Comment on Adventist Review: Pastors Who Don’t Believe by Ross Kennedy.
I grew up in the Adventist Church but by the age of 21 lost my faith in the church (i.e. the institution of the wider church) but not in God to whom I continued to pray. Eventually my faith returned and for the past thirty years I have been an Episcopal minister preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. Although no longer an Adventist I am grateful for the nurture, love and grounding in the Bible the SDA church gave to me and I continue to respect it and defend it whenever mistaken views about its teachings are expressed by other clergy.
As a pastor (now retired), I too, at times, suffered crises of faith – what some call the dark night of the soul – but continued to preach in spite of my doubts, during which my prayer has been “Lord help thou my unbelief”.
After all, who hasn’t struggled with their faith -Peter did- and even Jesus appeared to. Perhaps judgementally, I find myself being somewhat suspicious of those who claim an absolute and unwavering belief in every tenet of Christian doctrine. Ministers also need ministering to.