President of the Worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church, Pastor Jan Paulsen is urging leaders of the denomination in Jamaica to make room for young members of the faith, following a discussion session with Adventist youth members on Saturday in which they expressed a desire to play larger roles in church administration.

“Some of them tend to feel that they don’t really have a voice,” said Paulsen. “The church is governed mostly by men and women in their senior years, they occupy most of the positions, they sit on the boards, they make the decisions. All I’m saying to the young people is that you are a very significant part of the church and we need to hear you, you have energies, skills, talents that should be included into the life of the church.”

Pointing out that persons under the age of 30 account for two-thirds of the global population of Seventh-day Adventists, Paulsen said, “.all I’m saying to the more senior members is make room for the youth. Give them a place that they can take part in the decisions of the church.”

Paulsen also called on Adventist leaders to forge and maintain ongoing partnerships with the leaders of the nation to ensure that the church remains relevant in today’s society.

“I would hope that there can be an ongoing dialogue between the church and the leaders of the nation to see how the church can develop good skills and resources to be a good partner in building society,” he said. “I commend both the church and the leaders of the nation for their interest, they have stated their interest in working together to do their best to meet the needs of society.”

While stating that pastors specifically should not involve themselves in representational politics, Paulsen told the Observer that he saw no reason why other members of the Adventist faith should hesitate to get involved in representational politics.

“Entering politics as an elected person, I know of no reason why that shouldn’t be done,” said Paulsen. “As long as you are clear that what you will be doing as an elected official does not compromise your Christian values. If being a politician means you have to compromise and sacrifice your basic fundamental values, then don’t do it, it will destroy you. But I know of no fundamental reason why someone who is a Christian should not hold some political office.

“I don’t think there needs to be a tension between them because as a Christian you carry within your person certain values, values which have to do with honesty, integrity, morality, care for the society, care for people. so if you serve the state, conditioned by these values, I think it will make you a good person for the job,” he said.

The work of pastors however, Paulsen noted, was not to be mixed with politics.

“I don’t see how you can function as a pastor and be a member of parliament at the same time, I just don’t see that,” he said. “As a pastor, there is an agenda that follows. If you are a minister and [you] are working as a minister the agenda of the church is different from the agenda of the state. The agenda of the church is a spiritual agenda, it deals with spirituality and morality, while the agenda of the state is secular.”

Paulsen, who leaves the island today, arrived on Friday and paid a courtesy call on the Governor-General Sir Kenneth Hall. On Saturday he had breakfast with Prime Minister Bruce Golding before participating in a group discussion, entitled ‘Let’s Talk’, with some 38 young adults from within the West Indies Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, which is comprised of Jamaica, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas.