Michael Scofield on Post-WWII Change for the Asheville Forum
On Saturday, September 30, at 3 p.m. (Eastern), Michael Scofield will present “How Adventism has Changed Since WWII: An Update” for the online meeting of the Asheville Adventist Forum chapter. All are welcome. Scofield writes:
Since World War Two, the Adventist membership in the US has shifted towards urban areas, which allowed individual congregations to take on their own identity and doctrinal tone. The shift in donations from “foreign missions” to local church uses began in the 1930s. It accelerated in the post-war prosperity as local churches became nicer with air conditioning.
The overall shift has been from conference (and evangelism) primacy, to a focus on the congregational experience and local community. Doctrinal diversity grew, particularly in urban areas. The discovery of grace (God is friendly and salvation is just for the asking—a concept foreign to most Adventists prior to WWII) lowered parental anxiety, thus enabling Adventist parents to be comfortable with sending their children to non-Adventists schools. This is a major factor causing diminished enrollment at all levels of Adventist education.
The broader (conference-wide) sense of community has declined with a significant reduction of volume in Adventist publishing (and reduction of readership) in light of the “attention economy,” which competes for each member’s limited time. And finally, 179 years after the “great disappointment,” the sense of apocalyptic urgency in the membership has abated significantly.
A careful observer of the Adventist church, Scofield holds a BA from LLU and an MBA from UCLA. His career has been primarily focused in data management, and he has presented over 800 slide lectures and workshops in the field over the past 26 years. In his profession of data asset management, he has given over 360 presentations to professional audiences (data administration, accounting, and information technology) in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. In addition to being a guest lecturer on over 20 university campuses, Scofield has served as assistant professor of health information management and assistant clinical professor of nursing at Loma Linda University for two decades. He has 27 articles published in professional journals, including the Data Administration Newsletter, the Newsletter of the International Association of Information and Data Quality, and the Data Management Review. He has served on the board of the Association of Adventist Forums and on the Pacific Union Conference Church Structure Committee. He also has humor published in the Los Angeles Times.
Saturday, August 26, 20203 – 3 p.m. (Eastern) / 12 p.m. (Pacific).
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89101652323
Meeting ID: 891 0165 2323
Title image by Spectrum. Photo by Loma Linda University.
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