The Sabbath Rest Advent Church is a Christian church which has its spiritual roots in the Protestant tradition.
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Sabbath Rest refers to a personal connection to God as the Plan Maker, Problem Solver, and Burden Bearer in daily life combined with an intelligent co-working with Him.
Advent (from the lat. adventus = coming): the active expectation of Christ’s return.
The church's origin is in the message of righteousness by faith which was preached in the Seventh-day Advent Church especially in 1888[1], at the Minneapolis General Conference Session of Seventh-day Adventists. This message was taken up again in the middle of the twentieth century, amongst others by F.T. Wright[2] who preached it in New Zealand, Australia and later in North and Central America, Europe, and Africa. The worldwide church assumed the name of Sabbath Rest Advent Church in 1989.[3]
Australia, New Zealand[4], Fiji, Solomon Isles, USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and other Caribbean islands, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Columbia, India, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda, United Kingdom, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic[5], Poland, Ukraine[6], Romania, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Cyprus.
Germany, USA, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, and South Africa.
The Sabbath Rest Advent believers see Christ as the Head of the church. He organizes and unites the members through the principles elucidated in the Old and New Testament as well as the messages He gives to the church.
The Sabbath Rest Advent Church considers the whole Bible, the revealed word of God, as the foundation for its faith.[7] But their understanding of this word is not something static—rather, it grows and deepens. Jesus Himself threw a whole wealth of new light on the writings of the Old Testament in His days, and God has repeatedly chosen other messengers in order to effect this growth: John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, Luther, Wesley, and many others. They served as channels through whom God gave messages to the church and it was the responsibility of the church members to test and prove the veracity of the message by the word of God.[8]
So today, the church believes that the task of testing and applying the message lies with each individual who has a personal relationship with God and is led by the Holy Spirit.
Since the knowledge of the word of God is continually progressing, the Sabbath Rest Advent Church is open to any further knowledge which is in harmony with the word of God.
In the history of the Sabbath Rest Advent Church, F.T. Wright (1923–1997) and Andreas Dura have been messengers.[3]
Apart from its spiritual foundation in Protestantism, the following points form the heart of church doctrine:
The basis for a close and trusting relationship with God is a correct understanding of His loving character. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the three personages of the deity and they are One in character. There is no difference between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. Jesus has shown that God is not a destroyer but a loving Father who both gives and maintains life (see John 14:9; 10:30), and that suffering and death are the unavoidable consequences of transgression of the moral and natural laws, but not the work of God.[9]
The church understands that a personal relationship with God is molded by the trust that He, as a loving Father (see Matthew 6:9) and the Creator of this world, knows best what is for the good of each individual. This leads to an experience of deep and abiding peace—the Sabbath Rest of which the Bible speaks (see Hebrews 4:9).
The keeping of the Sabbath (the seventh day; see Genesis 2:2, 3; Exodus 20:8–11), as the divine day of rest, is a sign of this relationship and serves to deepen it.[10]
In the Bible, “sin” is described on the one hand as an action, namely as the transgression of the law (see 1 John 3:4). On the other hand, it is also declared to be a condition of slavery: “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” John 8:34. This bondage is seen to be the real problem; the actions are only the results of this condition. For this reason, God does not condemn the sinner but offers deliverance from sin. This is apparent in the way Jesus dealt with the adulteress. The Pharisees had already judged her guilty, but Jesus set her free with the words, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” See John 8:1–11. The Sabbath Rest Advent Church understands that the deliverance that God offers is not merely the remission of guilt for actions committed, but also deliverance from the condition that repeatedly leads to transgression of the law. This is what Christ has made possible for every person through His death and resurrection (see Romans 6:5, 6).
This offer of deliverance is accepted by believing in what God has promised: a change of nature (see Ezekiel 36:26, 27)—a rebirth. As Jesus said: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3.
By this deliverance from the ruling power of sin, the believer is enabled to follow Christ. In His life, Jesus has given a living example of what each born-again Christian can become in character.[11]
The conviction of the church members that Jesus will return a second time is based on the words of the angels to the disciples when Jesus ascended into heaven: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11. According to these words, the future does not lie in man’s ability to solve problems, but in salvation through the second advent of Christ.[12]
The Sabbath Rest Advent Church believes that before Christ can come again certain conditions, laid down in the word of God, must first be met. The foremost condition is a revelation of the character that Jesus manifested when He lived on earth (see 2 Peter 3:11–13; 1 Thessalonians 3:11–13). Therefore, waiting for Christ’s return is not a passive but an active task. Christ’s followers will do the same works of love that He did when He first came to this earth two thousand years ago.