From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org


Church Disavows Connection With "Adventist" Ads


From "Beckett, John" <BeckettJ@gc.adventist.org>
Date 14 Dec 1999 12:10:50

ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
December 14, 1999
----------------------
Church Disavows Connection With "Adventist" Ads
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA .... [ANN] 

Recent advertisements that appeared in at least five major United States
newspapers placed by "the Eternal Gospel Church of Seventh-day Adventists"
are from a group that has no connection with the official Seventh-day
Adventist Church, according to church officials.

The "Eternal Gospel Church" has never had any connection with the Adventist
Church, nor has its minister ever been employed as a pastor in the Adventist
Church, and the ads have been placed without the knowledge of any Adventist
Church organization.

"This is a clear case of deliberate misrepresentation," says Ray Dabrowski,
communication director at the Adventist Church's World Headquarters. "We
deplore the use of our name for another group's separate agenda which runs
counter to Seventh-day Adventist public witness. We are concerned in the
same way as anyone whose name is misused to advance what some have termed
'hate literature.' As a Church, we disavow any connection with such
advertisements that spuriously claim to be from the Seventh-day Adventist
Church."

The ads ran in the St. Louis Dispatch, the Dallas Morning News, the Miami
Herald, El Heraldo Nuevo (Miami), and the Indianapolis Star. Similar ads
have previously run in the St. Louis Dispatch (refer to ANN News Release
1/27/99), the Miami Herald and other papers. 

"Our pioneer church leaders of the past spoke clearly against making 'unkind
thrusts' and 'scathing remarks' in a harsh spirit against other churches,"
comments Dabrowski.  "We believe that any kind of outreach that antagonizes
rather than persuades is completely counter-productive and not in harmony
with the gospel message of Jesus that we as Adventists believe." [Jonathan
Gallagher]
----------------------
Contact Information: 
Communications Department
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
12501 Old Columbia Pike
Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600

Phone: 301-680-6300
e-mail: info@gc.adventist.org
web: http://www.adventist.org/


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