Our Beliefs

We are known for our emphasis on healthy living, and believe in taking care of our world. This is because life is more than just surviving.. so much more. In fact, we believe life can be full and wonderful when Jesus is at the centre of all that you are and all you do.

Because every human is miraculously crafted by God, we have been created by a maker who wants us to live life to the full. On top of that, God sent His Son to demonstrate true love, forgiveness, grace and hope. This is the central theme of everything we believe, and is the core of who we are.

Seventh-day Adventists believe that a relationship with Jesus is profoundly connected to relationships in the world around us. We believe that spiritual and emotional wellbeing foster an active mind; an active mind is fuelled by a healthy body; and a healthy body and mind enables healthy social relationships.

As part of our holistic approach to the spiritual journey, we believe in disconnecting from the everyday world to care for our spiritual dimension one day every week—we call this the Sabbath Day. The Sabbath Day is a gift from God to all of us, because, as our Designer, He knows we need a day off every week. This gives us time to refocus our lives on the things that matter most and to let our body, mind and spirit recuperate.

We also believe that the best way to avoid disease is to prevent it in the first place. Hence our emphasis on a lifestyle in harmony with the natural laws of health. This includes a vegetarian diet—the same diet God gave in the Garden of Eden—and avoiding putting toxins like alcohol, tobacco and narcotics into our bodies.

Following God’s natural laws for a balanced life provides a great blessing. Adventists are often studied because of our longevity and relatively low rates of some of the most devastating lifestyle diseases.

At the centre of every aspect of our faith is our love for Christ and love for one another. Serving others is the highest form of that love. That is why we are so active in health, education, development and in spreading the good news of God’s forgiveness and promise of salvation.

Just how active are we? Currently, Seventh-day Adventists operate over 389 hospitals and clinics around the world that provide nearly 16 million outpatient visits annually. In the South Pacific Region we operate the Sanitarium Health & Wellbeing Company, well known through its healthy products (Weet-Bix and Up&Go, for example) and wellbeing initiatives in the corporate and private sectors. There are almost 1.7 million students in our global education system. Our institutions provide education from pre-school through to universities granting doctoral degrees. Adventists also operate a large network of aged care facilities and orphanages.

Our work occurs world-wide. For example, Adventists operate 56 medical clinics across the South Pacific islands—and most are in communities that have no other healthcare providers. That is what the love of Christ looks like in our world today.

Our goal, however, isn’t just to meet the physical and educational needs of people—our goal is to also meet the deep spiritual hunger within all of us. And people all over the world are responding in record numbers to that spiritual call.

An independent analysis of the most recent Australian census, found the Adventist Church grew 14 per cent in the five years between censuses. Commenting on the growth, the independent analyst notes: “The Census provides a picture of the Seventh-day Adventists around Australia as a highly multicultural and comparatively young Church with lots of young families. There is every reason to expect growth to continue…” 1

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is also among the fastest growing churches in many nations of the Pacific, and around the world, including the United States where, according to the USA Today newspaper, it is the fastest growing Christian denomination.

1. Dr Phillip Hughes, Seventh-day Adventists Report based on the [Australian] National Population and Housing Census, Christian Research Association, 2012.

Are we perfect?  Of course not. Do we have our share of failures, problems, disappointments, and unfilled plans? We sure do! But the love that God gives to us is so deep, so broad, so all-encompassing, that we have joy in our journey, even in a world that can at times be impossibly cruel.

Life is good because God is good. We have balance because God gives us balance. We are whole because Christ makes us whole. We have love to give because God reinforces love for us every single moment of our lives.