is what I would do:

• Learn what it means to be faithful to God.
• Find a community of believers, preferably a small group, and gather together, serve one another, and later extend that service to others outside your community.
• Understand that when the Bible talks about the church, it does not mean the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

Why is this important?

• Christians are members of the church, and Jesus is the Head (Ephesians 1:22-23, Colossians 1:18).
• A church is a covenant community, chosen by God (2 Corinthians 6:16, Hebrews 8:10).
• The church is the bride to Christ, reflecting a special, loving, and holy relationship with Christ (Ephesians 5:25-32, Revelation 19:7).

 

[rob]

Well said Chomsky. However despite this, I remain loyal to my SDA assembly.

The faithful widow remained loyal and put into the treasury all she had to live on. She lived by faith instead.

My wish for my SDA colleagues is that they might experience genuine faith (and be saved) as the Lord has shown me,
but alas many do not wish to know.

Discovering genuine faith - a simple presentation | Spiritualsprings

Discovering genuine faith Many years ago I

spiritualsprings.proboards.com

Shalom

 

[Watchman]

Reading this, I found myself asking the same questions — especially in recent months. The tension you describe between institutional loyalty and living faith is not abstract; it’s something many believers quietly wrestle with.


I recently read a long-form letter that reflects on these issues from a watchman perspective, not as an attack on the church, but as a call to examine where devotion, conscience, and faithfulness can slowly drift. It helped me name some of what I had been sensing but couldn’t quite articulate.


For anyone interested, the letter is archived here:
The Watchman Letter I : The Watchman : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive


I appreciate how this thread invites careful, charitable reflection rather than slogans or easy answers.