23 March, 2017

In North-America, Students and Church Leaders Chat in Live Event

Seventh-day Adventist college and university student leaders and church leaders in the North-American Division (NAD), or church region, met in the first Facebook Live Event on the campus of Union College, in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States, on March 14. The 100-minute Q&A session with NAD president Daniel Jackson and executive secretary Alexander G. Bryant, entitled “Is This Thing On?” brought together Union College students and Adventist Intercollegiate Association (AIA) student leaders from across the division, who had traveled to Nebraska for the 2017 AIA Convention.

21 March, 2017

“Vegetable Evangelism” Empowers Tanzanian Women for Self-sufficiency

Women in rural communities from across the East-Central Africa region are now closer to becoming experts in the art of vegetable farming and evangelism after attending a recent one-week training event at the Northern Tanzania Union Conference, or church region, headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. Hosted by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Africa in partnership with the East-Central Africa Division (ECD) women’s ministry department, the one-of-a-kind event looked for ways to equip women with essential skills for self-sufficiency and poverty eradication in their rural communities.

20 March, 2017

Thousands Impact Their Communities as Seventh-day Adventist Young People Answer the Call to “Be the Sermon”

Thousands of Seventh-day Adventists impacted their communities in more than 100 countries on Saturday, March 18 during the annual Global Youth Day event. As pictures and videos were shared on social media with the hashtag #GYD17, the campaign generated an impact of more than 137 million impressions across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This sets a new Seventh-day Adventist social media record.

15 March, 2017

Adventist Teacher Named “Environmental Educator of the Year”

A Seventh-day Adventist science teacher and educational administrator was recently named “Environmental Educator of the Year” by an organization supporting restoration and environmental education efforts in the State of Maryland, United States. Ophelia Barizo, a science teacher and current Vice-president for Advancement and STEM at Highland View Academy (HVA), a Seventh-day Adventist secondary school based in Hagerstown, Maryland, United States, received the honor awarded by the Chesapeake Bay Trust, a non-profit organization that has funded environmental education at HVA since 1999.

14 March, 2017

Nine-year-old donates birthday money to Children’s Hospital

Instead of unwrapping gifts at his birthday party, Ulysses Hsu, 9, of Eastvale, California, United States, was taking donations forLoma Linda University Children’s Hospital(LLUCH), a Seventh-day Adventist healthcare institution in Loma Linda, California. At his ninth birthday party, Hsu told his friends that he wanted to help support “Vision 2020: The Campaign for a Whole Tomorrow,” and by doing so he raised over $1,600.

9 March, 2017

Adventist Students in Kenya Celebrate Sabbath Victory

A five-year-long legal battle for the right to keep the seventh-day Sabbath has ended in a landmark victory for Seventh-day Adventist students in Kenya. The country’s top appeals court ruled last week that the religious freedom provisions of Kenya’s constitution require that Adventist students be excused from classes and other school-related activities on Saturday. The decision overturns an earlier ruling that found no constitutional protection for Sabbath-keeping students.

7 March, 2017

Religious freedom Advocate Honored by International Law society

A leading Seventh-day Adventist religious freedom advocate was honored last month for his commitment to promoting religious liberty as a fundamental human right. Ganoune Diop, PhD, director of public affairs and religious liberty for the Adventist world church, received the 2017 Thomas L. Kane Religious Freedom Award on February 17 at the annual three-day conference of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

2 March, 2017

Propelled by Total Member Involvement, Adventist Church tops 20 million members

A major drive to engage every church member in Total Member Involvement has helped propel the Seventh-day Adventist Church past 20 million members for the first time in its history. The Adventist Church had 20,008,779 members as of Dec. 31, 2016, a net increase of 882,332 people, or 4.6 percent, from the previous year, the church’s Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research said.

28 February, 2017

Film on Desmond Doss’s life receives two Academy Awards

“Hacksaw Ridge,” a film that tells the story of Desmond T. Doss, the Seventh-day Adventist army medic who became the first conscientious objector to win the Congressional Medal of Honor, won two Oscars at the 89th Academy Awards on February 26.

25 February, 2017

Andrews University takes bold steps to foster racial reconciliation

Andrews University, a leading Seventh-day Adventist institution of higher learning in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States, is taking resolute steps to foster racial reconciliation, after officially responding to a video message that a group of concerned African-American students shared on social media on February 18. The video requested that school leaders formally apologize for what the students called “the systemic racism [the school] has perpetuated on its campus.”

24 February, 2017

Facing Charges, Adventist leaders in Argentina pledge to start anew

Leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Argentina have pledged to make amendments and start anew after a federal judge recently decided to prosecute some of them, together with the ADRA country director and two former officers of the Adventist university in the country, on charges of allegedly smuggling undeclared electronic goods into the South American country.

16 February, 2017

Training center for religious freedom advocates opens at Adventist College in France

Church leaders, United Nations representatives, academics and students celebrated the opening February 4 of the International Center for Religious Freedom and Public Affairs at the Adventist Campus in Collonges-sous-Salève, France. The college, located just a short distance from the French-Swiss border and the city of Geneva, has had many connections through the years with religious freedom luminaries.