Slovakian Conference

The Slovakian Conference was first organized in 1919 as a mission to oversee the Adventist activities in Slovakia.

Territory and Statistics

Organized 1919; reorganized 1968.

Territory: Slovakia.

Statistics as of June 30, 2018: churches 43; membership 2,219; population 5,447,000.¹

Organizational History

Mission work in Slovakia began in 1904.² The Slovakian Mission was organized along with other church units when the Czechoslovakian Union was formed at a meeting in Brno, November 13-19, 1919.³ By the end of that year there were 152 members.⁴

The Slovakian Mission became the Slovakian Conference shortly before World War II,⁵ probably due both to its growth and to the political situation. During World War II the Slovakian Conference, and indeed all the church units of the Czechoslovakian Union (which is not mentioned in the SDA Yearbook during these years), became detached organizations of the Central European Division.⁶ Its territory was Slovakia and the headquarters was located at Schanzstraße 241, Pressburg (Bratislava). Membership was 523. The initial officers were: president, J. Lichý; secretary-treasurer, St. Macko; and T. J. Zigmund, A. Messerschmidt, and M. Schneider.⁷

Shortly after the war (about 1946), the Czechoslovakian Union was reorganized with its pre-war church units, including the Slovakian Conference. The union, however, became a part of the Southern European Division.⁸ The conference headquarters at this time was at Tr. Marsala Maalinovskeho 24a.⁹

In 1951 the Czechoslovakian government dissolved the Slovakian Conference and all the Czechian Conferences, and from 1952 to 1956 it stopped all public work of the Adventist Church and closed its churches. In 1956 the churches opened again, but it was only in 1968 that the three conferences—the Slovakian, Bohemian, and Moravia-Silesian—were reorganized.¹⁰

When the Slovakian Conference was reorganized, its headquarters was at Cintorinska 4.¹¹ It moved to Leskova 9 in 1973/1994,¹² Leskova 13 in 1979,¹³ Teslova 1 in 1984,¹⁴ and to Cablkova 3 in 1994.¹⁵

At its organization, the Slovakian Conference membership was a little over 500. Due to the war and the Communist regime, statistics over the next few decades are next to none. At the commencement of 1972, there were 1,500 members. Since then membership has continued to grow slowly. Nearly 50 years later membership had increased by about 700 members, to a total of 2,242.¹⁶

List of Presidents

J. Lichý (1941-1948); J. Gajan (1949-1951); conference shut down by the government (1951-1968); Gaspar Lovas (1968-1980); Michal Hrobon (1981-1990); Alois Barta (1991-1992); Emanuel Duda (1993-1995); Jan Muran (1996-1999); Emanuel Duda (2000-2003); Karol Badinsky (2004-2015); Bohumil Kern (2016-present).

Sources

“Berichte der Tschechoslowakischen Union vom 1. Oktober bis 31. Dezember 1919.” Zions-Wächter, May 5, 1920.

Rühling, Richard. “Die Abteilungskonferenz in Brünn.” Zions-Wächter, December 17, 1919.

Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Second revised edition. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996. S.v. “Slovakia.”

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook, 1919-2018. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Statistical Report of Seventh-day Adventist Conferences, Missions, and Institutions. Washington, D.C.: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1938-1940.

Notes

1. „Slovakian Conference,“ Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (2019), 154.↩

2. The Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, second revised edition (1996), s.v. “Slovakia.”↩

3. Richard Rühling, “Die Abteilungskonferenz in Brünn,” Zions-Wächter, December 17, 1919, 236.↩

4. “Berichte der Tschechoslowakischen Union vom 1. Oktober bis 31. Dezember 1919,” Zions-Wächter, May 5, 1920, 92.↩

5. The Slovakian Conference appears for the first time in the Statistical Report in 1939 and in the Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook in 1941. Statistical Report (1939), 8; “Slovakian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1941), 98.↩

6. “Detached Organizations,” SDA Yearbook (1940), 94-95.↩

7. For initial members, officers, and headquarters, see Statistical Report (1939), 8; “Slovakian Conference,” SDA Yearbook (1941), 98.↩

8. “Czechoslovakian Union Conference,” SDA Yearbook (1946), 211-212.↩

9. “Slovakian Conference,” SDA Yearbook (1946), 212.↩

10. The Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, 2^nd ed. (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996), s.v. “.”↩

11. “Slovakian Conference,” SDA Yearbook (1969), 245.↩

12. “Slovakian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1973/1974), 130.↩

13. “Slovakian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1978), 147-148.↩

14. “Slovakian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1984), 105.↩

15. “Slovakian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (1994), 81.↩

16. “Slovakian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (2018), 152.↩