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Czechowski's Followers
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July 13 - Czechowski's Followers Discover The Review

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Come over to Macedonia and hlep us. Acts 16:9, RSV.

Paul's dream of the Macedonian call for missionaries finds itself reflected countless times in Adventist history would be so with Czechowski's European converts.

That interesting man, who did so much to establish the Adventist presence in Europe, never told his converts about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America. When asked where he had learned what he was teaching, his answer was "from the Bible." As far as they knew, his converts were the only people in the world who believed the teachings of the Bible as they did. But that ignorance didn't last forever. Eventually Albert Vuilleumier, one of the Swiss believers, found a copy of the Review and Herald in a room that Czechowski had occupied during a recent visit. Vuilleumier's English wasn't perfect, but he could understand enough to grasp the fact that there existed in America a religious group that taught the same views as Czechowski.

That discovery led to a letter to Uriah Smith, editor of the Review. The surprised leaders in Battle Creek responded with an invitation to the Swiss believers to send a representative to the 1869 General Conference session. So it was that Jaems Erzberger came to America.

Erzberger himself was a recent convert. He had been a theological student studying for the ministry when he first encountered the Swiss Sabbathkeepers. Examining their beliefs to see if they were true, he soon became convinced.

Although Erzberger arrived in Battle Creek too late for the session, he remained for 15 months, living most of the time in the home of James and Ellen White. His stay was one of study as he perfected his English and explored more fully the Adventist message. When he returned to Switzerland, he went as the first officially ordained Seventh-day Adventist minister in Europe.

Meanwhile, Czechowski had become quite disturbed over the contact of his Swiss converts with the American church. He soon left for Romania, where he founded the first Sabbathkeeping groups in that country.

The Swiss experience had two other major results. First, it prompted a heightened discussion of mission among the Adventist in America. And, second, it led to the persistent call for a missionary to go to Europe.

The calls from Macedonia still come. And God still needs people who will respond.

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Man judges from appearance, but God judges the heart(COL 72).
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