4,762 Seventh-day Adventists in Switzerland donated USD 13.3 million
Zürich/Schweiz, 15.02.2018 / APD
4,762 Seventh-day Adventists lived at the end of December 2017 in Switzerland. The number of members has increased by 110 people in one year. Adventists in Switzerland celebrate in 54 congregations and six groups the divine service on Saturday (Sabbath), the biblical day of rest. According to the communications department of the Adventist Church in Switzerland church members donated USD 13,3 million, an average of USD 2,800 per person, for the Adventist church worldwide and nationally. This amount does not include donations for the needs and tasks of the local churches.
© Logo: Freikirche der Siebenten-Tags-Adventisten
According to Herbert Bodenmann, media spokesman for the Adventist church in Switzerland, membership development is not consistent, but is depending on the region. In German-speaking Switzerland, the number of members has decreased in 2017 by two persons, whereas in French-speaking Switzerland and in the Italian-speaking part of the country the membership has increased by five percent or 112 persons. On the one hand, this was due to Adventists who had moved to Switzerland from abroad (transfer growth) and on the other hand to people who had joined the Church through baptism or confession of faith (conversion growth).
Voluntariness - no church tax
Adventists in Switzerland donated a total of USD 13.3 million in 2017 to support their church worldwide and nationally. Of this amount, more than USD 956,000 went abroad to support the Church's mission in 215 countries and to Adventist World Radio; USD 65,000 went to Adventist Development and Relief Agency ADRA Switzerland and some USD 494,000 have been donated for the maintenance and construction of new church buildings in the country, said Jean-Luc Waber, Chief Financial Officer of the Adventist Church in Switzerland. Additional funds have been donated for the mission and work of the 54 local churches in Switzerland that are not included in the USD 13.3 million.
Global solidarity through financial compensation
The activities of the regional church leadership (Conference), the supra-regional church leadership (Union) and the subcontinental church leadership (Division) as well as the world church leadership (General Conference) are mainly financed by transferred tithe funds and project-related donations of the local congregations. To support financially weak regions of the world, as well as to support the global activities of the World Church, which has more than 20 million members, there is an extensive and permanent transfer of funds. In this way, through the voluntary tithes and donations, each member of a local church contributes directly to worldwide growth and the fulfillment of the Church's tasks and mission.
Adventists in Switzerland are legally organized as an association
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Switzerland is not organized as a church but as an association and consists of two conferences: the German (speaking) Swiss Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (Deutschschweizerische Vereinigung der Freikirche der Siebenten-Tags-Adventisten), based in Zurich, and the French-Italian (speaking) Swiss Conference (Fédération des Eglises Adventistes du 7e jour de la Suisse romande et du Tessin), based in Renens near Lausanne. Together, the two administrative regions form the Swiss Union, which is based in Zurich.
Ecumenical contacts
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Switzerland is member of the Swiss Bible Society and has also a guest status in the "Working Group of Christian Churches in Switzerland" (AGCK.CH).
Website of the German Swiss Conference: www.adventisten.ch/
Website of the French-Italian Swiss Conference: adventiste.ch/
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