Seventh-day Adventist independent ministries

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a number of supporting, parachurch, independent, self-supporting and other such organisations that work adjunct or in association with the official church.

One author estimated their number at over 800 and are mostly supportive of the church, although differing ministries may be critical of church actions.[1]

Supporting

Supporting ministries are those that exist to support the church's ministry. The Seventh-day Adventist church recognises the contribution made by these organisations as being such that the main church is unable to contribute to. The organisations adhere to official church guidelines and do not openly solicit tithe or solicit money from members during official functions.

Supporting (strained)

Some independent ministries have been viewed with some concern by the official Adventist church. These include:

A committee established by the church in 1998 to investigate these groups "observed in conversations with Hope International and associates that they affirmed agreement on many of the major elements of the Seventh-day Adventist faith. However, the method they have used to express their concern has resulted in what is perceived by many to be a spirit of constant criticism directed against the Seventh-day Adventist Church..."[4]

Offshoot

Aid

[His Children Foundation]. This is not a Seventh-day Adventist Church-led organization but it was founded by Seventh-day Adventist Pastor as an outreach program to help needy children in Ghana.Pastor Francis Tuffour is the founder.

Publishing

The Seventh-day Adventist Church owns and operates many publishing companies around the world including two of the largest located in the United States: Pacific Press Publishing Association and Review and Herald Publishing Association.

Many private organizations also print, publish, and promote materials supporting the Seventh-day Adventist message. The largest of these is TEACH Services, Inc.

Media Ministries

Adventists have long been proponents of media-based ministries. Traditional Adventist evangelistic efforts consisted of street missions and the distribution of tracts such as The Present Truth, which was published by James White as early as 1849. Until J. N. Andrews was sent to Switzerland in 1874, Adventist global efforts consisted entirely of the posting of tracts such as White's writings to various locations.

In the last century, these media based efforts have also made use of emerging media such as radio and television. The first of these was H. M. S. Richards' radio show The Voice of Prophecy, which was initially broadcast in Los Angeles in 1929. Since then Adventists have been on the forefront of media evangelism, and one program, It Is Written, founded by George Vandeman, was the first religious program to air on colour television and was the first major Christian ministry to utilize satellite uplink technology.

The Three Angels Broadcasting Network was founded in 1984 by Danny Shelton. Troubled by what he saw on Christian television, Shelton was inspired to "build the television and radio networks that would reach the world with the undiluted three angels' messages of Revelation 14 - the networks that would counteract the counterfeit." Eventually this would develop into a major 24-hour satellite service seen around the world, consisting of 3ABN (English) television network, 3ABN Radio Network, and 3ABN Latino (Spanish) Network. 3ABN (as it is often called) broadcasts programming from all the major Seventh-day Adventist ministries, as well as its own productions covering religious, health, children, and music programming. This organization is a privately run non-profit organization, and is a supporting ministry (not an official part) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Philip W. Dunham with Maylan Schurch, Blinded by the Light: The Anatomy of Apostasy. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 2001, p101–102. See the two chapters about "War Within the Remnant" on p98–118
  2. ↑ Stirling, James (March 2004). "Adventist Historians Meet at PUC". Adventist Today (Loma Linda, CA: Adventist Today Foundation) 12 (2). ISSN 1079-5499. Retrieved 2008-10-10. http://adventisthistorian.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/01/index.html
  3. ↑ "ASDAH: The Association of SDA Historians" blog by Jeff Crocombe, October 11, 2006
  4. ↑ "Report on Hope International and Associated Groups". Adventist Review. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
  5. ↑ http://www.onemission.org.au/about.asp#ourmission

See also Issues: The Seventh-day Adventist Church and Certain Private Ministries, published in 1992 by the North American Division.

External links

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