Silver Spring, Maryland, United States …. [Ansel Oliver/ANN Staff]
Seventh-day Adventists–some 13 million church members worldwide and an estimated 7 million others who also attend weekly worship–are united in keeping the Sabbath, or Saturday, as a holy day, with church and Sabbath School attendance the top unifying factors. Other elements of observance are different, however, and the day of rest becomes more stressful for those in church leadership.
These facets emerge from a recent doctoral dissertation that summarizes a 51-nation survey on how Seventh-day Adventists keep the Sabbath. May-Ellen Colón, an assistant director in the Sabbath School department at the world church headquarters, defended her dissertation entitled “Sabbath-Keeping Practices and Factors Related to these Practices Among Seventh-day Adventists in 51 Countries,” in a presentation at Andrews University on Dec. 10, 2003.
“Cross-culturally I expected more differences,” says Colón, who began her doctoral program in 1991. There were, however, a slight variety of applications of biblical Sabbath keeping across different cultures. “And there should be,” she says.
Her research included more than 3,000 survey forms returned from members in 51 countries. Surveys were prepared in English, French, German, Spanish and Russian.
While Sabbath is a day of rest for many Adventists, Colón also found that Sabbath is a source of stress for many in church leadership. The weekly routine of Sabbath activities engaged in by leaders, who often preach and visit a variety of congregations, can put pressure on family life. In turn, some say, this can take joy out of Sabbath.
Attending church and Sabbath School was the most visible example of church members keeping the Sabbath. Women scored higher in relational aspects of the Sabbath. Colón also discovered that only 26 percent of respondents included service type activities–visiting sick and missing members, helping the needy–in their keeping of the Sabbath.
“It’s a day of healing,” says Colón, who hopes to publish a book based on the dissertation. “Jesus healed on the Sabbath, it’s recorded seven times.”
Early Adventist Church pioneers didn’t emphasize practical aspects of Sabbath, says Colón. They were more theological, apologetic–defending the concept of the Sabbath.
Church co-founder Ellen White at first kept the Sabbath from 6 p.m. Friday evening to 6 p.m. Saturday evening. Her husband, James White, asked J.N. Andrews to study the issue more thoroughly. In 1855 Andrews wrote in an article that Sabbath was sundown Friday evening to sundown Saturday. In 1861 he published his studies in the book “History of the Sabbath and the First Day.”
Colón says after the church was more established in its position on the seventh-day Sabbath, the publications then focused more on how to keep the Sabbath, answering questions such as, could Adventists go to the post office or chop wood on Saturday. In Vermont some were accused of riding their horses to conference meetings because that was looked down upon.
“By then they had their identity established on the Sabbath,” says Colón. They didn’t have to spend so much of their time defending it. By the 1880s the church had more emphasis on salvation by grace, says Colón. “Members were keeping the Sabbath because they loved the Lord, not because it was ‘the right thing to do.'”
“We need to encourage members to intentionally make the Sabbath attractive and joyful,” says Colón.
She credits the traveling staff from the church headquarters that assisted her in delivering the 99-question survey while on their trips. “They took these to the ends of the earth,” she says.
Surveys were taken to Adventists who already attend church. Among respondents, 40 percent were church leaders and 60 percent were church members. “I know that’s not the ratio between leadership and members,” says Colón. “This was not a random sample … We got the cream of the crop.”
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