Is there an official policy on home visiting by SDA?

[Norman70]

God bless the SDA, all denominations, and all Christians and non-Christians.
My wife and myself do not attend any Church, we try to belong to the universal church of Christ, as thoroughly, and dare I say profoundly, described in the SDA Quarterly "Oneness In Christ".
We are elderly, infirm and unable to attend a Church physically and we seek help medically, emotionally and with day-to-day chores. Recently some of my wife's family, most of whom are SDA, have visited and helped a little.
However one of them, who does quite a lot for us and will continue in spite of what her pastor told her. She offered to do more voluntary care for the Church, but he said that because she had not paid her tithes the SDA Church could not accept her offer in the name of the Church. She continues to attend but still does not pay tithes and neither does she do any voluntary work for them.
My wife and myself have been advised here in CF to find a local Church who might help us but so far we have not succeeded.
The Mormons visited and gave great offers, with gifts of a Bible and The Book of Mormon. We declined and returned the books.

 

[Monk Brendan]

God bless the SDA, all denominations, and all Christians and non-Christians.
My wife and myself do not attend any Church, we try to belong to the universal church of Christ, as thoroughly, and dare I say profoundly, described in the SDA Quarterly "Oneness In Christ".
We are elderly, infirm and unable to attend a Church physically and we seek help medically, emotionally and with day-to-day chores. Recently some of my wife's family, most of whom are SDA, have visited and helped a little.
However one of them, who does quite a lot for us and will continue in spite of what her pastor told her. She offered to do more voluntary care for the Church, but he said that because she had not paid her tithes the SDA Church could not accept her offer in the name of the Church. She continues to attend but still does not pay tithes and neither does she do any voluntary work for them.
My wife and myself have been advised here in CF to find a local Church who might help us but so far we have not succeeded.
The Mormons visited and gave great offers, with gifts of a Bible and The Book of Mormon. We declined and returned the books.

The "universal Church" is made manifest in the local congregation.

There's also a saying, "Unus Christianus, nullus Christianus". Loosely translated: Nobody is a Christian all by himself.

 

[BobRyan]

God bless the SDA, all denominations, and all Christians and non-Christians.
My wife and myself do not attend any Church, we try to belong to the universal church of Christ, as thoroughly, and dare I say profoundly, described in the SDA Quarterly "Oneness In Christ".
We are elderly, infirm and unable to attend a Church physically and we seek help medically, emotionally and with day-to-day chores. Recently some of my wife's family, most of whom are SDA, have visited and helped a little.
However one of them, who does quite a lot for us and will continue in spite of what her pastor told her. She offered to do more voluntary care for the Church, but he said that because she had not paid her tithes the SDA Church could not accept her offer in the name of the Church. She continues to attend but still does not pay tithes and neither does she do any voluntary work for them.
My wife and myself have been advised here in CF to find a local Church who might help us but so far we have not succeeded.
The Mormons visited and gave great offers, with gifts of a Bible and The Book of Mormon. We declined and returned the books.

I am not sure I understand the scenario you are describing but in the SDA denomination there is no connection between paying tithes and helping family members or friends or church members that need home health etc.

 

[Norman70]

@Monk Brendan. Thank you for your immediate response, God bless you.
I notice you use an upper case C when you write Church, which the Quarterly does not. In fact they emphatically claim in it that the SDA Church is not the universal church of Christ. It is because I studied the Quarterly whilst I was in hospital that I have posted here, being motivated to do so by this study, which of course included following up all of the Scriptures referenced, particularly Acts 4;32-36. In discussion at my bedside with Adventists, discussion encouraged by their own Quarterly, they just laughed and said it would not work nowadays.
My wife and myself are looking for true Christian support. Will we find it in the Seventh Day Adventist Church?
@BobRyan. Thank you for clarifying the business of tithing, this pastor was obviously in the wrong.
Our church is my wife, myself and Jesus. It is all we have at the moment but we could use a little worldly help. We do not feel especially encouraged to approach the SDA, but we pray to God that He will send someone. Thank you again for reading this thread.

 

[BobRyan]

@Monk Brendan. Thank you for your immediate response, God bless you.
I notice you use an upper case C when you write Church, which the Quarterly does not. In fact they emphatically claim in it that the SDA Church is not the universal church of Christ. It is because I studied the Quarterly whilst I was in hospital that I have posted here, being motivated to do so by this study, which of course included following up all of the Scriptures referenced, particularly Acts 4;32-36

The SDA church is part of the universal church - but that universal church includes other denominations as well.

 

[BobRyan]

@BobRyan. Thank you for clarifying the business of tithing, this pastor was obviously in the wrong.
Our church is my wife, myself and Jesus. It is all we have at the moment but we could use a little worldly help.

Well you have contact with this board and can at least have some Bible discussion and fellowship to that extent.

I don't know what to tell you about the in-home health situation. My wife is a home health nurse but that is through an actual company that has that as a business. From what I can tell you were getting help from some relatives - but I don't think that should be related to tithe one way or the other.

 

[Norman70]

Well you have contact with this board and can at least have some Bible discussion and fellowship to that extent.

Thank you, you have touched on an important area of conversation between my wife and myself. When I was in hospital on my own studying the Quarterly I was motivated by it to talk with family members who are Adventists. I trust the ideas expressed in Acts 4:32-36 will not get laughed at here!!
I understood from the Quarterly that the universal church of Christ was the Body of Christ, those few true Christians who can be found in any denomination, or may not even attend any established Church at all. For you to say that the SDA Church, and all other denominations are part of the universal church of Christ would suggest that all members are true Christians, which I think, regrettably is not the case.
It would be the experience of my wife and myself that we would be overwhelmed by offers of help. We notice that other cultures, Indians and Japanese for instance, seem to care for their elderly without state support if they do not have the money to buy it. Is this because of their religions, not enjoyed by Western cultures?

 

[BobRyan]

Thank you, you have touched on an important area of conversation between my wife and myself. When I was in hospital on my own studying the Quarterly I was motivated by it to talk with family members who are Adventists. I trust the ideas expressed in Acts 4:32-36 will not get laughed at here!!
I understood from the Quarterly that the universal church of Christ was the Body of Christ, those few true Christians who can be found in any denomination, or may not even attend any established Church at all. For you to say that the SDA Church, and all other denominations are part of the universal church of Christ would suggest that all members are true Christians, which I think, regrettably is not the case.

The statement that all denominations are included in the term "universal" body of Christ - is not a statement claiming that all Christians in any denomination are actually saved. And that is true of the SDA church as well - we don't say all SDA members are saved because simply having one's name on the books does not mean they are saved now and in some cases maybe they never were saved to start with.

It would be the experience of my wife and myself that we would be overwhelmed by offers of help. We notice that other cultures, Indians and Japanese for instance, seem to care for their elderly without state support if they do not have the money to buy it. Is this because of their religions, not enjoyed by Western cultures?

Culture more than religion I would think because you can find the same thing in many central and south American spanish cultures (and also latino in the U.S.) where the members are almost entirely Christian but not all of one single denomination.

 

[Norman70]

I must read again the SDA Quarterly "Oneness In Christ". Currently I have a copy of the latest Quarterly "The Book of Revelation" and it is very interesting.
In "Oneness In Christ" I never picked up that they said that the universal church of Christ included denominations, only that some members of each denomination would be a member of the universal church of Christ. They would be part of a iving Body, with Christ as the Head.The Body of Christ is a living organism and each part supports the other parts. I do not see how denominations can be described in this way.

 

[BobRyan]

I must read again the SDA Quarterly "Oneness In Christ". Currently I have a copy of the latest Quarterly "The Book of Revelation" and it is very interesting.
In "Oneness In Christ" I never picked up that they said that the universal church of Christ included denominations, only that some members of each denomination would be a member of the universal church of Christ. They would be part of a iving Body, with Christ as the Head.The Body of Christ is a living organism and each part supports the other parts. I do not see how denominations can be described in this way.

Each denomination has members and not everyone in any denomination - not even the SDA denomination - is saved... according to SDA doctrine and according to pretty much all other Christian denominations.

 

[Norman70]

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Each denomination has members and not everyone in any denomination - not even the SDA denomination - is saved... according to SDA doctrine and according to pretty much all other Christian denominations.

To begin I am more concerned about Christians doing good works in this world than whether or not they will be saved in the next.
Please accept my continued exploration of the metaphor the Body of Christ. The SDA Quarterly says "Perhaps the best known image (a synonym for metaphor) of the church (lower case c therefore I presume they are referring to the universal church of Christ already described by the Quarterly earlier) and one that speaks the strongest about the unity of its various parts is the body of Christ".
I notice there is no suggestion for discussion at the bottom of that page (Wednesday November 7, 2018) but this would be my contribution if I was attending the School that following Sabbath as a visitor.
The previous day (Tuesday) Adventists were invited to consider envy, strife and division in the present day church, again with a lower case c, but this time they are obviously referring to the Seventh Day Adventist Church, because on my understanding of the universal church of Christ there can be no envy, strife or division amongst true Christians, who are few and far between.
To take the metaphor further even more harshly, if a denomination was part of the universal church of Christ then within that established, institutionalised and hierarchical Church all members, including the pastors, should be pooling all their possessions and resources, as described in Acts 4:32-36. In denominations, those many who are not true Christians might be thought of as being cancerous, and should at least be shunned. That would nearly empty the Churches!
You can see why I was laughed at, because the Church, ever since Constantine, has been ruled by the devil. The love of money is the root of all evil.

 

[Norman70]

It may be early days yet, and it being the Sabbath yesterday, but I am hoping and praying there will be some responses here from pastors and even more senior members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. I am sure they can justify their salaried positions from the Scriptures and as a fellow Christian I will of course respectfully acknowledge their interpretations. I am assuming BobRyan is a junior member as implied by his username but still look forward to his continued participation.
My contribution is the admonition to be in this world but not part of it. A Pentecostal minister freely admitted to me that he runs his three churches independently as a capitalist business, and his salary is now more than when he was a manager in the postal service.
I accept that the majority of parishioners accept the world as it is, pay their tithes and benefit spiritually, but I still believe it is the devil in control.

 

[Dave-W]

To the OP:

I do not know of such a policy denomination wide. But it seems some congregations do have that.

My wife had a good friend whose husband was an elder in a large SDA congregation (Pioneer Memorial on the Andrews Univ. Campus) When their marriage got into trouble there was no help from the leadership at all and they ended up divorcing. That was 20 years ago.

Last year, (2018) January my uncle died. His wife is Korean and a strong member of Korean SDA congregation in the same town. They were very helpful to Uncle Bob, Aunt Kim and family during the many years of his Parkinson’s disease deterioration and ultimate death. I was greatly relieved to learn that Bob had finally came to the Lord a year before he passed. My mom was pleased too. 3 months later she passed as well.

 

[reddogs]

I am not sure I understand the scenario you are describing but in the SDA denomination there is no connection between paying tithes and helping family members or friends or church members that need home health etc.

True, I have never heard of that and we have many people that are helping others in this area.

 

[Norman70]

Of course many people help the poor and needy and they do that whether they are Christian or not. Voluntary workers, relief in disasters and first responders are all acting, not necessarily as Christians but simply as human beings. Among our few friends and family these kind of people are few and far between.
If we joined a church, should it be a denomination, non-denominational, a sect, or a cult!? Where would we get free voluntary medical care and free home-help? Nowhere, I think, in this selfish, corrupt world. My wife and myself have each other and Jesus.
Millions die every day from starvation, disease, collateral damage in war zones, natural disasters and accidents so we have nothing to complain about. We are all in God's hands.

 

[BobRyan]

Of course many people help the poor and needy and they do that whether they are Christian or not. Voluntary workers, relief in disasters and first responders are all acting, not necessarily as Christians but simply as human beings. Among our few friends and family these kind of people are few and far between.
If we joined a church, should it be a denomination, non-denominational, a sect, or a cult!? Where would we get free voluntary medical care and free home-help? Nowhere, I think, in this selfish, corrupt world. My wife and myself have each other and Jesus.
Millions die every day from starvation, disease, collateral damage in war zones, natural disasters and accidents so we have nothing to complain about. We are all in God's hands.

Joining a church is not the same as joining a community services group. Some SDA churches do staff community services and disaster relief departments but not all. The first consideration when joining a church is whether or not they are teaching the Word of God in truth or with lots of error. If they are teaching error then sandwiches or no - I would not join the group. However there are senior citizens groups, and community services - food-pantry etc available in the community all the same. And you can go to all those churches for help in that regard without actually being a member.