Monte Sahlin Passes to His Rest

Monte Sahlin, one of the foremost researchers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the North American Division (NAD) and a former pastor and church administrator, has passed away. He was 76 years old. 

Sahlin, who retired in 2014, served more than 40 years in denominational ministry, spending a significant portion of that time in the Columbia Union territory. Most recently he served as the director of research and special projects for the Ohio Conference.

“Monte’s impact on the Columbia Union will be felt for generations to come,” says Marcellus T. Robinson, Columbia Union president. “I met him when I was a pastor serving on the Columbia Union Executive Committee. He was known for his special work on projects and trends impacting youth and young adults, women in ministry, generational issues, evangelism, urban ministry, church growth, and more. He presented data to make sure the Columbia Union was relevant, so we could better extend God’s mission in our community and strengthen relationships within our churches, schools, health-care, and higher education institutions.”

 In his online professional biography Sahlin wrote that he “worked to understand contemporary trends in our society and to help congregations and faith-based organizations make innovations.” This focus began when he attended what is now La Sierra University, California, in the 1960s, where he organized the Adventist Collegiate Taskforce (ACT), a student volunteer organization that served inner-city neighborhoods.

 Sahlin began working for the Voice of Prophecy in 1970 and maintained a consistent pattern of church work that was only briefly interrupted by a year-and-a-half of graduate studies while working for the government.

 Sahlin spent 12 years at the NAD in various roles, including director of Church Ministries, executive director of Adventist Community Services, Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) director for the NAD, coordinator of the Inner-City Program, and assistant to the president for research and development.

Within the Columbia Union territory Sahlin served as the assistant to the president for Communication, as well as a journalism professor at what is now Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Maryland, and the director of a coffeehouse ministry in Washington, D.C. He was also an ordained pastor who served several churches in Pennsylvania and Ohio; the coordinator of Metro Ministries in Ohio; and for eight years the Columbia Union’s vice president for Creative Ministries, including several years as editor of the Columbia Union Visitor magazine. In total, he served 44 years in full-time ministry.

Ahead of his time, Sahlin researched and questioned church practices on subjects such as how to retain membership, how to use new forms of media in evangelism, and how to examine standards and biases for acceptable music in church. He authored 26 books, more than 100 research monographs, and hundreds of magazine articles.

When Sahlin retired, Raj Attiken, a former Ohio Conference president, remarked in a 2014 Visitor article, “Monte has made a vast and distinctive contribution to the mission of the Adventist Church at all levels of the organization. His clear, rigorous thinking and his careful, informed methods of research, analysis, and assessment of trends, behaviors, and attitudes both within and outside the church have been a tremendous asset to church leaders, pastors, and educators throughout North America.” 

After he retired, Sahlin continued to serve as the executive secretary of an interfaith group of researchers, conducting community assessments for congregations and conferences. He also worked as an adjunct faculty member at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, and served as an executive editor for the Adventist Today magazine.

Celeste Ryan Blyden, Columbia Union executive secretary, shares, “While Monte made a significant impact on mission and ministry at every level of the Adventist Church, he left an equally indelible mark on so many people, generously giving of his time and insight. For me and many others he started as a boss, the manager of a project you worked on, or chair of a committee you served on; but he quickly became a mentor, counselor, and friend.

“Monte kept a lot of people busy doing adjunct work on his various projects—research, conducting telephone polls, developing presentations, creating ministry initiatives, or writing articles. He had an insatiable passion to find creative ways to reach new generations for Christ. That included engaging young adults in ministry and giving them opportunities to serve the church.

“Soon after college, while I served as a volunteer ministry leader at the NAD, Monte asked me to take on a project: helping him develop the marketing for an unorthodox new approach to evangelism called NET ’95. Thus began a work relationship that spanned decades, contributing to my ministry journey and helping me grow personally and professionally.

“In 2001 he asked me to join the Columbia Union as Communication director and Visitor editor, bequeathing me entire filing cabinets with articles, statistics, and information he had collected for his many ongoing research projects.

“During retirement he read every issue of the Visitor and would call or email if he couldn’t access the online version in a timely manner. Up until recently he often reached out with words of affirmation and encouragement: ‘I’m proud of you,’ he said. ‘I pray for you every day.’ ”

 While expressing concern about the church’s need to better engage the next generation of members, Sahlin said, “I think tradition has become overly important. There are still a lot of hurting people who need compassion and to hear the good news, and we all need to pitch in and make that happen.”

He added, “I’ve greatly appreciated working with pastors and people. I think that the church in the Columbia Union is on the frontier of mission. The Columbia Union still has the largest urban population of any of the unions in the North American Division, so I think that there is still lots of God’s work to do in the Columbia Union.” 

Robinson adds, “His life and ministry challenges and encourages all of us to keep up with the latest issues so that we can impact the daily lives of people with whom we engage and share God’s love.”

Sahlin is survived by his wife, Gretchen; brother, Chris; daughters Stephanie, Melissa, and Najwa; grandchildren Zeke, Zoe, Alex, and Marco; and many close friends and colleagues.

At his request, his colleagues at the Center for Creative Ministry, an organization whose board he chaired for many years, will continue his important research and publishing activities.

The original version of this story was posted on the Columbia UnionVisitornews site.