Asian-Caucasian Conference
By Jón Hjörleifur Stefánsson, and Dmitry O. Yunak
Jón Hjörleifur Stefánsson, M.A., is a Ph.D. candidate, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Dmitry O. Yunak graduated in Finance and Economics from a Soviet secular educational institution and completed a six-year course of Theology at an underground SDA Theological Institute (Moldova, USSR). In the Soviet times, he served as a pastor, administrator, and bible/history professor in the underground Theological Institute. In 1990, he was appointed as Treasurer and Publishing Ministries Director for the USSR Division. After the Euro-Asia Division was organized in 1991, Dmitry O. Yunak served as ESD auditor and under treasurer. He was the author of a dozen of SDA history books and scores of other publications. He owns a major SDA history archive.
First Published: January 29, 2020
The Asian-Caucasian Conference was a church unit in Central Asia and the Caucasus that operated from 1989 to 1994.
Territory and Statistics
Period: 1989–1994
Territory: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan
Population: 47,700,000
Membership (1994): 2,014
Churches (1994): 211
Organizational History
Adventists arrived in the Caucasus and Central Asia in the late nineteenth century. For the origin of Adventist work in the territory of the Asian-Caucasian Conference, see the articles on Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
In 1983, Pastor Vyacheslav F. Chubarov moved to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. He managed to register the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Turkmenistan with the Council for Religious Affairs in 1988, and two years later he registered the twenty-member congregation in Ashgabad with the city administration.2
In 1989, the Trans-Caucasian District and the Uzbek-Tadzhik District merged into the Asian-Caucasian Conference. It comprised Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Headquarters were at ul. Volzhskaya 65, Tashkent. Starting members were 1,370. The only initial officer listed was D. P. Kulakov. The conference was one of the attached fields of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the USSR.3
In 1990, a year after its organization, the Asian-Caucasian Conference was assigned to the Southern Union Conference, which was organized that year. It also comprised the Kazakhstan and Kirghizian Conferences.4
In 1994, the Conference was divided into the Central Asia Conference and the Trans-Caucasus Field. The former comprised the three Central Asian countries and the latter the three Caucasus countries.5
President: D. P. Kulakov, 1990–1994.
Sources
Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995.
Yunak, Dmitri. “Turkemnistan Missionary Field.” Typed manuscript, May 2018. In the private collection of Dmitry Yunak.
Notes
-
“Asian-Caucasian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1994), 102.↩
-
Dmitry Yunak, “Turkemnistan Missionary Field,” typed manuscript, May 2018, in the private collection of Dmitry Yunak.↩
-
“Asian-Caucasian Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1990), 349.↩
-
“Southern Union Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1991), 342–43.↩
-
“Central Asia Conference” and “Trans-Caucasus Field,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1995), 104, 109.↩