A little more than 50 years ago, Dr. Nelson Melvin (former editor of this magazine) wrote an article entitled “Should a Denomination Be Told It Is Dying?” Inside it, he lamented the overall decline of the Advent Christian denomination, a shortfall of trained and qualified pastors, inefficient organizational redundancies, limited and shrinking financial resources and an obstructionist traditionalism. Most of all, he lamented our failure as a denomination to rally around a unified effort to evangelize our nation.

While the editor’s warnings were dire and his projections of our speedy demise overwrought, we have continued the same steady decline he bemoaned. Fifty years ago, there were more than 400 Advent Christian churches in North America. Today there are 260. And we still do not have what Melvin called “a unifying factor – a cohesive element so central that it will bridge our differences, recapture our loyalty, demand passionate commitment and provide a large reason for being.” So is there hope for us? Despite his prognosis, Nelson Melvin thought the answer was yes, and so do I.

With all due respect to Dr. Melvin, however, I think he asked the wrong question. The central question we should ask ourselves is: “Is it time for us to die?” Jesus said, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35). To paraphrase for our purposes, “For whoever would save his denomination will lose it, but whoever loses his denomination for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

Perhaps we are struggling too hard to revive our denomination and keep it alive. Perhaps we have set our eyes on the wrong goals. I believe the way forward, the way of hope, is for us to die to ourselves as a denomination, churches and individuals. We must willingly offer up everything: our resources, our structures, our people, our relationships, our history and our traditions in service to our King. We must be kingdom people first and Advent Christian people second.

There is great history and heritage in our movement, yet far too many Advent Christians find their primary purpose and identity in that history and heritage. But to live in history is to destroy the future. As Dr. Melvin put it, “We must cling to the cross – not to the past.” The way of the cross is costly, but it is the only path to redemption. It is the only fruitful way forward.

If we truly want to see our culture redeemed and lost people saved, it will cost us no less than our lives. This, I believe, is our hope for the future. To save our denomination we must lose it. We must let it die by surrendering it completely to God without reservation. At worst, this will result in us totally expending ourselves to expand the kingdom of Christ. At best, the Lord will take our sacrifice and revive us into a greater movement for his glory and the expansion of his kingdom than we ever dreamed possible. So, will we continue struggling to keep ourselves alive, or is it time for us to die?