On one side while the mission was carried forward by Andrews in Europe, the church started to expand through missions in another part of the world. Though the Adventist church didn’t realize the importance of the mission until 1874, the mission activities through evangelism went forward to California by Loughborough and Bourdeau. The mission took another milestone in the year 1880s when the leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist church stepped forward to evangelize the world. The doors are opened in England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Australia, Pacific islands, Brazil, Chile and so on.
Though the origins of the Adventist mission started in India in the early 1890s, the official mission work started in 1895 after the acceptance by the delegates of the General Conference Session in 1893. The literature evangelism and selling and distribution of books and tracts gave continuous development in India which led missionaries to open schools, win converts, and establish churches. However, the dedication of missionaries towards mission and church grew from 3500 believers in 1863 to 2,19,12,161 believers in 2021 worldwide.
Mission to the world
Ellen White took a further step reaching Europe in 1885, ‘Beginning in the summer of 1885, Ellen White spent two years in Europe. Visits to England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia, and Italy deepened her concern that the three angels’ messages be proclaimed widely.”
In Russia, by the late 1870s, the message reached people through tracts, and eventually a small number of sabbath-keeping groups began. The message was spread more by a dedicated servant Perk “who got interested in the third angel message asked some tracts from his neighbor and learned about sabbath and started to keep the sabbath.” Seventh-day Adventism arose in Germany by facing imprisonment of Adventist believers in the military and the Near East Adventism grew with “extreme difficulties, threatened by authorities and mobs; frequently imprisoned”
“In southeastern Europe Seventh-day Adventist teachings entered the Turkish Empire through the labors of a self-supporting Greek shoemaker.” Australia served as “the model field for the bookwork”. The message reached the Pacific islands through tracts that came to light after ten years of its rejection. Moreover, “The first advent seeds in Brazil had been sown when some Seventh-day Adventist missionaries sent literature to the father of a young German whom they had met on board a ship bound for Europe.”
Mission to India
After the formation of “Historical Sketches of Foreign Missions of Seventh-day Adventists” in 1886, the General Conference assigned Haskell and Megan to go around to look for possibilities to start mission activities. On February 8, 1890, they arrived in Calcutta and visited several protestant missionaries and visited different missions and schools. In the 1891 GC Session, Haskell appealed to the delegates to send missionaries to India. Unfortunately, the delegates didn’t consider that but fortunately, the GC Session on December 4, 1893 officially voted to send missionaries to India.
The Adventist mission started in India in 1895 with the arrival of Georgia. A. Burrus in India as the first regular missionary. Before her arrival, certain preparations were made such as “dispatched literature, survey team, and colporteurs to prepare the way” in the 1880s and also through self-supporting missionaries in 1892. As per the records and writings of David Trim, the initial tracts reached India in the 1880s, and “Literature, therefore, prepared a way for missionaries”.
“Before the arrival of the earliest Adventist missionaries there already existed some Sabbath-keepers in India. Later, one of the earliest literature evangelists in India, expressed his joy to discover that there were at least four Sabbath-keepers in India when he arrived in 1893.”
Georgia. A. Burrus started her missionary work in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata), by learning the Bengali language (a local language) and later married Luther, the secretary of the Indian Mission, and worked an additional 32 years as missionaries. However, “their numerous contributions included publishing literature in several languages, opening schools, canvasing literature, winning converts, and establishing churches.”
A Mission That Still Calls Us Forward
The church grew nationwide when the leaders stepped forward from their positions and went throughout the world to evangelize the people. Globalizing the world through mission became their priority which inspired people to set sail to foreign nations to spread the gospel. The 21st century also needs the same spirit to evangelize the world. The world needs missionaries and it should be you and me.
Looking towards the beginning stages of Seventh-day Adventism in many parts of the world, the believers went through great trials to share their true faith. Jesus says in Matthew 10:16 – “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves, and “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” John 16:33. Though it costs our lives to step out for the mission, we should do it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Langhu, K. (2017). The Origin and development of the Seventh-day Adventist church in India (1895-1947). Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies, Cavite, Philippines.
Schwarz, R. W., & Greenleaf, F. (2000). Light bearers: A history of the Seventh-day-Adventist Church (Überarb. Aufl.). Pacific Press Publ. Assn.
