A Letter to Adventist Pastors in Africa

YUSSUF NYAMERI

Dear Adventist Pastors in Africa:

I have the pleasure to share with you my testimony for which I will never be sorry. If some will not finish my testimony let me start with the conclusion and then back to the beginning. Knowing Jesus Christ and His saving grace has been the greatest achievement in my life, which will never be taken away from me. Like Paul, I can say “I no longer live my own life…”

My mum was converted to Adventism in the year 1966 by a friend. But my dad was not. So my mum worked hard to ensure that we would be brought up in Adventism. My elder brothers and sisters used to teach us and sing wonderful songs most evenings. When I was 11 years old, I joined the youth department, since I loved singing songs. 

My elder brother abandoned going to church and joined dad at home. You can imagine how I felt, as I was told that the SDA Church is the remnant church and now my brother had abandoned the remnant church. I had been trying to get my dad to join the church but he told me that church is for children. I was upset.

The school I went to was Catholic and many of my classmates liked me since I was giving them songs and verses from the Bible. Many joined Adventism and got their parents to join. So the head teacher, Michael, who was a Catholic, called me one day and told me to be careful concerning my classmates.

Later, after leaving that school, I went to Magena SDA Secondary School where I was a monitor. I read a lot of books of Ellen G. White, reading them before going to bed each evening, treasuring everything I read. In this school, I oftenly served as a lay preacher and took many other responsibilities in the church. My preaching often threatened people, especially my best sermons about the judgement and the time of trouble. One day the station director attended one of my studies and suggested that I should join the ministry, which I accepted willingly. 

I now regret all my days as an Adventist minister

I now regret all my days as an Adventist minister as they were often filled with my having to deal with problems left by other ministers that had gone before me. The laity would report to me on how the ministers behaved. I remember how my senior pastor was imprisoned for “using” the house maid and the maid disclosed the matter. “I greatly appreciate your prayers and need them just now” he told me after his actions were revealed. I say this without judgment, but there are those in the church who have became like the pharisees. Those pastors demanded obedience to them instead of teaching and doing what is right for the gospel.

The pastors did not see it this way, but this is exactly my view of what was going on. I must leave any furthur details of this situation since this is not what caused me to transition out of Adventism, and you would not want to know about the private lives of these pastors anyway.

On September 11, 1999, after I gave the sermon, I was told to remain behind. The senior pastor asked me how I liked my sermon. I told him that I was preaching and he was listening—the listener should be the one to share his response to the sermon. My sermon had been from Isaiah 29:13, Galatians 3:1-2, Genesis 6:5-6, I Kings 18:21, John 8:31-32, and Dueteronomy 30:19-20. After preaching the truths in these texts, the SDA chuch had to do something. My senior pastor, along with the field president, advised me to leave the church. He said, “I don’t have anymore work for you in the ministry.” 

We fasted and God became so very close to us—much closer. The bucket of maize flour (cornmeal) remained full. Our children were not kicked out of school for lack of payment.

The conference proceeded to suspend their support for me in my studies to obtain my B.Th. degree. They said that I was now following “off shoots” that were attacking the Adventist church. Life became very hard for my family which included my wife and two children. We didn’t have any way to buy food or pay for our children’s education. We fasted and God became so very close to us—much closer. The bucket of maize flour (cornmeal) remained full. Our children were not kicked out of school for lack of payment. How wonderful is our Lord of Mercy and Love!

I managed to team up with four other church elders and two associate pastors —all adventist theologians who had been warned like I had been and we started fellowshipping from house to house. We studied using the Bible alone. Much that I thought was the truth I now began to see was a lie. 

My fellow African pastors (who are still in Adventism), I have experienced transitioning out of the Adventist Church without a salary. Choose today whom you will serve. Remember God will never leave you. The greatest achievement you can do is to receive Jesus.

The greatest achievement you can do is to receive Jesus.

This is a few of the amazing experiences my family and I have gone through but the most amazing experience is the joy of seeing people come out of Adventism and come boldly to Christ. I believe the simple Gospel of God’s free place in Christ is sufficient for salvation. I also believe the simple Gospel just as Paul defended as is recorded in the book of Galatians.

Praisings, Honour and Glory unto Him forever and ever. Amen. 

In His joy, Yussuf Nyameri