Editing Adventism

{{Short description|Religious Movement}}
{{For|the largest church in the Adventist tradition|Seventh-day Adventist Church}}
{{Adventism}}
'''Adventism''' is a branch of [[Protestantism|Protestant]] [[Christianity]]<ref name="Handbook">{{cite book |chapter=Adventist and Sabbatarian (Hebraic) Churches |pages=256–276 |given=Frank S. |surname=Mead |given2=Samuel S. |surname2=Hill |given3=Craig D. |surname3=Atwood |title=[[Handbook of Denominations|Handbook of Denominations in the United States]] |edition=12th |year=2006 |place=Nashville, Tn |publisher=Abingdon Press}}</ref><ref name="Bergman">{{cite book |surname=Bergman |given=Jerry |year=1995 |chapter=The Adventist and Jehovah's Witness Branch of Protestantism |editor-surname=Miller |editor-given=Timothy |editor-link=Timothy Miller |title=America's Alternative Religions |publisher=SUNY Press |place=Albany, NY |pages=33–46 |isbn=978-0-7914-2397-4 |chapter-url={{Google books|id=og_u0Re1uwUC|plainurl=y|page=33|keywords=|text=}} |url={{Google books|id=og_u0Re1uwUC|plainurl=y}} |url-status=live |archive-date=2020-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724210513/https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC}}</ref> that believes in the imminent [[Second Coming of Christ|Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ]]. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the [[Second Great Awakening]] when [[Baptists|Baptist]] preacher [[William Miller (preacher)|William Miller]] first publicly shared his belief that the Second Coming would occur at some point between 1843 and 1844. His followers became known as [[Millerism|Millerites]]. After [[Great Disappointment|Miller's prophecies failed]], the Millerite movement split up and was continued by a number of groups that held different doctrines from one another. These groups, stemming from a common Millerite ancestor, collectively became known as the Adventist movement.

Although the Adventist churches hold much in common with mainline Christianity, their [[Christian theology|theologies]] differ on whether the [[Intermediate state (Christianity)|intermediate state]] of the dead is [[Soul sleep|unconscious sleep]] or consciousness, whether the ultimate punishment of the wicked is [[annihilationism|annihilation]] or eternal torment, the nature of immortality, whether the wicked are resurrected after the millennium, and whether the sanctuary of [[Daniel 8]] refers to the one in [[heavenly sanctuary|heaven]] or one on earth.<ref name="Handbook"/> Seventh-day Adventists and some smaller Adventist groups observe the [[Sabbath in Seventh-day Adventism|seventh day Sabbath]]. The [[General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists]] has compiled that church's core beliefs in [[the 28 Fundamental Beliefs]] (1980 and 2005).

In 2010, Adventism claimed to have some 22 million believers who were scattered in various independent churches.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/files/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf |title=Christianity report |access-date=2014-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130805020311/http://www.pewforum.org/files/2011/12/Christianity-fullreport-web.pdf |archive-date=2013-08-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The largest church within the movement—the [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]]—had more than 23 million members in 2025. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Witherspoon |first=Stanton |date=2025-05-14 |title=Adventist Membership Tops 23 Million with Surge in Africa and PNG |url=https://spectrummagazine.org/news/adventist-membership-tops-23-million-surge-in-africa-and-png/ |access-date=2025-05-29 |website=Spectrum Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

==History==
{{See also|Millerites|Great Disappointment}}
Adventism began as an inter-denominational movement. Its most vocal leader was William Miller. Between 50,000 and 100,000 people in the United States supported Miller's predictions of Christ's return. After the "[[Great Disappointment]]" of October 22, 1844, many people in the movement gave up on Adventism. Of those remaining Adventist, the majority gave up believing in any prophetic (biblical) significance for the October 22 date, yet they remained expectant of the near Advent ([[second coming]] of Jesus).<ref name="Handbook" /><ref name="ReferenceA">George Knight, ''A Brief History of Seventh-day Adventists.''</ref>

Of those who retained the October 22 date, many maintained that Jesus had come not literally but "spiritually", and consequently were known as "spiritualizers". A small minority held that something concrete had indeed happened on October 22, but that this event had been misinterpreted. This belief later emerged and crystallized with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the largest remaining body today.<ref name="Handbook" /><ref name="ReferenceA" /><!-- Did any continue setting dates? A small minority only? -->
[[File:Adventism-en.svg|750px|thumb|center|The development of branches of Adventism in the 19th century.]]

===Albany Conference (1845)===
The Albany Conference in 1845, attended by 61 delegates, was called to attempt to determine the future course and meaning of the Millerite movement. Following this meeting, the "Millerites" then became known as "Adventists" or "Second Adventists". However, the delegates disagreed on several theological points.  Four groups emerged from the conference: The Evangelical Adventists, The Life and Advent Union, the [[Advent Christian Church]], and the [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]].

The largest group was organized as the American Millennial Association, a portion of which was later known as the Evangelical Adventist Church.<ref name="Handbook"/> Unique among the Adventists, they believed in an eternal hell and consciousness in death. They declined in numbers, and by 1916 their name did not appear in the United States Census of Religious Bodies. It has diminished to almost non-existence today. Their main publication was the ''Advent Herald'',<ref>{{cite web |title=Partial archives |url=http://www.adventistarchives.org/documents.asp?CatID=146&SortBy=1&ShowDateOrder=True |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905011146/http://www.adventistarchives.org/documents.asp?CatID=146&SortBy=1&ShowDateOrder=True |archive-date=2009-09-05 |access-date=2013-06-26 |publisher=Adventistarchives.org}}</ref> of which [[Sylvester Bliss]] was the editor until his death in 1863. It was later called the ''Messiah's Herald''.

The Life and Advent Union was founded by [[George Storrs]] in 1863. He had established ''The Bible Examiner'' in 1842. It merged with the Adventist Christian Church in 1964.

The [[Advent Christian Church]] officially formed in 1861 and grew rapidly at first. It declined a little during the 20th century. The Advent Christians publish the four magazines ''The Advent Christian Witness'', ''Advent Christian News'', ''Advent Christian Missions'' and ''Maranatha''. They also operate a liberal arts college at Aurora, Illinois; and a one-year Bible College in Lenox, Massachusetts, called Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.berkshireinstitute.org/|title=Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies}}</ref> The Primitive Advent Christian Church later separated from a few congregations in West Virginia.

The [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]] officially formed in 1863. It believes in the sanctity of the seventh-day Sabbath as a holy day for worship.  It publishes the ''[[Adventist Review]]'', which evolved from several early church publications. Youth publications include ''KidsView'', ''[[Guide (Adventist magazine)|Guide]]'' and ''[[Insight (Adventist magazine)|Insight]]''. It has grown to a large worldwide denomination and has a significant network of medical and educational institutions.

Miller did not join any of the movements, and he spent the last few years of his life working for unity, before dying in 1849.

==Denominations==
[[File:Oulu adventist church.JPG|thumb|The adventist church of [[Karjasilta]], [[Oulu]], [[Finland]]]]
{{See also|List of Christian denominations#Millerism and comparable groups}}
The ''Handbook of Denominations in the United States'', 12th ed., describes the following churches as "Adventist and Sabbatarian (Hebraic) Churches":

===Christadelphians===
{{Main|Christadelphians}}
The Christadelphians were founded in 1844 by John Thomas and had an estimated 25,000 members in 170 ecclesias, or churches, in 2000 in America.

===Advent Christian Church===
{{Main|Advent Christian Church}}
The '''Advent Christian Church''' was founded in 1860 and had 25,277 members in 302 churches in 2002 in America. It is a "first-day" body of Adventist Christians founded on the teachings of William Miller. It adopted the "conditional immortality" doctrine of Charles F. Hudson and [[George Storrs]], who formed the "Advent Christian Association" in [[Salem, Massachusetts]], in 1860.

====Primitive Advent Christian Church====
{{Main|Primitive Advent Christian Church}}
The '''Primitive Advent Christian Church''' is a small group which separated from the Advent Christian Church. It differs from the parent body mainly on two points. Its members observe foot washing as a rite of the church, and they teach that reclaimed backsliders should be baptized (even though they had formerly been baptized). This is sometimes referred to as rebaptism.

===Seventh-day Adventist Church===
{{Main|Seventh-day Adventist Church}}
The '''Seventh-day Adventist Church''', founded in 1863, had over 19,500,000 baptized members (not counting children of members) worldwide as of June 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/story4262-adventist-church-membership-reaches-195-million|title=Adventist Church Membership Reaches 19.5 Million|date=5 August 2016|access-date=15 October 2016|archive-date=9 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209201035/http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/story4262-adventist-church-membership-reaches-195-million|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is best known for its teaching that Saturday, the seventh day of the week, is the [[Sabbath in Seventh-day Adventism|Sabbath]] and is the appropriate day for worship. However, the second coming of Jesus Christ, along with Judgment Day based on the three angels' message in Revelation 14:6–13, remain core beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists.

====Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement====
{{Main|Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement}}
The '''Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement''' is a small offshoot with an unknown number of members from the [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]] caused by disagreement over military service on the Sabbath day during [[World War I]].

====Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Association====
{{Main|Shepherd's Rod}}
The '''Davidians''' (originally named '''Shepherd's Rod''') is a small offshoot with an unknown number of members made up primarily of voluntarily disfellowshipped members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They were originally known as the Shepherd's Rod and are still sometimes referred to as such. The group derives its name from two books on Bible doctrine written by its founder, [[Victor Houteff]], in 1929.

;Branch Davidians
The [[Branch Davidian]]s were a split ("branch") from the Davidians.

A group that gathered around [[David Koresh]] (the so-called ''Koreshians'') abandoned Davidian teachings and turned into a [[cult (religious practice)|religious cult]]. Many of them were killed during the infamous [[Waco Siege]] of April 1993.

===Church of God (Seventh Day)===
{{Main|General Conference of the Church of God (Seventh-Day)}}
The '''Church of God (Seventh-Day)''' was founded in 1863 and it had an estimated 11,000 members in 185 churches in 1999 in America.  Its founding members separated in 1858 from those Adventists associated with [[Ellen G. White]] who later organized themselves as Seventh-day Adventists in 1863. The Church of God (Seventh Day) split in 1933, creating two bodies: one headquartered in Salem, West Virginia, and known as the [[Church of God (7th day) – Salem Conference]] and the other one headquartered in Denver, Colorado and known as the [[General Conference of the Church of God (Seventh-Day)]]. <!-- However, I think some CoG church members claim otherwise. Need to check --> The [[Worldwide Church of God]] splintered from this.<!-- Also need to check this one for variant POVs --><ref>{{cite book |last=Tarling |first=Lowell R. |title=The Edges of Seventh-day Adventism: A Study of Separatist Groups Emerging from the Seventh-day Adventist Church (1844–1980) |publisher=Galilee Publications |year=1981 |location=[[Barragga Bay, New South Wales|Barragga Bay]], [[Bermagui, New South Wales|Bermagui]] South, [[New South Wales|NSW]] |isbn=0-9593457-0-1 |chapter=The Churches of God |pages=24–41}}</ref>

===Church of God General Conference===
Many denominations known as "[[Church of God (disambiguation)|Church of God]]" have Adventist origins.

{{Main|Church of God General Conference}}
The '''Church of God General Conference''' was founded in 1921 and had 7,634 members in 162 churches in 2004 in America. It is a nontrinitarian first-day Adventist Christian body which is also known as the ''Church of God of the Abrahamic Faith'' and the ''Church of God General Conference (Morrow, GA)''.

===Creation Seventh-Day Adventist Church===
{{Main|Creation Seventh Day Adventist Church}}

The '''Creation Seventh-Day Adventist Church''' is a small group that broke off from the Seventh-Day Adventists in 1988, and organized itself as a church in 1991.

====United Seventh-Day Brethren====
{{Main|United Seventh-Day Brethren}}
The '''United Seventh-Day Brethren''' is a small Sabbatarian Adventist body.
In 1947, several individuals and two independent congregations within the Church of God Adventist movement formed the ''United Seventh-Day Brethren'', seeking to increase fellowship and to combine their efforts in evangelism, publications, and other .

===Other minor Adventist groups===

* '''[[True and Free Adventists]]''', a [[Soviet Union]] offshoot
* At least two denominations and numerous individual churches with a [[Charismatic movement|charismatic]] or [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]]-type bent have been influenced by or were offshoots – see '''[[charismatic Adventism]]''' generally
* '''[[Church of the Blessed Hope]]''', a first-day Adventist church
* '''[[United Sabbath-Day Adventist Church]]''', an [[African-American]] offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in [[New York City]]
* '''Celestia''', a Christian communal town near [[Laporte, Pennsylvania|Laporte]] in [[Sullivan County, Pennsylvania|Sullivan County]], [[Pennsylvania]], founded by Millerite Peter E. Armstrong. It disintegrated before the end of the 19th century<ref>"[http://h0bbes.wordpress.com/2006/10/13/celestia/ Celestia]" blog by Jeff Crocombe, October 13, 2006</ref>

===Other relationships===
Early in its development, the [[Bible Student movement]] founded by [[Charles Taze Russell]] had close connections with the Millerite movement and stalwarts of the Adventist faith, including George Storrs and [[Joseph Seiss]]. Although both [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] and the Bible Students do not identify as part of the Millerite Adventist movement (or other denominations, in general), some theologians categorize these groups and related sects as Millerite Adventist because of their teachings regarding an imminent Second Coming and their use of specific dates. The various independent Bible Student groups currently have a cumulative membership of about 20,000 worldwide.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} According to the Watch Tower Society, there were about {{JWStatistics|publishers|approx}} Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide as of {{JWStatistics|year}}.<ref>{{cite web|title={{JWStatistics|year}} Grand Totals|publisher=Watchtower Bible and Tract Society|year={{JWStatistics|year}}|url=
https://www.jw.org/en/library/books/{{JWStatistics|year}}-Service-Year-Report-of-Jehovahs-Witnesses-Worldwide/{{JWStatistics|year}}-Grand-Totals/}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Advent Christian Church]]
* [[List of religions and religious denominations#Adventist and related churches|Adventist and related churches]]
* [[List of Christian denominations#Millerites and comparable groups]]
* [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]]
* Other movements in [[:Category:Adventism|Adventism]]
** [[Great Disappointment]]
** [[William Miller (preacher)]]
** [[Millennialism]]
** [[Millerites]]
** [[Second Great Awakening]]

'''General:'''
* [[Christian revival]]
* [[Christianity in the 19th century]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |surname=Bergman |given=Jerry |year=1995 |chapter=The Adventist and Jehovah's Witness Branch of Protestantism |editor-surname=Miller |editor-given=Timothy |editor-link=Timothy Miller |title=America's Alternative Religions |publisher=SUNY Press |place=Albany, NY |pages=33–46 |isbn=978-0-7914-2397-4 |chapter-url={{Google books|id=og_u0Re1uwUC|plainurl=y|page=33|keywords=|text=}} |url={{Google books|id=og_u0Re1uwUC|plainurl=y}} |url-status=live |archive-date=2020-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724210513/https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC}}
* Butler, Jonathan. "From Millerism to Seventh-Day Adventism: Boundlessness to Consolidation", ''Church History'', Vol. 55, 1986
* Jordan, Anne Devereaux. ''The Seventh-Day Adventists: A History'' (1988)
* Land, Gary. ''Adventism in America: A History'' (1998)
* Land, Gary. ''Historical Dictionary of the Seventh-Day Adventists'' (2005).
* {{cite book |chapter=Adventist and Sabbatarian (Hebraic) Churches |pages=256–276 |given=Frank S. |surname=Mead |given2=Samuel S. |surname2=Hill |given3=Craig D. |surname3=Atwood |title=[[Handbook of Denominations|Handbook of Denominations in the United States]] |edition=12th |year=2006 |place=Nashville, Tn |publisher=Abingdon Press}}
* Morgan, Douglas. ''Adventism and the American Republic: The Public Involvement of a Major Apocalyptic Movement'' (University of Tennessee Press, 2001) {{ISBN|1-57233-111-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Tarling |first=Lowell R. |title=The Edges of Seventh-day Adventism: A Study of Separatist Groups Emerging from the Seventh-day Adventist Church (1844–1980) |publisher=Galilee Publications |year=1981 |location=Barragga Bay, New South Wales |page=81 |isbn=0-9593457-0-1}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141019224444/http://washington.netadvent.org/history.html History of the Millerite Movement], a reprint from the ''[[Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia]]'' 10:892–898, 1976.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130617184112/http://www.wcg.org/lit/aboutus/roots.htm Graphical timeline of major Millerite groups] from the [[Worldwide Church of God]] official website

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[[Category:Adventism| ]]
[[Category:History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church]]
[[Category:Christian eschatology]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Christian denominations founded in the United States]]
[[Category:Christian denominations established in the 19th century]]