Denominations - Protestant

Adventist Tradition

Adventist churches originate from founder William Miller in the mid 19th century, who taught that Christ soon would return to earth and that Saturday rather than Sunday should be observed as the Sabbath.

• This tradition originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher William Miller first publicly shared his belief that the Second Coming would occur at some point between 1843 and 1844. His followers became known as Millerites. After Miller's prophecies failed, the Millerite movement split up and was continued by a number of groups that held different doctrines from one another. These groups, stemming from a common Millerite ancestor, collectively became known as the Adventist movement.

• The largest adventist denomination today is the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which has over 1 million members. It is one of the fastest growing Protestant religious organizations, with much of the membership in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

• Jehovah's Witness Church stems from the Miller movement, and is also a large denomination, which also boasts over 1 million in membership, worldwide.

Photo of Capitol Hill SDA Church courtesy of https://www.capitolhillsdachurch.org

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