Isolation or Assimilation?

The church in its history has faced two dangers with regards to the culture that surrounds it. One is to assimilate and embrace the values of the secular culture and thus lose its identity. The other is to isolate from the culture thus failing to transform it. In the first stage of its history, Israel intermingled with the surrounding cultures and embraced their practices. In the second stage they totally isolated themselves from the surrounding nations and failed to impact them. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in its history has faced the same dangers. Pastor Bohr’s message centers on how to be in the world without being of the world.