Adventist Record

21/07/2025

The $NZ1.4 million upgrade, funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, follows six months of extensive structural work.

Longburn Adventist College (LAC), the New Zealand Pacific Union Conference’s (NZPUC) boarding school, has officially dedicated its newly renovated science block. The $NZ1.4 million upgrade, funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, follows six months of extensive structural work. The dedica...

20/07/2025

A group of 36 youth and young adults from Mile End Community Church (NSW) travelled to Tumbarumba for their third STORMCo service trip.

A group of 36 youth and young adults from Mile End Community Church in South Australia travelled to Tumbarumba (NSW) for their third STORMCo service trip.

18/07/2025

It’s a warm, humid morning in St Louis. I’ve grabbed a bite of breakfast and a juice in a local café, attached to a nearby hotel, right across the road from the convention centre, where the GC Session is taking place. Unfortunately, it’s a well-known chain (which I won’t name here) and the breakfast options are limited. It’s early Friday morning; the Session has barely begun but already there was some controversy on the floor Thursday afternoon.

I’m sure you’ve been to a café at that time. I like to observe the people rushing in and out, mostly in a hurry, grabbing and going, with barely time to say hi.

A young girl, about two-years-old, comes up to me, all smiles. I assume she wants a bite of my breakfast, and her mum apologises. I tell her it’s fine. I’ve got a two-year old at home. I know what they’re like. The girl stays by my side until her mum gives the snack bag a shake. The little girl knows that this is now her best opportunity for a snack and follows her mum with her arms outstretched.

From the street entrance comes a young couple, who seem to be in the company of a man with no shirt. As he walks in, he takes some kind of light jacket and wraps it around his torso, leaving the front zipper open. While the man looks dishevelled, hair dreadlocked and clothes ill-fitting, the young couple are well dressed, clean cut and fresh faced. They interact with the man, and I figure out they are buying him a meal and a drink. They pay and leave, while he waits to collect his food. He leaves shortly after, prize in hand.

Now I have no way of knowing if that couple were Adventist, but in that part of St Louis, at that time, it’s not a stretch to believe they were. And they seemed to leave the café and cross in the direction of the convention centre.

But let’s say, for the sake of my article that they were. Like the priest and the Levite, they were on their way to fulfil important religious purposes. But like the Samaritan they’ve stopped to help their neighbour.

The brief interaction gave me an important lesson. While it’s easy to get caught up in the politics of the Church at a time like the GC Session, this young couple saw an opportunity to do good. They saw a way they could bless their neighbour. Not to convert but to feed the hungry.

We need to remember to make the main thing, the main thing!

We love to see who will be elected. Delegates and visitors flood the exhibition halls and try to grab the free stuff, the marketing gimmicks and the fun activities. We enjoy the music, speculate on elections and feel proud of our worldwide diversity and mission efforts. But right in front of us, on every corner, there are needs.

As followers of Jesus, we are called to be like Jesus.

Now let me give a disclaimer. I don’t love the people who use this argument of focusing on the mission to shut down conversation. It is healthy for us as a people to discuss and wrestle with what we believe, to care about theology, strategy and structure. We need the frameworks to facilitate mission.

But I’ve been in the Church long enough to know that it is easy to make a program our focus, to talk and debate for endless hours without any activity.

The faith of Jesus is to be lived out. Those who have the blood of Jesus and the testimony need to have fresh and recently lived testimonies. We should be asking every day, who we can serve, restore and even feed. To be a Seventh-day Adventist means we are waiting in eager anticipation for Jesus to come back. But when He gets here, will He find a flock who fed, watered, clothed and visited Him, or a herd of goats?

I’m talking to myself as well. Let’s ask Jesus to help us find an opportunity to serve Him today.

(Jarrod Stackelroth, Adventist Record managing editor)

17/07/2025

As our world teeters on the edge of unrest and moral confusion, many wonder how we, as Seventh-day Adventist Christians, are to live as a remnant. We long for Jesus’ return, proclaim the three angels’ messages, and hold to the blessed hope. Yet each day brings jobs, families, news cycles and the realities of everyday life.

How do we balance watching for Christ’s coming with living faithfully now? Scripture offers clear, practical guidance. Here are four key passages for living balanced, hopeful and engaged lives while preparing for the second coming.

“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters . . . seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile” (Jeremiah 29:4–7).

Even as we live in a broken, spiritually hostile world, God calls us to live well and contribute to our communities. Build homes. Nurture families. Plant gardens—both literal and metaphorical. Be people of peace, seeking the welfare of the places where God has placed us.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God” (1 John 4:7).

In an age of division and fear, love remains our highest calling. Through acts of kindness, compassion and service, we bring peace to anxious hearts and hope to weary souls. May we be known as people who love well.

“For we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Though alarming headlines and uncertainties surround us, we walk by faith, trusting in God’s unseen hand. The outcome is secured at the cross. God remains sovereign, and His promises hold firm.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

In times of moral confusion, Scripture anchors us. Prioritise personal devotion, family worship and church fellowship. Know the Word, live it, and share it with clarity and compassion.

So, live with faith, compassion and confidence because of the hope we have. Maranatha—the Lord is coming.

(Pastor Terry Johnson, AUC president)

16/07/2025

It’s just not my thing ay,“ my friend said, as she threw me a look—a mixture of pity and guilt.

“That’s fine,” I quickly replied, not knowing what to do with yet another dismissal of my women’s ministry events. I hadn’t always thought women’s ministry was my thing either, but now that I’d been running events for 10 years, I’d come to see the value of the programs and the fellowship.

The particular weekend in question saw a woman attending who had been at our Adventist school boarding facility, but had left the Church and just returned, decades later. Another woman was new to our Church and enjoying meeting fellow Adventists. Mothers brought teens pretending to be indifferent yet still in the presence of women in worship and older women brought unchurched friends. Friends we hadn’t yet met from another denomination also came to worship alongside friends we only see once a year.

What type of woman does see it as “their thing”? In the years I have been running women’s weekends I’ve noticed some trends. Women, as a generalisation, love to do things together as a group of girlfriends. This is true of any group of females but particularly among cultural groups such as Pacifica, African and Filipino women—to name a few in our Conference.

There is strength and beauty in togetherness. Women who are older and/or alone have the opportunity to find a feeling of belonging and often look forward to a gathering of like-minded Christians. Women looking for some “me” time—away from the busyness of family, work and church responsibilities—love the connection. Women who are looking for a deeper spiritual connection are attracted to a strong message. Women who love to laugh, let their hair down and enjoy downtime, book into retreats with their friends. And some women come “just because you need help to run things . . . but remember it’s not my thing!” And, while never admitting to it, they often find more than they bargained for.

I can’t say I blame my friends. It may seem that for the uncomfortable sacrifice of leaving their husband and kids to their own ends, they only receive a dubious-smelling free candle and several emotional rounds of handholding while singing “Kum ba Yah”!

Oh, come on now—where did these ideas come from!? Could it be that we have been ingrained with the notion that where girls gather the stereotype of “froth and bubble” décor will be more dominant than the goodness of God theology shared?

Have you ever turned down a women's ministry event? Read the full story by Lynnelle Laws by commenting to receive a link in your DMs and find out why maybe you should start going!

16/07/2025

Join us today at 4pm on Record Live as we sit down with Pastor Glenn Townend, newly re-elected president of the South Pacific Division. Don’t miss this behind-the-scenes conversation on leadership, mission, and the plans for the future.

15/07/2025

I had the privilege of growing up in an Adventist home. My mother had tried to teach me the gospel, but I was a moralist—failing, but still aiming, to get to heaven by good behaviour.

Following a career in business, where achieving was the benchmark for success, I was now in my first year of a theology degree at Avondale College (now University).

It was in a class taught by “straight from the shoulder” Arch Hefron, that he confronted his students with the statement, “If you don’t have the assurance of salvation, come and see me in my office.”

What arrogance, I thought, thinking that you could be good enough to be assured of eternal life! So up the stairs I went to his office. The door was open. Arch was standing, bent over, thumbing through papers. I knocked. He didn’t look up. “Yes,” came the gruff voice.

“I’ve come here about the challenge you threw out to the class about being assured of being saved,” I said.

He still didn’t look up. “Yes,” he replied.

“Well, it seems to me that that’s like a pretty self-righteous attitude,” I suggested.

Then he straightened up, looked me straight in the eye and asked the question that changed my life: “Are your sins forgiven?”

It hit me like a rocket. If my sins were forgiven, then there was no barrier between God and me! And if there was no barrier, then I could be assured of salvation. I had eternal life! I was “born again”.

The Holy Spirit brought me instant conviction that Jesus had forgiven me 2000 years ago (1 John 2:2,12). Jesus had paid the price for my sin when He was crucified (2 Corinthians 5:21). So now, if I believed that, I had eternal life (John 3:15-18). What mattered was Jesus’ performance. Not mine.

THAT IS “THE GOSPEL”!

God knew the hopeless predicament that I was in–that no matter how hard I tried, I was still a sinner (Romans 3:23; 5:12,18; 7:14-18; Isaiah 64:6). That is why He passionately wanted to give me the gift of salvation (Ephesians 2:7-9). I could never get there by myself. What I must do is accept the gift. I did!

Such unconditional love transformed my life. Now, I wanted to live so that others could know the joy of Jesus, have the identity of belonging to God and know the privilege of living without condemnation, in spite of my regrettable mistakes.

This honour has led me to preach “the good news” to thousands of people internationally, so that they too could rejoice in “the incomparable riches of His grace”. That “grace” encourages us to do whatever God has prepared for us to do (Ephesians 2:7-10).

Jesus truly said that “God so loved the world that he gave his unique son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Arch Hefron taught me a great lesson. That lesson was in the power of a question. I guess that Arch had learned that technique from his master Teacher–Jesus.

Have you noticed how Jesus often used a question to help people think? Self-realisation and truth can often come from a question, more than from “telling”.

Do you use questions when you share Jesus’ way?

If you do, then others too may embrace the gospel, the good news of Jesus’ gift to us and have the assurance of salvation.

(John Denne is a retired pastor, ministerial secretary and mentor to pastors.)

13/07/2025

🎉 Colourful and vibrant end to the GC Session!

One of the most anticipated events of the General Conference Session was once again a vibrant celebration of global unity in Christ, held on Sabbath afternoon, July 12. The grand finale of Mission on the Move saw representatives from all world divisions don traditional attire and carry their countri...

12/07/2025

🌟 “It’s a powerful reminder of what one person can do.”

Dr Percy Harrold has been honoured at the 62nd General Conference Session in St Louis, Missouri, for more than three decades of dedicated service to blind and visually impaired people around the world. The award recognises Dr Harrold’s faithful and unwavering commitment to making the English Adult...

12/07/2025

In a special video message, Pastor Köhler has confirmed his intention to attend the SPD for Christ launch event next year. Click on the link to watch his message ⬇️

The South Pacific is already on the radar of newly elected General Conference president Pastor Erton Köhler, who has confirmed plans to visit the region next year for the launch of SPD for Christ. In a video message to the SPD church family, Pastor Köhler thanked members for their commitment to th...

11/07/2025

🇵🇬 The new committee, which will serve for the 2025–2030 quinquennium, includes five additional representatives from PNGUM—the only entity across the SPD to receive additional representation.

A new Executive Committee for the South Pacific Division (SPD) has been voted in by SPD delegates at the General Conference Session—and it marks a significant shift that reflects the growth of the Papua New Guinea Union Mission (PNGUM). The new committee, which will serve for the 2025–2030 quinq...