This special issue of Ministry takes a look at the 27 fundamental doctrines of Seventh-day Adventists, who number more than 8 million adult members. These members live in 209 countries, with 90 percent residing outside of North America.
Adventists are known for their humanitarian work through the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and through local community services. They are known for their educational work, with more than 5,500 primary and secondary schools and 85 colleges and universities. Adventists are known for their health ministry: 148 hospitals, 354 dispensaries and clinics, 70 medical launches and airplanes, with more than 7 million people using these facilities annually.
Adventists are known for their extensive media and publishing ministries: with television and radio programs such as It Is Written, Voice of Prophecy, La Voz de la Esperanza, Breath of Life, and Lifestyle Magazine. They also operate 56 publishing houses and print in 206 languages.
Ministry is the journal of the Ministerial Association of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and we send it to all the English-speaking Adventist ministers worldwide and also to some 55,000 clergy of other faiths. This printing combines the July and August issues, making this the greatest number of pages we have published at one time.
But who exactly are Seventh-day Adventists? This issue looks at us theologically. It is written by the members of the Ministerial Association (including two past leaders of the association) and the Biblical Research Institute. We combined our 27 doctrines into 14 and wrote them as sermons to be preached. Eighty pages cannot do justice to all the various points of doctrine. Space dictated that some areas would receive less coverage than others, but within these pages we give you the essence of Adventism. We asked each writer to speak from his or her heart and show the relevance of the particular doctrine to the great central doctrine of Christianity the cross of Christ. May every sermon exalt Him alone who is our life, our Saviour Jesus Christ.
We do not believe that you have to be a Seventh-day Adventist to be saved. Salvation is based on knowing Jesus Christ, not belonging to some denomination. Yet we believe that God calls people and groups at certain times in history to proclaim a special message for a certain time. God called Noah to announce the first ending of the world. He called Abraham out of Ur to propagate a special group that would be witnesses to the world. He called Moses and Aaron to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He raised up Jeremiah to warn His people of impending tragedy if they did not reform. He summoned John the Baptist to announce the first coming of the Messiah.
Now, at the end of time, God again sends a warning message to the world, a message that Christ is coming soon. We believe that God called the Seventh-day Adventist Church for such a time as this.
It is time for decision. It is time for the wrapping up of the great controversy of the ages. At the cross God revealed Himself, His character of love, in giving His life. So in these last days God is wanting a people that will reveal Him to the world as He revealed Himself in Jesus. As the battle between God and Satan heats up; as the devil goes around like a roaring lion seeking more and more people to deceive, God is wanting a people to reveal His love, His character. He wants people to "live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us" (1 Peter 2:12,NIV).
This issue owes a great deal to our new designer, Regina Hayden. Ann Taylor, who served us faithfully for many years, has moved to the great state of Washington. I will miss her keen eye, her cooperative spirit, and especially her dedication. But in her place comes an equally dedicated person. Regina has wide experience in desktop publishing. Before coming to Ministry she worked for Americans Unit ed for Separation of Church and State. She is an expert on PageMaker and WordPerfect and lots of other software as well. She had no time to learn our system, no time to ease gently into the stream of work. Her first issue was this more-than-double-size edition. I welcome her, glad that the Lord provides for our needs.
I want to thank our artist Elfred Lee for the many hours he spent painting our cover, and Timothy and Stephanie Sullivan, who provided funds for the painting. I want to give a special thanks to my associate editor, John M. Fowler, who carried out the major editing on all the articles. Without him this special issue would never have happened. I thank Humberto Valenzuela (Berto to his friends) from Australia for lightening our issue just a little with his cartoons. Above all, I want to thank our God and our Saviour for providing so gracious a salvation and giving us the privilege of sharing this good news with the world.
