A World Church
Seventh-day Adventists are one of the fastest-growing Christian churches in the world today adding one new member by baptism every 44 seconds of every day and organizing five new congregations daily. The total number of churches is 43,270 (Dec. 31, 1997). Membership in the world Church is expected to pass the 10 million mark in September 1998 with an average of 2,000+ people baptized each day. From its organization in the US in 1863 with around 3,500 members, today nine out of ten members live elsewhere--in 205 other countries of the world.
Growth in China believers has been phenomenal in a country without a national Church organization. During 1993 one congregation, led by two local elders, held the second largest single baptism in Seventh-day Adventist history when 4,415 became believers. In 1994, 2,300 were baptized over two days in a province in Northern China. China experienced a net growth of over ten per cent in the year to June 1997.
With the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union, new doors of opportunity for mission and educational work have opened. The first-ever Seventh-day Adventist church building in Albania was officially dedicated in the city of Korce, and two Adventist schools have moved to new locations in the Czech Republic and Romania.
Seventh-day Adventists are communicating to their different publics using new communications technologies. The Church operates a private forum on CompuServe, and a new public forum has just opened on the Internet at www.online.adventist.org Church members can directly communicate with clergy and church leaders, and users can download Church news, information files, inspirational materials and statistics.
In 1994 Adventist News Network (ANN), an official press agency from world headquarters, was launched; and Adventist Communication Network (ACN) began broadcasting via satellite to 500 churches in North America. In the past two years, the Network has grown and now has more than 2,000 churches downlinking four satellite programs regularly. ACN produced Net '96, a live five-week series of meetings with evangelist Mark Finley, to more than 100,000 viewers, and the upcoming Net '98 is expected to have even wider coverage. Adventist World Radio (AWR) continued its expansion in 1994 by adding new languages and transmitters. Today, AWR broadcasts 1,000 hours per week in more than 40 languages from 18 transmitters in 7 international locations. In 1995, the Seventh-day Adventist Church entered the world of Internet with a Web page, providing information about the Church.
Seventh-day Adventists have one of the most extensive centralized Protestant educational systems in the world (5,416 schools, colleges and universities) and have one of the most comprehensive networks of health-care providers (159 hospitals, 306 clinics, medical launches and medivac planes, orphanages, and homes for the elderly). Adventists speak in at least 725 languages and another one thousand dialects, leading to the establishment of 56 Church-owned printing plants and editorial offices including the newest in Russia and Bulgaria.
Updated 18 September 1998 Jonathan Gallagher
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Statistics (end 1997)
Churches, Companies, Membership, and WorkersChurches—World 43,270
North American Division 4,693
Companies—World 39,641
North American Division 383
Church Membership—World 9,702,834
North American Division 875,811
Baptisms and Professions of Faith 744,798
Ordained Ministers, Active 13,243
Total Active Workers 153,617
Mission to the World
Countries and Areas as Recognized by the United Nations 230
Countries in Which Seventh-day Adventist Work Is Established 205
Divisions 12
Union Conferences and Missions 90
Local Conferences and Missions 476
Education Program
Total Schools 5,416
Tertiary Institutions 89
Worker Training Institutions 36
Secondary Schools 927
Primary Schools 4,364
Total Enrollment 961,948
Tertiary Institutions 59,527
Worker Training Institutions 3,879
Secondary Schools 201,945
Primary Schools 696,597
Food Industries 27
Health Ministry
Hospitals and Sanitariums 159
Nursing Homes and Retirement Centers 95
Clinics and Dispensaries 306
Orphanages and Children's Homes 23
Airplanes and Medical Launches 6
Outpatient Visits 10,086,082
Assets of Healthcare Institutions (1995) US $4,908,790,417
Media Centers 10
Publishing Work
Publishing Houses and Branches 56
Literature Evangelists, Credentialed and Licensed 8,086
Languages Used in Publications and Oral Work 735
Languages Used in Publications 245
Sabbath Schools
Sabbath Schools 97,602
Sabbath School Membership 11,435,399
Contributions
Tithe—World US $970,766,784
North American Division US $534,169,178
Tithe Per Capita—World US $113.73
North American Division US $633.14
Sabbath School Mission Offerings—World US $45,648,694
North American Division US $19,716,532
Ingathering—World US $11,136,873
North American Division US $4,162,728
Total Tithe and Offerings—World US $1,500,521,546
North American Division US $849,405,140
Total Tithe and Offerings Per Capita—World US $175.79
North American Division US $1,006.78
Prepared by theOffice of Archives and Statistics
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
August, 1998
INTERESTING FACTS AND FIGURES:
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST WORLD CHURCH
1993 1994 1995 1996 Total Accessions 654,055 629,710 659,899 719,679 Accessions per day 1,791 1,724 1,807 1,970 Accessions per hour 75 72 75 82 Accessions per minute 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.3 One accession per so many seconds 1 per 48 sec 1 per 50 sec 1 per 48 sec 1 per 44 sec Accession rate (%) 8.7 7.9 7.9 8.2 New church organized per so many hours 1 every 5.3 hours 1 every 4.7 hours 1 every 6.2 hours 1 every 4.3 hours Growth rate (%) 6.2 5.3 5.1 5.5
Posted 18 September 1998 Jonathan Gallagher