The seventh-day Adventists Church was officially organized in 1863 in Battle Creek Michigan. However, our roots go back a number of years before that. In 1818, a man by the name of William Miller became convinced from his study of the prophecies of Daniel that Jesus would come sometime in 1843 or 1844. In 1832, Miller felt a strong conviction that he should share this startling news with the world, and for the next 12 years, he kept up a heavy preaching schedule. By 1844, his preaching had raised up a following of some 100,000 people. In terms of America’s population today, that’s equivalent
to 1.5 million people! Several groups evolved out of Miller’s movement, three of four of which still exist today. The largest of these is the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The name “Seventh-day Adventist” means two things. “Seventh-day” means we keep the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week, and “Adventist” means we believe in the nearness of Christ’s second coming (advent).
In addition to establishing local congregations around the world, the Adventist Church has been involved almost from the beginning of our history in publishing, health, education, and missions. Today we operate one of the world’s largest humanitarian organizations: the Adventist Development and
Relief Agency (ADRA). At the beginning of the new millennium, we had a worldwide membership of more than 10 million.