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J. N. Andrews Goes To Europe
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July 16 - J. N. Andrews Goes To Europe

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And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent [Barnabas and Saul] away. Acts 13:3.

When things finally move they can do so rapidly. So it was with Adventist mission. In August 1874 the General Conference voted that J. N. Andrews should go to Europe "as soon as practicable." A month later he sailed for Switzerland as the first "official" Seventh-day Adventist foreign missionary. He arrived on October 16.

In Switzerland Andrews found several small congregations of Sabbathkeepers already in existence-the work of Czechowski and Erzberger. Andrews more fully indoctrinated those believers during his first meetings with them. Beyond that, within two months of his arrival he had heard of congregations of believers in Prussia and Russia and had become convinced that "there are Sabbathkeeping Christians in most of the countries of Europe." His plan was to develop those alreday-existing core groups.

But how could he locate them? To answer that question he utilized what seems to me to be an unlikly plan. He hoped to reach them by advertising his desire to correspond with them "in the most widely circulated papers of Europe." Surprise of surprises. The "want ad" approach to mission worked with a fair degree of sucess. Within a short time Seventh-day Adventists had missions in England, Scandinavia, and Germany, as well as in Switzerland. From those bases the Adventist message would reach other European nations.

Those operating the new missions often consisted of first-generation European immigrants who had converted to Adventism in the United States and had then been encouraged to return to their native countries. Such nationals had the advantage of not only knwoing the language and culture, but they also nearly always had a group of acquaintances with whom to begin their ministry.

As we have repeatedly noted, God leads His people step by step. The first stage(1844-1850) in Adventist mission development provided time for the building of a doctrinal platform. THe second (1850-1874) allowed for the emergence of a power base in North America for the support of a foreign mission program. And the third(1874-1889) would create further development in Europe and other parts of the "civilized" world so that Adventism would be prepared to take its message to "all the world" in the years following 1890.

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 Christ Himself will decide who are worthy to dwell with the family of heaven. He will judge every man according to his words and his works. Profession is as nothing in the scale. It is character that decides destiny(COL 74).
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