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"I've never heard of the Adventist Church"
You very likely have never heard of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Surveys by Gallup Poll indicate that less than one in eight Americans can recall anything specific or even correctly identify the Church. It is a
Christian faith in the Protestant tradition. It is a hopeful, inclusive, compassionate and progressive religion that values ethnic diversity,
quality of life, sacred time and simple spirituality.
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Key Facts
The Adventist Church is very international. It has about one million adherents in the United States and Canada, and nearly 20 million
worldwide.
The Church values education. It operates the largest Protestant school system in the world, 90 universities and colleges, 1,014 secondary
schools and 4,450 elementary schools with a total enrollment of nearly one million
students. Most of these institutions are fully accredited, including the medical school at Loma Linda University in California, well
known around the world for making cancer treatment virtually painless with new proton
accelerator technology.
The Church believes in health and healing. It sponsors 162 hospitals, including Florida Hospital in Orlando which had the largest patient
volume of any health care institution in the U.S. last year. It launched the
Five-day Plan to Stop Smoking in the early 1960s which provided personal assistance to enable millions to quit smoking and helped America
to become a largely nonsmoking nation.
The Church is working to alleviate world hunger and poverty. It sponsors the Adventist Development and Relief Agency International
(ADRA) which
received $134,623,423 in grants and donations last year to meet the needs of 18,299,096 people in 2,450 community-based projects in 122 nations.
This includes $17 million for Adventist Community Services inner city and
disaster response projects here at home.
It is a well-kept secret simply because we spend relatively little "tooting
our horn." We practice open communion, we are on the public record, we collaborate with national and community coalitions, and we
would be happy to extend hospitality to you. We favor a more personal approach than some
televangelists and others who grab the public spotlight on controversial, political issues.
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Why Saturday?
Most Christians think of going to church on Sunday, although a growing number of Catholic parishes and Protestant congregations offer worship on
Saturday afternoon and evening, as well as on other days. The Adventist Church is out of step with the common practice for a simple reason: it is
not part of the original, authentic Christian tradition.
Look carefully at the New Testament, and you will find no mention of church
on Sunday. In fact, many Christian scholars (for example, the Baltimore Catechism of 1898) have documented that church authorities
changed from Saturday to Sunday. The dirty little secret of history is that this change
came during early outbreaks of antisemitism, and many theologians are today
urging that Christians come to terms with "the Jewishness of Jesus."
When a group of young adults began to form the Adventist Church in the 1850s, they resolved to include none of the centuries of encrusted
compromises and church politics. "The Bible and the Bible only" led them to
reinstate the ancient tradition of Sabbath, or 24 hours of rest and retreat
with a spiritual focus from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.
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The Advent
Most Americans are aware of Christmas—the Advent season. "Advent" is simply
an old English word for arrival or birth. "Christ was born on Christmas day," the song says and so it is called his Advent.
Adventists not only believe that Jesus Christ arrived on Earth about 2,000
years ago. They also embrace his promise to return. "If it were not so, I would tell you," Christ is recorded to have said in the Gospel of
John, chapter 14. "I go to prepare a home for you, and I will come again so you
can be with me." It is a clear-cut promise central to his life and teachings.
An honest appraisal of the Christian faith leads to a clear understanding of how fundamental this forward-looking concept is. It brings faith into
the future as well as framing its meaning in the past.
There are a large number of wild ideas on this topic. The Adventist Church
has long taken its position in favor of honest Bible scholarship and against setting "the time" or such ideas as "secret rapture." If you
are interested in reliable information on this topic, we would be glad to share
it.
The important idea is this: Christ promises a future for humanity. He says
he will be personally involved in that future and, in the end, good will triumph over evil. It is a genuine source of hope for every person.
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Who We are
Not
Because we do not invest millions in media campaigns and public relations,
we often suffer from mistaken identity. Without any intention of insulting
any other organization, we need to be clear about a few common misunderstandings.
The Adventist Church is not the same thing as the "Mormons" or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). We have no similarity or
shared background with the LDS church other than a hyphenated name.
The Adventist Church is not the same thing as the "Jehovah's Witnesses." We
do believe in blood transfusions and our hospitals provide them thousands of times each day, 365 days a year! We proudly salute the flag
and say the pledge of allegiance.
The Adventist Church is not a cult or Fundamentalist group of any kind. Well-respected source books on American religion document this fact. Just
because we are little known does not make us sinister!
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A Little History
The Seventh-day Adventist Church has roots in the radical reformation and the Wesleyan renewal. It formed in the aftermath of the revival movement
led by Baptist evangelist William Miller in 1830 through 1844. He captured
the front page of the New York Times and the hearts of at least 10% of the
American people, including such well-known writers as John Greenleaf Whittier, but Miller made the mistake of predicting when Christ
would return.
Great disappointment resulted after repeated recalculations. The movement collapsed and Miller took sick and died. Yet, scores of young adults had
tasted a spiritual experience and bonding they could not forget.
In the late 1840s and through the 1850s, there were a series of Bible study
conferences to re-examine the basis of the Christian faith. Networking among small groups that worshiped informally led to the
formation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1863. The founding members were caught up
in the abolition movement against slavery, as well as reform movements in health care, alcoholism, the status of women and
education. Today, the Church continues to promote a vegetarian diet, preventive health habits and
avoidance of substance abuse, as well as work to protect human rights and promote social justice around the globe.
Although it started in America, the Adventist Church has become a very international faith. Only about 5% of the adherents are in the U.S.
today. Sociologists of religion project the current growth rate of the Adventist
Church to a membership of at least 50 million by the year 2020, and most of
that growth will be in developing nations in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
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Beliefs
The Adventist faith is based in a careful reading and clear understanding of the Bible. It is not dependent on scholars and esoteric methods, but
is accessible to any educated person. Interested individuals are encouraged to
study and decide for themselves. The following is a quick, comprehensive summary:
1. The Bible is the inspired revelation of God and the standard for faith and life.
2. The Holy Trinity is one God in three co-eternal Persons—Father, Son and
Holy Spirit.
3. Man and woman were made in the image of God with personality and free will, and subject to death.
4. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ provide the only means for salvation through the infinite love and mercy of God.
5. The community of believers who confess Christ as lord and savior given a
mission to share His good news and compassion with the world.
6. Baptism, the Lord's supper and marriage are all means through which the
grace of God flows into the lives of individuals, sometimes called "sacraments."
7. The great principles of God's law embodied in the Ten Commandments continue to be the best expression of God's will for humanity.
Additional information, including Bible study guides and historical documentation, can be obtained at (800) 438-9600 or
www.bibleinfo.com
or by writing to the Adventist Metro
Federation at 217 East 86th Street, #236, NYC 10028.
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All are welcome!
Adventist congregations are open to the general public and often have a significant number of individuals who are not members, but simply attend
to take advantage of the music, the presentations or the spiritual fellowship.
Some key values that you will observe in most Adventist congregations include ethnic and cultural diversity, simplicity of lifestyle, active
compassion demonstrated in volunteer opportunities and generous giving, the
quality of life, the importance of sacred time, and a hopeful, forward-looking perspective. Adventist faith is centered in Christ and
seeks His joy and peace.
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