Seventh-day Adventists keep Saturday as the Sabbath and look forward to the return of Jesus.
Restorationist & other movements1863arose within Evangelical revivals
After the failure of Millerite expectations for Christ's return in 1844, several Adventist groups developed. The movement that became the Seventh-day Adventist Church combined Saturday Sabbath observance, expectation of Christ's return and teachings associated with Ellen G. White. The General Conference organised in 1863. The church operates international health and education institutions; see the profile for dated membership figures.
Seventh-day Adventists keep Saturday as the Sabbath, expect Christ to return, and run one of the largest networks of hospitals and schools in the world. The church came out of a disappointment: a date was set for the second coming, the date passed, and a small group worked out what they thought had actually happened.
William Miller was a Baptist farmer in New York who studied the prophecy of Daniel 8 and concluded that the cleansing of the sanctuary meant Christ returning to cleanse the earth, and that it would happen by 1844 7,10. Tens of thousands believed him. The date settled on was 22 October 1844, and when it passed the movement collapsed in what its own people named the Great Disappointment 7.
The next day, 23 October, Hiram Edson became convinced that light would be given and the disappointment explained, and with O. R. L. Crosier and F. B. Hahn concluded that Miller had the date right and the place wrong: the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14 was not the earth but the sanctuary in heaven, which Christ had entered to begin a final work of judgement 7,6. Around the same time Rachel Oakes Preston, a Seventh Day Baptist, persuaded a group of these Adventists in New Hampshire that the seventh day, not the first, is the Sabbath; Joseph Bates, a retired sea captain, took the conviction into the wider movement and wrote for it 12,11.
Those two convictions, the heavenly sanctuary and the seventh-day Sabbath, together with the visions of a young woman named Ellen Harmon, later Ellen G. White, held the remnant together. They resisted organising for years, being people who had left other churches, and then did it anyway: the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists was formed at Battle Creek, Michigan, on 21 May 1863 6. In 1874 they sent J. N. Andrews to Switzerland as their first official missionary, which is why a church of American origin is now overwhelmingly not American 14.
Adventists hold the doctrines most Protestants hold, and then several that are their own. They are trinitarian, hold Scripture to be the word of God and the only rule of faith, and teach salvation by grace through faith in Christ.
What marks them out is a cluster. The seventh day, from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, is the Sabbath, kept as a day of rest, worship and delight rather than as a legal requirement for salvation. Christ's return is literal, visible and near. Since 1844 Christ has been engaged in a pre-advent work of judgement in the heavenly sanctuary. The dead sleep until the resurrection rather than passing at once to reward, so there is no eternally burning hell. And the body matters: health is a spiritual concern, which is why so many Adventists are vegetarian and why the church built hospitals wherever it went 6,2.
They also hold that Ellen G. White exercised the biblical gift of prophecy, and that her writings are a continuing authoritative source of truth which is always subject to the Bible and never above it 6,4. The twenty-eight fundamental beliefs were adopted as twenty-seven by the General Conference in 1980, with an additional belief added in 2005, and the church describes them as descriptors rather than prescriptors: they state its official position, but they are not the tests of membership, and Adventists have historically been reluctant to formalise a creed at all 8,2.
Worship and practice
The week turns on Sabbath. It begins at sunset on Friday, often with a family worship, and ends at sunset on Saturday. The morning has two parts: Sabbath School, where the congregation divides into classes to study the same lesson being studied in every Adventist church in the world that week, and then the divine service with hymns, prayer, offering and a sermon. Afternoons are for walks, visiting, singing and rest, and many Adventists do not shop, work or watch entertainment between the sunsets.
Baptism is by immersion, of those old enough to choose it. Communion is usually quarterly and is preceded by the ordinance of humility, in which members wash one another's feet, men with men and women with women, before the bread and cup. Church government runs from the local congregation through conferences and unions to thirteen world divisions and a General Conference that meets every five years, with headquarters at Silver Spring, Maryland 6,1.
Scripture and Bible translations
Adventists read the whole Bible and are unusually at home in the parts most Christians skip. Daniel and Revelation are studied closely and preached often, because the church's understanding of its own moment in history comes from them, and the Levitical sanctuary is read as a pattern of what Christ is doing now. The Sabbath School lesson takes congregations through a book or theme quarterly, worldwide and in step.
There is no prescribed version. The King James Version carried the movement for a century and is still widely used, and congregations now also read the New King James Version and the New International Version. Adventists produced their own commentary, and their publishing houses have been part of the work from the beginning. The verses below are given in the King James Version.
Documented use
No official translation is prescribed. The Andrews Study Bible, published by Andrews University Press, appeared first in the NKJV and later in the NIV. Adventist publications also quote several other translations; the cited sources do not establish which version members use most often.
These passages illustrate themes discussed in this profile; they are not a survey of members' favorite verses. Each is quoted from the King James (Authorized) Version and links to its chapter. You can explore the text for study or personal reflection; memorization is optional.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
The fourth commandment, kept as it is written. Everything distinctive about an Adventist week comes from taking these words as still in force.
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
This same Jesus shall so come in like manner. The second half of the church's name, and the thing it has been waiting for since 1844.
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Whether ye eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. The health message rests here: what you do with your body is part of your faith.
People
William Miller1782 to 1849 A Baptist farmer whose study of Daniel convinced him that Christ would return by 1844, and whose preaching drew tens of thousands. He never became a Seventh-day Adventist, but the church would not exist without him.10
Rachel Oakes Preston1809 to 1868 A Seventh Day Baptist who persuaded a congregation of Adventists in New Hampshire that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and so gave the church the first half of its name.12
Joseph Bates1792 to 1872 A retired sea captain who took the Sabbath conviction into the wider Adventist movement, wrote the tracts that spread it, and helped hold the scattered believers together after 1844.11
Ellen G. White1827 to 1915 Sixteen years old at the Great Disappointment 17, she reported visions for the next seventy years and wrote on theology, education, health and daily life. Her biographer records her as the most translated female non-fiction author in history.9
James White1821 to 1881 Her husband, and the movement's organiser and publisher. He pressed a reluctant people into forming a church, started its papers, and served three terms as General Conference president.13
J. N. Andrews1829 to 1883 Scholar and editor, sent with his two surviving children to Switzerland on 15 September 1874 as the church's first official missionary, where he began a publishing house and a French Adventist paper.14
Today
The church's 2026 advance statistical report records 24,372,139 members at the end of 2025, with 106,936 organised churches and 78,061 companies (smaller congregational groups) worldwide. These are church-reported membership figures, not a count of everyone who attends or identifies with the tradition 18.
Alongside congregations, the church operates hospitals, nursing homes, schools and universities 3. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency works in emergencies and development worldwide 5. Loma Linda University in California is associated with its health and education work 15. Studies of Adventist populations have examined relationships between lifestyle and longevity; these findings do not establish a single cause or describe every Adventist 16.
Words to know
ordinance
In Baptist and many other free churches, the word used for baptism and the Lord’ Supper: acts Christ commanded his people to keep, understood as obedience and remembrance. Churches that call them sacraments understand them as means through which God gives grace.
creed
A short statement of belief said together in worship. The Nicene Creed is shared by nearly every Christian tradition.
canon
The list of books a community counts as Scripture. Jewish, Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox canons overlap almost entirely and differ at the edges.
prophet
In the Bible, someone who speaks God's message to the people, often calling them back to justice and faithfulness. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos were prophets.
sacrament
A sacred act Christians believe carries God's grace, such as baptism and communion. Traditions count and understand them differently.
confession
In the Reformation churches, a written statement of what a church believes, such as the Augsburg Confession. In Catholic and Orthodox use, also the sacrament of telling one's sins to a priest.
synod
A church assembly that governs or advises; also the name of some Lutheran and Reformed church bodies.
justification
How a person is made right with God. Luther's teaching that this happens by faith alone, as a gift, was the heart of the Reformation.
Shabbat
The seventh day, from Friday sunset to Saturday nightfall, kept as a day of rest because the Torah commands it in the Ten Commandments; Jews light candles, bless wine and bread, and do no work. Christians who keep a Sabbath on Saturday, such as Seventh-day Adventists, use the same commandment.
Because they read the fourth commandment as still in force and never changed. The seventh day, from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, is the Sabbath given at creation and written into the Ten Commandments, and Adventists hold that the shift to Sunday happened later in church history rather than in Scripture 6,2. It is kept as rest and delight, not as a condition of salvation.
What was the Great Disappointment?
The failure of a prediction. William Miller taught that Christ would return by 1844, and a date of 22 October was settled on; tens of thousands waited, and nothing happened 7,10. Most Millerites left the movement. A small group concluded that the date marked something real but misunderstood, a change in Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary rather than his return to earth, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church grew from them 7,6.
What do Adventists believe about Ellen White?
That she exercised the gift of prophecy described in the Bible, and that her writings are an authoritative source of truth for the church. They also hold, and state in their fundamental beliefs, that her writings are always subject to the Bible and never a substitute for it or an addition to its canon 6,4. Adventists read her; they do not put her books in the pew rack beside the Bible.
Are Adventists vegetarian?
Many are, and the church recommends it, but it is not required. Adventists hold that health is part of discipleship, and the church has taught a vegetarian diet, abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, and rest since the nineteenth century. That teaching built the hospitals and it also shows up in outside research: the Adventist population at Loma Linda is one of the groups studied for exceptional longevity 15,16.
Do Adventists believe people go to heaven when they die?
No, and this surprises many visitors. Adventists hold that the dead sleep, without consciousness, until the resurrection at Christ's return, when the righteous are raised. It follows that they do not teach an eternally burning hell; the finally lost cease to exist rather than suffer forever. Both positions come from their reading of what Scripture says about death and immortality 6,2.
Sources
Numbered references link the account above to its sources. These include the tradition's own documents and outside reference works. The review status below distinguishes source checking from completed member and scholarly review.
BibleVerse. “Seventh-day Adventist: where they came from, what they hold, and the Bible they read.” bibleverse.site, version 2026-09-09, https://bibleverse.site/denominations/adventist/
Awaiting review by a member of the tradition. First published 2026-09-07; last changed 2026-09-09. Years before the common era are written BC, and later years plainly, as the site's Christian pages do.
Found something wrong? Send it through the contact page. A correction checked against two sources is made within a week and logged in this page's change history.
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
