Southern Conference-Defunct (1994–2000)

By Jón Hjörleifur Stefánsson

×

Jón Hjörleifur Stefánsson, M.A., is a Ph.D. candidate, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

First Published: October 25, 2021

The Southern Conference was a church unit in Southern Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan that operated from 1994 to 2000.

Territory and Statistics1

Period: 1994–2000

Territory: The Kzylorda, South Kazakhstan, and Zhambyl Regions, and Kyrgyzstan

Population: 7,348,890

Membership: 1 783

Churches: 31

Origin of Seventh-day Adventist Work in the Territory

Adventists arrived to Central Asia in the late nineteenth century. In 1909, the Turkestan Mission was organized. For information on the origin of Adventist work in South-Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, see the article on that church unit.

From 1931 to 1980, the church units in the Soviet Union were not listed in the Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. In 1978 and 1979 the Kirghizian and Kazakhstan Districts were organized, respectively. In 1990 they became conferences.

Organizational History

In 1994, the Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Conferences were reorganized. The southern Kazakhstan regions Kzylorda, Shymkent, and Zhambyl were cut off the Kazakhstan Conference and joined to Kyrgyzstan to become the Southern Conference. The headquarters were moved to ul. Magadanskaya 63, Bishkek. Starting members were 1,026. Initial officers were President Rubin R. Ott, Treasurer A. V. Svoboda, E. G. Belyaeva, V. T. Kirshenman, P. S. Rtischev, and K. K. Shnaider.2

Over the few years that the conference existed, membership nearly doubled, from 1,026 to 1,783.

In 2000 the church units in Central Asia were reorganized. The Southern Conference was dissolved. The Kazakhstan regions3 were assigned to the new Southern Kazakhstan Conference, and Kyrgyzstan was added to the Central Asia Conference.4

List of Presidents

Rubin R. Ott, 1994–2000.

Sources

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing, 1990–2011.

Notes

  1. “Southern Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing, 2000), 116.

  2. For statistics at the commencement of the reorganized conference, see “Southern Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing, 1995), 104.

  3. The Shymkent Region, by then called South Kazakhstan Region, is not listed in the Yearbook.

  4. “Central Asia Conference” and “Southern Kazakhstan Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing, 2001), 117, 118.

×

Stefánsson, Jón Hjörleifur. "Southern Conference-Defunct (1994–2000)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. October 25, 2021. Accessed November 07, 2024. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=5IBB.

Stefánsson, Jón Hjörleifur. "Southern Conference-Defunct (1994–2000)." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. October 25, 2021. Date of access November 07, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=5IBB.

Stefánsson, Jón Hjörleifur (2021, October 25). Southern Conference-Defunct (1994–2000). Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved November 07, 2024, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=5IBB.