Seventh Day Adventist Church in Australia

Background Immediate origins of the Seventh-day Adventist Church were in the Millennial movements which swept the USA in the late 18 th and earliest 19 th century – similar to Pentecostals and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Restorationist movement which challenged the authority of the pope asserting the freedom of believers Foundation was based in the primacy of the authority of the bible, justification of faith alone, and salvation by grace Adopted controversial practices such as a seventh day Sabbath, ordinance of footwashing and adult baptism The faith stresses the importance of labour, self-discipline and the blessings of the rigid Sabbatarianism Stresses that all people are cerated equal, rational, free and morally responsible Theologians believed that the creation of the Seventh Day Adventists lies in natural disasters and times of hardship, or social-economic forces The faith is relatively fundamental

Notable beliefs Seventh day Adventists believe in the imminent Advent, the second coming of Christ In 1844, after several Seventh Day Adventist theologians, over people gathered to meet Jesus, who failed to manifest and resulted in the ‘Great Dissapointment’ The Church justified the failure on miscalculation, and argued that Jesus had entered the ‘second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary, thereby beginning the work of the Last Judgement’ Since, the Church last lost faith setting dates for the second coming The church recognises the scripture as the only creed Affirm the doctrine of the trinity Humans were created in the image of God, and ‘fell’ into sin with Adam and Steve, resulting in a distortion of the relationship between humans and God, resulting in the pain in birth and death Church membership is vital in the relationship with God Each Saturday is the Sabbath, and is spent reaffirming the relationship with God through worship and time with family and friends

Australia and the Seventh Day Adventist Church Spread from America and England to Australia with American immigrants Movement was fuelled by fear of the coming apocalypse and/or Advent, with followers focusing on the apocalyptic aspects of the bible Promoted the climax of human history in the second coming of Christ, forcing adherents to focus on reformation as per the New Testament Started in the 1800s with a rough number of 8000, now has over adherents Currently operates the largest private hospital in Australia in the Northern suburbs of Sydney, and operates a large number of schools throughout Australia