26 October 2026 | St Albans UK [tedNEWS]
In this interview, the second in a five-part series with Jan Paulsen, we explore the local church pastor’s role in maintaining unity in a church that is becoming increasingly diverse — ethnically, theologically and generationally.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a global church but that global church is experienced locally, as people from different cultures, generations and traditions worship together in the same congregation. For Paulsen, one principle is central: the value of people.
Christ died for every person and, in doing so, placed an immeasurable value on every human life. “I have no right,” Paulsen says, “to diminish your value simply because you are different from me.”
That conviction shapes the way he speaks about diversity, particularly as the Western church increasingly encounters the global church within its own congregations. “We in the Western world,” he says, “need to have a mind that is open and broad and accepting enough to say: we are different.”
For Paulsen, difference need not threaten the unity of the church. The challenge is to recognise it, make room for it, and continue to value the person who may think, worship or experience church differently from ourselves.
And here the local pastor has a significant role.
In this conversation, Paulsen reflects on what it means to lead a diverse congregation, to value people in the name of Christ, and to help the church remain united while recognising that we are not all the same.
Catch up on the first episode, The Making of a Pastor, in which Paulsen reflects on his call to ministry and the experiences that shaped him.
[Photo: David Neal]
