Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We, as voting members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, make our collective desire public to you in regards to your recent removal and subsequent firing of Pastor Ron Kelly from his role as lead Pastor of the Village Seventh-Day Adventist church.

It is our desire that he be allowed to fully return to his role as lead pastor. We have outlined the reasons for this request below. Please read and consider these points carefully and with humility.

1) The work set in motion by Pastor Kelly’s leadership in the Village Church is unprecedented and is key in the advancement of the gospel work both in the local community and world-wide through health education programs, the media ministry, education, and foreign missions. The fruits of his leadership have initiated multiple endeavors which have directly led to the salvation of souls who may otherwise have gone unnoticed.

2) The words preached from the pulpit by Pastor Kelly have been drawn from his understanding of scripture, his relationship with Christ and his convictions on matters of conscience. He has never spread ideations of dissolution, insinuated mistrust of the Church, or in any way called people out of the Church or away from seeking a closer connection with Christ. We can, in good faith and conscience, say that the words he has shared have only served to promote the advance of the gospel.

3) We are concerned by the manner in which Pastor Kelly’s termination was handled by the Conference leadership. There has been a lack of satisfactory transparency from the elected Conference leadership towards the membership at large. At the time of writing this petition, no clear explanation has been given to the voting members of the conference as to why this action was taken against Pastor Kelly. Pastor Kelly has never publicly spoken or done anything that would harm the gospel work or that does not align with scripture or the 28 Fundamental beliefs of the Church nor has he gone against any of the directives of the Michigan Conference.

4) The two allegations publicly made against Pastor Kelly stated that he had been difficult to work with which was summed up by Conf. President Jim Micheff as “personal differences”. It was also stated that Pastor Kelly operated the church as independent from the conference. We as the membership would like to respectfully disagree. The Village Church has been reputable in generating funds for the Michigan Conference both in Tithes and Offerings as well as acquisition of assets which ultimately benefit the Church at large. Under Pastor Kelly’s leadership, the Church has also effectively collaborated with Andrews University as well as other local SDA churches on numerous occasions in various roles. 

5) Pastor Kelly is an asset to the Village Seventh-Day Adventists church. Pastor Kelly has been highly effective in building relationships with key members of our local community as well as pioneers and figureheads within the Adventist Church. The mission endeavors that are underway at the Village Church will be greatly hindered by his absence because of the lost relationships. Anything great takes an army and Pastor Kelly has effectively built an army of leaders and lay people that are advancing the gospel through evangelism and education and without his leadership, that network will in part be lost.

Again, we plead with you as the appointed decision makers to reconsider this action. We believe that, if this decision is upheld, it will damage the cause of God and will do harm to His work. Please do not let personality differences, disagreements on matters of opinion, or personal conflict act as contributing factors in this matter. We, as voting members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, ask you to reverse this action and seek a peaceful and constructive close to this conflict. 

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 KJV

With Love,

Your Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

The following names represent people who have been impacted by Pastor Kelly’s leadership and have been drawn closer to Christ through his ministry as pastor of the Village Seventh-Day Adventist Church.