Adventists in North America

Abstract

Emerging in New England in the mid-nineteenth century following the collapse of Millerism, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, formally organized in the early 1860s, retained its convictions about an imminent Second Advent and spread west across the continent. In 2020 the North American church comprised more than six thousand congregations. Careful Sabbath observance and a concern for health and education became major features of a distinctive Adventist lifestyle and a mark of the movement’s institutional presence in communities. Theological development led to a more Christocentric soteriology. Despite periods of debate over the role of founder Ellen G. White and key doctrines, the church avoided schism and achieved exponential international growth necessitating major reorganization in 1901. North American Adventism manifests ethnic diversity and a distinctive expression reflecting the sociocultural and political issues of its particular location. These involve such issues as women in ministry, an independent press, and a strong media outreach.