Adventist Operations Protested by Blacks : Religion: African American ministers and followers press for self-governing church wing and criticize white control of affairs.

About 250 African American churchgoers who want to govern their own religious affairs protested white control of the Seventh-day Adventist Church outside the church’s Thousand Oaks headquarters Wednesday.

Marching along Westlake Boulevard and singing songs of freedom that evoked the civil rights era, Adventist ministers and their followers from the Riverside County area said they wanted to form their own wing of the church.

“It’s not an issue of right and wrong,” said Pastor Robert Edwards of the Kansas Avenue Adventist Church in Riverside. “Our agendas are different. Instead of fighting about our agendas, let us make our own.”

Waving banners that read, “Let My People Go,” the crowd was locked out of a meeting of the 50-member Pacific Union Executive Committee, which governs church operations in five states. Eventually, five representatives were allowed to address the panel.

“They have just locked the door to a building I have helped to build,” protester Erylene Piper-Mandy said. “We have the right to be able to govern our own house.”

By breaking away from the southeastern conference of the church, made up of more than 100 Adventist churches in Southern California, the black churches would not be separating from the Adventist faith.

The protesters said they just want to have a say in how their money is spent at the local level.

“We have different priorities in the black churches,” said Anthony Paschal, vice president of black ministers in the church’s southeastern conference.

The 10 black churches in the region want to focus on recruitment and on helping the church’s young people. But as part of the larger group, he said, their 5,000 voices are drowned out by the church’s white majority.

Church leaders did not say they opposed the separation, but argued that the African American ministers had circumvented the established procedures.

“They have not gone about this the right way,” said church spokesman Elwyn Platner. “That’s why the executive committee didn’t want to discuss the issue today.”

*

The Pacific Union Executive Committee ultimately responded to the protesters by issuing clearer rules for forming a new conference.

“The process will be crystallized so everyone knows how to go about accomplishing what they want to accomplish,” Platner said.

After several hours in the hot sun, the protesters left frustrated but hopeful that the clearly outlined rules will prevent future misunderstandings.

“We gained a means whereby we can meet our objectives, so we are on track for what we want to accomplish,” Paschal said.

If the African American leaders proceed with their efforts, they will have to return to the regional committee. Ultimately, the North American ruling body would decide the issue.