Table Mountain, pictured here, is a natural landmark in Cape Town, South Africa, where the latest <i
All too often, when young people ask church leaders questions pertaining to church policy or their personal lives, their inquiries get brushed aside as irrelevant. Since 2003, however, Seventh-day Adventist world church president, Pastor Jan Paulsen, has worked to change that attitude with his ‘Let’s Talk’ series.
On December 3, Paulsen will host Let’s Talk South Africa in Cape Town, South Africa. Some 50 young Adventists, from Malawi to Botswana, will join Paulsen in what will be the series’ 14th unscripted conversation.
“What makes Let’s Talk unique is its commitment to a live, unscripted, and unedited broadcast,” says John T. Banks, outgoing associate communication director and Let’s Talk producer at the world church headquarters. “With all cards on the table and no subject off limits, Let’s Talk voices the priorities young people have for the church.”
Despite differences in age, culture, background, education level and interests, young people worldwide share certain cares, concerns and hopes. With Let’s Talk, it’s Paulsen’s primary objective to address that common denominator.
Paulsen believes young Adventists are the church’s future and its most important asset. In few places is that more evident than in the church’s Southern Africa-Indian Ocean region, where more than 80 percent of its members are 30 years old or younger.
Church officials hope the live broadcast of Let’s Talk South Africa will encourage the church there to prioritize issues relevant to young people. Organizers of the program anticipate dynamic discussion of issues such as HIV and AIDS, relationships, church politics, and the role of women in the Adventist church.
The program will be broadcast live on Sunday, December 3, at 2:00 p.m. Cape Town time (12:00 GMT), on the Hope Channel—the church’s official television network. Let’s Talk South Africa will be aired simultaneously on Hope Channel International and Hope Channel Europe, with several rebroadcasts later in the week. For a comprehensive schedule, visit http://hopetv.org.