The Seventh-day Adventist® Church arose out of the Millerite movement of the 1840s when thousands of Christians searched for greater understanding of biblical prophecy. Among these early believers was a group who valued both the soon return of Jesus, the seventh-day Sabbath, the ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary, the perpetuity of spiritual gifts, and the conditional nature of humanity until the Resurrection. These early believers chose the name “Seventh-day” as a reference to the biblical Sabbath, Saturday, ordained by God at Creation. “Adventist” refers to the return, or second advent, of Jesus Christ.
In 1863, these Sabbatarian Adventist believers officially organized into a denomination with approximately 3,500 members across 125 churches. A growing sense of their message and mission challenged them to increasingly share their faith in new regions. Initially, they went westward, and then across the ocean to Europe (1874), and then on to Russia, Ghana, South Africa, Argentina, Japan, and today the denomination is in over 200 countries around the globe.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is one of the fastest growing Christian Protestant churches in the world, with a membership of over 22 million members. The denomination operates one of the largest parochial education systems in the world, and offers five faith-based healthcare systems across the United States, making it one of the largest non-profit and religious healthcare networks in the United States.