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The Seventh-day Adventist communion was named in 1860 and organized as a denomination at Battle Creek Michigan in 1863.
It has grown since then to be called "the fifth-largest Christian communion worldwide" by ChristianityToday in Jan of 2015. (Maybe they should have said "Christian denomination worldwide")
NOTE:
The numbers the SDA church has published in 2021 for 2020 is 21,723,000 baptized members and 25 million adherents.
COVID year 2020 is the first year in a long time that we fall below the "A pentecost influx of 3000+ baptisms every single day on average"
========= even before that... in 2011 "fastest growing U.S. church"
USATODAY -- 2011
Note: as an example: 5 million in 1986 to 21 Million in 2020
=================
That is what non-SDA independent sources say about the Seventh-day Adventist church.
For Adventists the key is
1. Sola Scriptura testing of all "Fundamental Beliefs" when sharing our faith and welcoming people into this denomination. Every one of the FB must stand or fall based on scripture.
2. Accepting both the literal and symbolic elements in the Bible
5. Full acceptance of "One Gospel" Gal 1:6-9 in both OT and NT where "The Gospel was preached to Abraham" Gal 3:8. And that Gospel is the New Covenant Gospel and is summarized as "saved by grace through faith".
6. A world wide educational, evangelistic and Healthcare network
7. Focus on the last warning message given to the world in Rev 14 "The Three Angel's Messages". A mission like Noah, like John the baptizer... etc a final message for mankind from Rev 14 and 18 prior to the Rev 16 plagues and Rev 19 appearing of Christ.
I may add more to this list later.
=================================
Since there is apparently "some confusion" as to what a denomination IS -- an example is given here to assist the objective unbiased reader.
from: Southern Baptist Convention - Wikipedia
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant[2][3] and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States"
Fast Facts - SBC.net
14,089,947 members
There are of course other Baptist denominations and some of them do not allow for open communion with Southern Baptists, so in general they do not all consider themselves to be part of "the Southern Baptist" denomination as it is referenced above.
So I reject the idea that ChristianityToday is in some way "dishonest" or "evil" due to the choices they make for how to categorize groups .. Different people will wish to do it differently - I am ok with people having differences.
It has grown since then to be called "the fifth-largest Christian communion worldwide" by ChristianityToday in Jan of 2015. (Maybe they should have said "Christian denomination worldwide")
"In 2014, for the 10th year in a row, more than 1 million people became Adventists, hitting a record 18.1 million members. Adventism is now the fifth-largest Christian communion worldwide, after Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, and the Assemblies of God."
NOTE:
The numbers the SDA church has published in 2021 for 2020 is 21,723,000 baptized members and 25 million adherents.
COVID year 2020 is the first year in a long time that we fall below the "A pentecost influx of 3000+ baptisms every single day on average"
========= even before that... in 2011 "fastest growing U.S. church"
USATODAY -- 2011
" Adventists' back-to-basics faith is fastest growing U.S. church"
"Newly released data show Seventh-day Adventism growing by 2.5% in North America, a rapid clip for this part of the world, where Southern Baptists and mainline denominations, as well as other church groups are declining. Adventists are even growing 75% faster than Mormons (1.4 percent), who prioritize numeric growth.
For observers outside the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the growth rate in North America is perplexing."
Note: as an example: 5 million in 1986 to 21 Million in 2020
=================
That is what non-SDA independent sources say about the Seventh-day Adventist church.
For Adventists the key is
1. Sola Scriptura testing of all "Fundamental Beliefs" when sharing our faith and welcoming people into this denomination. Every one of the FB must stand or fall based on scripture.
2. Accepting both the literal and symbolic elements in the Bible
- Literal Creation week, Literal pre-mill appearing of Christ, literal rapture taking the saints to heaven as per John 14:1-3, 1 Thess 4:13-18
- Literal lake of fire event in Rev 20
- Literal bodily resurrection of Christ
5. Full acceptance of "One Gospel" Gal 1:6-9 in both OT and NT where "The Gospel was preached to Abraham" Gal 3:8. And that Gospel is the New Covenant Gospel and is summarized as "saved by grace through faith".
6. A world wide educational, evangelistic and Healthcare network
7. Focus on the last warning message given to the world in Rev 14 "The Three Angel's Messages". A mission like Noah, like John the baptizer... etc a final message for mankind from Rev 14 and 18 prior to the Rev 16 plagues and Rev 19 appearing of Christ.
I may add more to this list later.
=================================
Since there is apparently "some confusion" as to what a denomination IS -- an example is given here to assist the objective unbiased reader.
from: Southern Baptist Convention - Wikipedia
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant[2][3] and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States"
Fast Facts - SBC.net
14,089,947 members
There are of course other Baptist denominations and some of them do not allow for open communion with Southern Baptists, so in general they do not all consider themselves to be part of "the Southern Baptist" denomination as it is referenced above.
So I reject the idea that ChristianityToday is in some way "dishonest" or "evil" due to the choices they make for how to categorize groups .. Different people will wish to do it differently - I am ok with people having differences.
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