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Braid patterns and hairstyles are an indication of a person's tribe or community, age, and marital status in many African cultures. Some Christians question whether braiding is compatible with biblical Christian lifestyle.
Jita is a tribe located around Mount Masita in the eastern side of Lake Victoria in Tanzania. The name Jita was adopted based on the location of Mount Masita. The colonial governors from Germany could not pronounce Masita; instead, they called it Majita. They put in writing the word Majita, and therefore it became the name for these people. Since then the whole area is called Majita.
The Kuria Tribe is among the Bantu ethnic groups. Adventism reached the Kurians in 1912. The missionaries soon discovered that the best way to introduce the gospel was, initially, to establish schools and, later, health services.
Levirate marriage is still practiced among the various African tribes in including, in Tanzania, the Luo, Pare, Hehe, Sukuma tribes. The unique struggles of the Adventist Church in its endeavors to evangelize these groups is discussed in this article.
The Luo are a Nilotic ethnic group that is spread out in East and Central Africa. Most of them inhabit the shores and the environs of Lake Victoria in Kenya and Tanzania. Adventism among the Luo of Kenya is over a century old, tracing its roots to the missionary activities of Arthur Carscallen and Peter Nyambo, who arrived at Kendu Bay in the eastern shores of Lake Victoria in November 1906.
The Maasai people live in the southern part of Kenya and northern part of Tanzania in east Africa. It is estimated that one million Maasai people live in Kenya and Tanzania, although most Maasai doubt these numbers. Many Maasai see the national census as government meddling and often miscount their numbers to census takers. This tribe is well known for being strong in preserving its culture.
The Adventist Church in Kenya survived numerous trials during the Mau Mau uprising (1952-1960).
During the early decades of Seventh-day Adventist missions in the Caribbean, missionaries eschewed public service in the public arena. This stance was influenced by the views of early Adventist leaders and promoted among the laity reaching back to the Millerites. Among the earliest holders of government positions was Frank Bayne of Barbados, who was appointed a member of the colony’s legislative assembly in 1959. Since then, Adventists in the Caribbean have continued to step into the public square. One study shows that at least thirty-two Adventists have held public office in twelve Caribbean countries from 1959 to 2020.
Australasian Division income during the depression was remarkable in the face of widespread adversity. Any progress made by the church during the worst years was in sharp contrast to numerous bankruptcies and business failures in the secular world.
The close proximity of Australia to Southeast Asia naturally led union conference officials in Australia to adopt responsibility for the establishment of Seventh-day Adventist missions in that region, first in Sumatra, then Singapore, followed by the Philippine Islands and Java.
During the first half of the twentieth century at least three families from the Mona Mona SDA Mission for Indigenous Australians were sent as missionaries to Papua (part of what today is Papua New Guinea).
This article examines the history of the development of baptismal vows in concept, word, and usage throughout the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church—from early references in Adventist publications and letters to current, official baptismal vows found in church manuals.
The Black Unions debate (1969-1980) concerned the wishes of the leadership of eight regional conferences of the North American Division in existence at that time to organize into two newly-created union conferences.
Even though the blood pact is not to be encouraged and is not practiced now as in the past, the concept of blood covenant has helped some in African cultures, particularly in Rwanda, to understand the Christian message.
Within a year of the outbreak of World War I the British government recognized that voluntary enlistment to the armed forces would be insufficient to sustain the needed personnel for the war against Germany.
Bullock-Cart Theology pursued a theology that was truly Indian while trying to preserve the core of the Adventist message at the same time.
Traditionally, Africans believe that the goal of life is to attain ancestorship at death. To enhance this target, therefore, they believe that burial rites of certain proportions and magnitude must be performed. However, these funeral rites vary slightly from community to community, as well as according to the religious practices of the deceased’s religion.
With the commencement of hostilities in Europe and WWII, the Adventist Church in Canada clearly expressed its conscientious position while demonstrating respect for government authorities as being ordained by God. As with Sabbath keeping, requests for noncombatant roles met similar resistance. The Church urged the Canadian military to provide a noncombatant medic option and other noncombatant options for Adventists and other likeminded objectors.
The cargo cult is a combination of native beliefs or animism and Christianity whose manifestations were present in the Philippines, West Irian, and throughout Melanesia.
Seventh-day Adventist pastor Michael Chamberlain and his wife Lindy suffered one of the most notorious cases of miscarriage of justice in Australian legal history. They lost their baby daughter Azaria to a dingo at Uluru, Norther Territory in August 1980.