Adventism has long assumed North American English was the default. The lingua franca. The accent of authority. The sound of faith. But that assumption is crumbling. Most Adventists now live outside North America, and most don’t even speak English at home. The center of gravity has shifted — and North America is suddenly just one voice in a crowded, polyglot room.
You could see it in the first press conference after the election of the first South American GC president. Erton Köhler answered questions fluently in three languages — not awkwardly, not with translation delays. Fluent. Comfortable. In charge. English? Optional.
And if you needed a cultural hint, look no further than Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl. The entire halftime show in Spanish. For millions of viewers, it was jarring. For the rest of the world, it was normal. It was a reminder that power — cultural, demographic, spiritual — isn’t tied to what’s convenient for North America.
Most Adventists no longer have English as their mother tongue. That’s not a statistic — it’s a reality check. If the church wants to stay relevant, it has to stop assuming North American speech, worship styles, and theological phrasing are universal. Region-specific. Multilingual. Polyphonic. That’s the future.
This isn’t the Adventism your grandparents knew — and the world church doesn’t need our permission to speak.
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