Show involvement in contemporary issues

Even a cursory reading of her writings shows that Ellen White was engaged in the affairs and issues of her day. Ellen White was a strong supporter of the temperance movement^{23Ellen White wrote strong denunciations of alcohol use. See Counsels for the Church (Nampa, ID: Pacific Press®, 1991), 101-103.} and very vocal on abolition. ^{24For an overview of Ellen White’s stance on slavery and race relations, see Ronald D. Graybill, E. G. White and Church Race Relations (Washington, DC: Review and Herald®, 1970). Cf. EGW, Steps to Christ, 11.} She supported with voice and pen the causes that were stirring up the nation and dividing communities in the nineteenth century, but she did not wholeheartedly endorse or support everything on these reform tickets. Although she herself broke the mold by preaching and talking in public and encouraged and affirmed women in their work for God, she did not endorse or put the weight of her influence behind the movement for women to gain the right to vote. ^{25In an article in the influential church paper, she points out that a woman has more important work to do than trying to gain the vote: “I do not recommend that woman should seek to become a voter or an officer-holder; but as a missionary, teaching the truth by epistolary correspondence, distributing tracts and soliciting subscribers for periodicals containing the solemn truth for this time, she may do very much. In conversing with families, in praying with the mother and children, she will be a blessing.” EGW, “Address and Appeal: Setting Forth the Importance of Missionary Work,” Review and Herald, December 19, 1878, 194.}UEGW 247.2

For Ellen White, the great controversy theme was so much more than a theory or a way of organizing her writings. This theme helped her to identify the areas in her society where she could choose sides and promote God’s agenda. Her understanding of humanity’s creation in the image of God and God’s deliberate gift of freedom of choice made her vocal in her support of slaves being free and having the freedom of conscience to choose their own temporal and eternal destiny. ^{26Ellen White made no concessions regarding slavery: “The whole system of slavery was originated by Satan, who delights in tyrannizing over human beings” EGW, The Southern Work (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald®, 2004), 60.} By the same token, she believed that alcohol addiction destroyed the person and deprived them of their freedom of choice.UEGW 247.3

Her writings show a timeless relevance in negotiating the potential maze of being involved in our communities and countries without letting causes force us to take on agendas that are not kingdom building.UEGW 247.4