Adventist Forums

Adventist Forums (AF) is an international non-profit organization of Seventh-day Adventists. It publishes Spectrum magazine. Its stated aim is to create community through open conversation. Local groups of the association are known as local forum chapters. It was founded by Adventist graduate students in the 1960s, and is known for its generally "progressive" Adventist perspective.

History

The organization originated in the 1960s under the name "Association of Adventist Forums", when more Adventists began to attend non-Adventist universities and colleges. The decade was known for social change and challenging of traditional ideas. They applied the critical thinking learned at those places of study, and which was prevalent at the time, to the Adventist church's beliefs and practices. Many of these graduate students began meeting together with other like-minded individuals for discussion and fellowship.^[1] These groups eventually unified to form the Association of Adventist Forums after meeting with church leaders in 1967.

The two officers were Dr. Alvin Kwiram of Cambridge, Massachusetts as president, and Dr. Roy Branson of Andrews University, as secretary. The church endorsed it in 1968 in the Review and Herald (now the Adventist Review), the church's flagship magazine.^[2] According to this article, the stated aims and objectives were:

1. To provide an organization which will facilitate fellowship between graduate students in different geographical areas of the United States.
2. To stimulate evangelistic contact through cultural interaction with non-Seventh-day Adventist scholars.
3. To serve as a point of contact between graduate students and the Seventh-day Adventist organization, and to encourage and facilitate the service of these students to the church.
4. To encourage pastoral guidance for Seventh-day Adventist students on non-Seventh-day Adventist campuses.
5. To maintain an organ of communication, wherein Seventh-day Adventist scholars may exchange academic information, thoughts, and opinions.

After meeting with the group the North American Division committee under Neal C. Wilson expressed the following action:

1. That we express our interest in strengthening the relationship of graduate students to the church and our desire to cooperate as far as possible in the development of any means which will serve to make this relationship more meaningful and mutually beneficial.
2. That we express sympathy with the stated aims and objectives of the proposed association.
3. That we express our opinion that presently these objectives can be better served if church leadership were to serve the association in an advisory capacity and at its invitation.

The association is now international, as originally intended.

In 2007 it adopted the name Adventist Forums.

Conference

Adventist Forums holds an annual conference.

• March 1996 March – fifth national conference, "Adventism on the Eve of the Twenty-First Century" in San Diego, California^[3]
• 2005 – Silver Spring, Maryland^[4]
• 2006^[5]
• The 2007 conference was held in Santa Rosa, California on September 28–30, with highlights including presentations on "Adventism's Futures" by the authors of Seeking a Sanctuary, and a performance of the play Red Books about Ellen White.
• "Christians in the Public Square", September 26–28, 2008 in Florida
• 2009 – "The Dance of the Generations: This Adventist Life" co-sponsored with the Association of Adventist Women (AAW)

Spectrum

Adventist Forums publishes the magazine Spectrum.

Local chapters

There are many local Adventist Forum chapters around the world.^[6]

United States:

• Angwin, California
• Battle Creek, Michigan
• Berrien Springs, Michigan
• Collegedale, Tennessee: Southern Adventist University^[7] (website)
• Dayton, Ohio
• Keene, Texas
• Loma Linda, California
• New York City, New York – Metro New York Adventist Forum (website)
• Orlando, Florida
• Pleasant Hill, California
• Saint Paul, Minnesota
• San Diego, California (website?)
• Spokane, Washington
• Takoma Park, Maryland
• Walla Walla, Washington

Other countries:

• Adelaide, Australia
• Pacific Northwest (United States and Canada)
• South British Columbia, Canada
• Sydney, Australia. Milton Hook has been president

See also

• Spectrum (magazine)
• Progressive Adventism

External links

• Spectrum magazine
  • Adventist Forums (AAF)
  • Local Forum chapters
• "The First Decade: The Establishment of the Adventist Forum" by Richard C. Osborn
• "Association of Adventist Forums" articles cataloged in the Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index

References

1. ↑ "Our Story". Spectrum/Adventist Forums. Archived from the original on 15 October 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-10. 
2. ↑ Hirsch, Charles B. (1968-01-11). "Adventist Graduate Students Establish Organization" (DjVu). Review and Herald. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald. 145 (2): 21. ISSN 0161-1119. Retrieved 2006-11-10. 
3. ↑ http://www.atoday.com/magazine/1996/01/adventism-eve-twenty-first-century-0
4. ↑ http://www.llu.edu/llu/faculty/directory/presentations.html?id=jjnam
5. ↑ http://spectrummagazine.typepad.com/the_spectrum_blog/2006/12/adventist_forum.html
6. ↑ The following list was partially derived from the "Chapter Presidents" list in Spectrum 35:4 (Fall 2007), p65
7. ↑ "Adventist Forum of Southern Adventist University" by Raymond Thompson. Spectrum website, 18 February 2008. Accessed 2008-04-09