Adventists have a complicated relationship with Ellen White. She’s our founding mother, our OG Adventist influencer, our 19th-century content creator who somehow managed to produce more words than your group chat during camp meeting drama. And yet—depending on the day—we either quote her like scripture, avoid mentioning her in mixed company, or suddenly remember a “very important errand” when someone brings out Messages to Young People.
But here’s the thing: we still love her. And we should.
Because Ellen White, for all the memes, all the misquotes, and all the weaponized paragraphs people have lobbed at each other over potluck, was profoundly human—and profoundly used by God through that humanity, not in spite of it.
This was a woman who felt deeply. Who changed her mind. Who grew. Who got frustrated with church leaders. Who worried about finances. Who cared fiercely about justice, education, health, mission, and the future of a movement she desperately wanted to reflect Christ and not just its own bureaucracy. She wasn’t the marble statue some made her into. She wasn’t the theological boogeywoman others make her out to be, either. She was a real person, called into an impossible job—and she kept showing up.
And if we look past the caricatures, her ministry still lands. Hard.
Ellen White challenged Adventists to stop being petty and start being compassionate. She told us to care about racial equality before it was trendy. She pushed for women to step up in ministry long before the GC figured out how to schedule a vote about it. She lifted up Christ, constantly and stubbornly, even when some people wanted to turn the church into a compliance-committee cosplay.
Was she perfect? No. Did she always communicate in ways that 21st-century Adventists find smooth and digestible? Also no. Did she write some things that feel like they were crafted during a long, caffeine-deprived night in Battle Creek? Absolutely yes.
But does God work through imperfect people? Always. That’s kind of the point of the entire Bible. And Adventism’s story is richer, deeper, and more rooted in grace because of her.
So today, as a community that jokes about haystacks, fights over caffeine, and still can’t decide whether drums are the devil or divine, we take a breath and say: thank God for Ellen White.
Not the myth.
Not the misquote machine.
Not the marble statue.
But the human being who let God shape her into a prophetic voice our movement still desperately needs.
We love her—because she kept pointing us back to Jesus. Even when we were busy debating the length of the choir robes.
And that, Adventist family, is the kind of legacy worth celebrating.
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