The Birth of Adventist Education Season 2 | Episode 22
The Adventist Church was in its infancy
with a membership that was only in the tens of thousands,
and yet it had already made ventures
into the publishing work and the health work.
Despite a small membership,
it would soon move into the educational field as well,
with a vision far greater than the reality of church life at the time.
A school had started in 1868 by Goodloe Harper Bell
that was supported locally here in Battle Creek.
But in 1872 James and Ellen White would call for the upgrading of this school
into an advanced educational institution,
and also for the denomination to support the school.
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As guidance for the school,
Ellen White wrote Testimony for the Church Number 22,
where she developed the fundamental principle
of the correlation between the physical,
mental, moral, and religious aspects of education.
The Bible was not to be just an elective option to study,
but was to be infused throughout the whole curriculum,
eliminating the classics as the main thrust.
Initially, the teachers and administrators struggled
to implement what they probably didn't fully understand themselves.
As well as making the curriculum Bible-based,
there was also the admonition to include a manual labor program.
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Education was to move away from the Latin and Greek classics
and be holistic, focusing on character development
and daily reminding the students of their obligation to God,
to live for Him and be missionaries wherever they were.
The focus on manual labor and missionary work
is reflected in the early names of these schools:
The College of Medical Evangelists, Emmanuel Missionary College,
Southern Missionary College,
Australasian Missionary College, and Oakwood Industrial School.
The purpose was for mission.
The name of the school reflected the purpose of the church:
to train missionaries at home and abroad.
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The vision to start a comprehensive educational system
would mushroom and grow.
Education is such a key evangelistic strategy.
The places today where the church is stronger
have a strong Adventist educational system
that is valued and supported by the members.
Education that recognizes it's not just for academic advancement
but that it is also evangelistic and redemptive,
echoing the words of Ellen White that education and redemption are one.
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The work of education now encompasses the globe
with the largest Protestant school system
but our strength lies not in our size but in our faithfulness
to the original purpose of setting up the educational school system.
Practical education with a clear mission focus
was the primary motivating factor rather than just academic excellence.
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Many today do not have the opportunity to get an Adventist education.
If that is you, then may you be a witness in your school or university
like the Waldensians in years gone by.
Proverbs says, 'Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not depart from it.'
Whether it's at Sabbath school, home school, or Adventist school,
we see that education is vitally important in solidifying what we believe
as well as giving us the skills that we need in life.
If you live near a school, then support it.
Support the youth who are attending, whether it's financially,
through your prayers, by volunteering, by working,
or in whatever way that you can.