Yes.

Andy Nash, editor, Adventist Today, Chattanooga, Tennessee

I support it.

Ervin Taylor, Executive Publisher, Adventist Today, Loma Linda, California

Marcel Schwantes, Online Editor, Adventist Today, Glendale, California

Dear Friends:

What will probably work best is to keep this thread focused on the petition itself, with people adding their names and support here.  

The best place for extended debate is the main article thread itself, where some discussion has started already.  This will keep the two threads more focused.

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Andy Nash

Editor, Adventist Today

Douglas, why not switch off the TV, head over to a Black SDA church, and find out for yourself?

Stefan

Sorry Andy,

I just saw your note about keeping this stream about signing and other comments under the article. As my kids say, "My bad". 

Regards, Douglas

Yes - LONG overdue!

Wolf Jedamski,

Administrator and Pastor of Mission

Collegedale Church

Yes, it is about time...  Please add me to the list.

- Justino

I agree 100%.

Karlene Graham

Yes.  I have wondered for the thirty-six years I have been a member of the church how we could expect to make an positive impact on our communities if we hang on to outdated sinful structures that were rejected by the world fifty years ago.  The love of Christ should have compelled us to reject prejudice and bigotry.

A reorganization is necessary for many reasons.  One is that the demographics of the nation have changed enormously in the  last century since most of the conferences and unions and it is way past time to adjust.

Fritz Krieger, Pastor

Yes.  I am tired of making excuses for our segregated system.  We are 40 years late. 

Fritz Krieger

Yes.

Geoffrey Marshall, Adventist layperson, AY Leader, Kingston, Jamaica.

YES.

It's about time.

Yes this is long overdue, but my question is are we really readiy and willing to do the hard work of equitable distribution of power and authority in order to achieve this. Given the history of race relations this country and the SDA church I am not overly optimistic.

LeRoy Washington

I have always been concerned by the apparent segregation of race in the Adventist church.  It should not continue.  We are all children of God!

Paula ORourke - Ohio Conference member

I support abolishing race-based conferences.

I'd like to see this applied to all races, not just black and white.  I can understand the logic in separating churches due to a language barrier (Spanish churches, Korean churches, etc.) but it often causes self-segregation among members who speak English but feel more comfortable within their culture. 

There should be ways churches can intergrate comfortably while addressing the language issue.  I attend a very diverse, bilingual church in Texas and there is always a translator who repeats the speaker every few phrases.  It's not at all as cumbersome a solution as one might think, and the rewards of greater fellowship are more than worth it. 

Kathleen Walker

I agree w/ and repeat as my own, LeRoy Washington's comments:

Ella M

Please add me to your list of those who want to see a united church with no hint of segregation to blemish the Gospel.  For whatever reason they first started, regional conferences need to be disolved if the SDA Church is to have anything meaningful to say to our society. I think their existence is an embarrassment.

^{Thirty years ago I expressed my dismay over race based conferences with a friend who was a pastor in a regional conference.  He seemed embarrased with the topic and my comments, and quickly changed the subject.   Ever since then I wondered if my views were wrong, but I'm now encouraged to note how many others today find the concept of conferences organized on the basis of race to be out of step with biblical Christianity.  When will church leadership begin re-examining this old race-based structure of church organization?} 

^{Ronald Welch}

^{Danbury, Nebraska}

We need to find ways to bind the Church in Unity without losing sight of Diversity.  If we try to stand on moral ground and say the only Unity is in Merging across Cultural differences, we are actually saying that we are trying to correct God's mistake of seperate cultures. See Genesis 11. If God decided on a permanent Diversity, who am I to "Correct" His plan? The USA is not the only place on earth where the church operate, and Americans must wake up to the happenings in the rest of the world. There can be Unity in Diversity.

Andre' van der Schyff

Yes, I support abolition of race-based conferences.

Nate Schilt