Dec. 14 - Unparalleled Mission Growth: 1900-1950 1

It grew and became a large tree. Luke 13:19, NKJV.

The beginnings of Seventh-day Adventism were indeed like the proverbial mustard seed. But how it grew once the roots were finally established! Having spread around the world in the 1890s, by the early years of the new century Adventism was ready for an explosive expansion guided and held together by its beefed up organizational structure.

Part of the reason for success was that for the first three decades of the twentieth century two of the denomination's most mission-oriented leaders held its top positions. Arthur G. Daniells served as General Conference president from 1901 to 1922, and then as General Conference secretary for the next four years. Meanwhile, William A. Spicer was secretary between 1903 and 1922 and president from 1922 to 1930.

The presidential office is obviously important in setting directions, but in Adventism the secretariat is equally vital in terms of foreign missions, since that office took over the function of the denomination's Foreign Mission Board in 1903.

Spicer and Daniells not only were able leaders, but were dedicated to missions and the preaching of the third angel's message "to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" (Rev. 14:6).

It is difficult to grasp the magnitude of the changes in Adventist mission outreach. In 1880 the denomination had 8 overseas missions. The same number held for 1890, but in 1900 it was 42, by 1910 it had increased to 87 missions, with the number rising to 153 and 270 in 1920 and 1930, respectively. The expansionary dynamics were beginning to transform Seventh-day Adventism from a North American church into a worldwide movement. The 1890s were the crucial decade for mission development.

Before that period the church had witnessed little growth in the number of missions, but beginning in the 1890s the number advanced rapidly. That continuous spread into all the world not only altered the geographical boundaries of the church but increasingly it changed the nature of Adventism itself.

How surprised the pioneers of Sabbatarian Adventism would have been if they could have viewed it from the perspective of 1930. But massive transformation had just begun.
The leaders of 1930 would find the denomination today unrecognizable. And I imagine today's leaders would experience the same shock if they could be transported to 2030.

Adventism is a church on the move.