What Does “Adventist” Mean? 

When you walk into any one of the many Adventist Book Center (ABC) locations, chances are you’ll be greeted by pleasant gospel music in the background, friendly employees, and row after row of Christian books, movies, Bibles, study guides, kids’ games, and more.

Wondering whether your Adventist classmate or coworker keeps the same holidays you do? Perhaps you want to include them in some festivities, but you also want to respect their beliefs. Thus, you’re unsure of how to navigate the holiday question. Will they accept your invitation to the office Christmas party?

Haystacks are basically a taco salad—with an Adventist spin on it! Most versions are vegetarian and offer an endless combination of tasty toppings. We eat them often because they’re healthy, scrumptious, and easy to make.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in and supports evidence-based medical care. In fact, medicine has played a significant part in our history, and today we run a major health system with hospitals, medical schools, and clinics throughout the world.

Adventists see religious liberty as an essential human right. After all, God endowed humanity with freedom of choice from the very beginning. So we believe it’s best for governments to also support their citizens’ rights to worship based on their convictions.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church operates the largest Protestant education system in the world. A big part of this system is our K-8 elementary schools, or primary schools, as they’re known in other parts of the world.

Like the boy or girl scouts, Pathfinders and Adventurers learn about nature and life skills. But what makes these clubs special is their purpose to bring young people closer to Jesus.

While the previous 12 Sabbaths of the quarter feature an established Adventist ministry and its current giving needs, the 13th is a rotating spot reserved for current mission projects.

On the outside, Seventh-day Adventist universities may not look much different than other college campuses. But the real differences are beneath the surface.

ASI, which stands for Adventist-laymen’s Services and Industries, is a membership-based organization that provides support for Seventh-day Adventist laypeople (Adventist professionals who aren’t pastors).

The Seventh-day Adventist Church puts a huge emphasis on sharing the gospel through evangelism, or sharing the gospel through preaching, teaching, and testimony. One of the ways we accomplish this is by organizing public events called evangelistic meetings.

School’s out, the sun’s shining, and your kids are thrilled to have the summer ahead of them. Then three days in, you hear, “I’m bored…”

Adventists have some unique beliefs—you might be able to name some of them right now. The seventh-day Sabbath. Death as a sleep. Hell as nonexistence.

Friday rolls around, and you’re spending time with your Adventist friends or relatives when they mention they’re going to vespers tonight.

What is the role of a pastor in the Adventist Church? The position itself, at least as far as a local congregation is concerned, is not much different from that of pastors in other protestant denominations.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a representative form of structure that connects its 90,000-plus congregations across the globe and gives its members a part in decision-making. Though the Church was incorporated in 1863, this system came about during the church’s reorganization from 1901 to 1903. It includes four levels of organization.

For Seventh-day Adventists, sharing a Sabbath meal with friends and family is one of the most special and memorable parts of the Sabbath.

If you’re attending an Adventist church for the first time, you may wonder what it’s really like. While each Adventist church is unique in its collective personality and local culture, Adventist church services are generally similar to most other Protestant church services.

Seventh-day Adventists have historically upheld the importance of a well-rounded, high-quality education. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and learning, the Adventist Education system operates on the principle of educating the “whole” person.

Evangelism is simply sharing the truths of the Bible with someone else. And Adventists are all into it.

Every so often, usually on a schedule ranging from once a week to once a month to once a quarter, an Adventist church will have “fellowship dinners,” often casually referred to as potlucks.

The Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal is a songbook used worldwide by many Adventist congregations during their worship services. Since its publication in 1985, it has helped foster praise to God while reminding church members of our mission and drawing them closer to Jesus.

Sabbath School is the Bible study component of the church program at most Seventh-day Adventist Churches. It’s a time of Bible study on a specific topic or lesson. Instead of listening to a preacher, people interact with one another, making it a great opportunity for building friendships.

In nearly every Seventh-day Adventist Church, the sermon is the focal point of the main service—similar to many Protestant Christian denominations. It is a time of biblical instruction by the pastor, who shares what they’ve been studying in the Bible and preparing over the previous week.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church—“Adventists” for short—is a Christian denomination of ordinary people who seek to follow Jesus and live out His mission in this world. Established in 1863, we hold to the Protestant principle of sola scriptura, which means the Bible guides everything we do.