Australian Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists - History

History

See also: South Pacific Division of Seventh-day Adventists

The first Seventh-day Adventist church in Australia was the Melbourne Seventh-day Adventist Church, which formed on 10 January 1886 with 29 members.

According to one article,

"Australia has supplied the Adventist church in North America with many very able college teachers, theologians, and other professionals who have contributed ideas and insights that have become part of the church heritage. Some of those 'Aussies' have also been disturbing and have contributed to tensions within the church."

Outreach to the Australian Aborigines has occurred since the 1890s.

Robert Brinsmead was a controversial figure in the 1960s and 70s.

The 1980 Glacier View controversy regarding Desmond Ford's rejection of the investigative judgement, a fundamental belief of the church, was particularly devastating for the Adventist church in Australia. Ford had been a prominent lecturer at Avondale College, the church's tertiary educational institution. Within eight years of his expulsion from the church, 182 ministers in Australia either resigned or were dismissed (there were also other causes), many teachers lost their jobs, and many members either chose to leave the church or were asked to.

Arthur Patrick's research regarding church cofounder Ellen White has been influential in the scholarship of the world church adopting a more progressive position regarding her inspiration since the 1970s and 80s.

Norman Young is another well respected scholar who wrote a supplement to Anglican John Wenham's book on biblical Greek. Both Ford and Young completed doctorates under the highly respected scholar F. F. Bruce.

The Australian Stories series of books have included numerous short stories by the following Adventist authors: Nathan Brown, editor at Signs Publishing Company; Grenville Kent, a pastor, lecturer, and filmmaker; and Brad Watson, a lecturer at Avondale College.

For a representative sample of Adventist theology as taught by Australian lecturers and church leaders see the textbook Meaning for the New Millennium: The Christian Faith from a Seventh-day Adventist Perspective. It is not an "official" statement of belief (the 28 Fundamentals play this role), but rather "constitute how a representative group of Australian teachers explain their beliefs."

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