History of the World-wide Seventh-day Adventist Church

In the early years of the 19th century, great interest was aroused in the study of the prophecies of the Bible in many parts of the world by men and women of good standing. One such man, William Miller, at the age of 50 years, started a study of the Bible which lasted nine years, using only the Bible and a concordance. He was a Christian though not affiliated to any denomination at the time, he later espoused the Baptist faith and became a powerful preacher. In the course of his study he eventually came across the text found in Daniel 8:14, 'Unto 2300 days then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." He found the day/year principle in Ezekiel 4:6.

Miller reasoned that the 'cleansing of the sanctuary' could only be the earth being cleansed at the Second Coming of Christ and that would happen on 21st March 1843 the end of the Jewish Year. This date passed without the expected return of Christ and he could only believe he had made a mistake in his calculations. Taking his Bible and concordance he started again at the beginning and came up with the new date of 22nd October 1844. By this time thousands of men and women had joined his group and flocked to his meetings and the new date was accepted by no less than 50,000 people throughout America. They got themselves ready for the great and wonderful day. Christ did not come and there was bitter disappointment, the 'Millerite Movement' fragmented but out of that experience one small part became the 'Seventh-day Adventist Church' almost 20 years later.

From its organisation in the United States of America in 1863 with around 3,500 members, today nine out of ten members live elsewhere. There are now in excess of 11 million members in 205 countries of the world. The mission programmes cover Evangelism; Health in our own hospitals and clinics; Education in it's schools, colleges and Universities; Disaster and Famine relief (Adventist Development and Relief Agency - ADRA UK)

There are other sections of the Church's history, please click on the relevant section below:

British | Teesside