Dominican Republic: Seventh-day Adventist school participate in march to promote the Bible

October 10, 2010 – Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic…[Libna Stevens/IAD]

Hundreds of young people who attend one of the largest Seventh-day Adventist schools in Santo Domingo participated recently in a march promoting Bible reading. They took to the streets of the capital shouting “Read the Bible” and holding banners.

“This type of activity looks to confirm our identity, and to foster a sense of belonging to the students who study in our schools and attend our churches,” said Pastor Silvestre Gonzalez, executive secretary and communication director for the church in the Dominican Republic.

The more than 600 students and teachers from Metropolitan Adventist School were joined by church leaders in the three-hour march that led them down several streets in the city. While a band played, the students shouted and passed out flyers and Bibles to onlookers.

“This march demonstrated the Christian values held high, showing that our school is based on the philosophy of the Bible,” said Rosanny Scarfullery Sosa, principal of the Seventh-day Adventist school. “Students worked hard, creating banners and posters and illustrations with their own hands and proclaimed with dignity that the Bible is the Word of God.”

This march was one among many marches, Bible marathons and activities held throughout the month of September on the island, according to Gonzalez.

“All Seventh-day Adventist schools and over 500 churches took part in promoting the Bible in public parks and in their churches and classrooms,” he added. Students also carried the church’s replica of the large and unique Traveling Bible, a special Bible written in 66 languages which toured the globe over a period of two years.

“How is it that a school sends out its students to the streets to promote the Bible,” Maria Rosa, said in astonishment as she stepped out of her vehicle when she saw the march. “If all of our schools did that, our country would change for the better.”

Luis, a student from the school, said he was glad to be participating in the march.

“I am not a Seventh-day Adventist yet, but I’m very proud to be in a school where God is placed number one,” he said.

According to Gonzalez, the Dominican Republic is the first country in the world to celebrate a National Bible Day, instituted by the government through its 204-84 law established Sep. 27, 1984.

Every September the Seventh-day Adventist Church joins the Dominican Republic’s Bible Society to promote the Bible through Bible reading and writing marathons in parks schools and churches.

“The best publicity that an Adventist school can do is to show its community the distinctive characteristic of the Adventist education,” Gonzalez said. “The Bible claims a dominant place in our schools and we have to proclaim it. The smiling faces of the children and young people accompanied with musical bands and creative banners impress even the most insensitive of hearts.”

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Dominican Republic has over 230,000 church members worshiping in 1,100 churches and congregations. It also operates a hospital, a university, nine radio stations. Over 20,000 students attend its 96 primary and secondary schools.