"I pray that all guests may find welcome here and are well received by this Church," said Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the Seventh-day Adventist world church, in opening a new visitor's center at the world headquarters.
Seventh-day Adventists in Africa will soon have a ministry-related graduate program affiliated with a church-owned college or university there, following a vote by leaders at the annual business meeting Oct. 13, 2003.
A program to recruit and sponsor missionary volunteers from local Seventh-day Adventist churches, who will spend six months to two years in field service, was approved at the world church's annual business meetings on Oct. 13.
Gathered from remnants of the 19th-century Millerite movement, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, the official name of the world church's governing organization, celebrated 140 years of operating during its fall annual business meeting.
There are 13,325,270 baptized members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as of June 30, 2003, according to Bert Haloviak, director of the church's office of Archives and Statistics. This represents a net increase of 573,097 members, or a little more than
Bringing the gospel message to a hurting world, and nurturing those who respond, were the key elements of discussions in the Sunday, Oct. 12 morning business meeting of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's Annual Council.