How Is Adventism Most Relevant to Society Today?

At the 2024 Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC) convention Adventist Review held a writing contest. Attendees were invited to answer this question: “How is Adventism most relevant to society today?” Word count was limited to 500 words and no use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) was permitted. Review editors assessed the submissions and selected this article as the winner. —Editors

When I was growing up, it was self-help books. For my parents, it was pop music. As time progresses, the ebb and flow of society brings waves of interest in and out of relevance. Many say we need to keep up with the times; but how should this impact our faith? After nearly 200 years since the first proclamation of our distinct message, does Adventism still hold the relevance it once held? In a society in which people are fast losing their identity, in which escapism is rampant and suicide is on the rise, in which pleasure, ease, and materialism are the chief pursuits, in which truth is relative and relationships are unstable, in which everyone is busy, stressed, and distracted, what does Adventism have to offer that is unique?

To a society that is full of broken people, empty promises, and unfulfilled ideals, Adventism offers a truly biblical worldview and a fuller picture of Christ. 

Well, some might say that we have the Sabbath, the sanctuary, or any other of our distinctive doctrines to offer. Others might say that we have the health message and the writings of Ellen G. White. Still others might say that we have the right understanding of the 1260-day prophecy. And these are all true and crucial. But we have more to offer than mere doctrines, reforms, and prophecies. We have more to offer than a clearer understanding, a better lifestyle, or a friendly church meeting on the right day. Adventism has substance to offer, the only thing of real substance. To a society that is full of broken people, empty promises, and unfulfilled ideals, Adventism offers a truly biblical worldview and a fuller picture of Christ. To the atheist steeped in error, we offer Christ as the truth made manifest; to the college student struggling with depression and purpose, we offer Christ as the purpose of our existence; to the broken family, we offer Christ, the loving friend to heal the wounded hearts of humanity; to the millions struggling with addictions, we offer Christ, the one who sets the captives free; to the people looking forward to the future with fear and despair, we offer Christ, the Rock of refuge; to the weary and heavy-laden, we offer Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath; to every trembling sinner, we offer Christ, their personal Savior. We offer help for the helpless, rest for the restless, hope for the hopeless, power for the powerless. Adventism is so relevant because our distinctive doctrines, our reforms, and our prophecies all point to Christ, and uplift Him not only as the one who died for us, but as the one who ever lives to make intercession for us; not only as the one who offers us forgiveness from sin’s penalty, but as the one who provides lasting freedom from its power.

When seen in this light, what could be more relevant than Adventism? Yet we are relevant to the world only to the proportion that we offer them the message of Christ. If we seem to be becoming irrelevant in our society, it is not because society is changing—it is because we are. While everything else we have is important, we cannot afford to separate our distinctive truths from the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We cannot lose sight of the Sum and Substance of our faith: “Christ in His self-denial, Christ in His humiliation, Christ in His purity and holiness, Christ in His matchless love—this is the subject for the soul’s contemplation.”*

* Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1956), pp. 70, 71.