SDA ARTICLES

GCSDA CORRUPTION #63

GC Asks members to drop "Seventh-day" from SDA name

Use of Initials 'SDA' Frowned on by GCSDA

July 11, 2003

Dear Friends:

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is proud of its name. The name Seventh-day Adventist indicates two doctrines that set the Church apart from other Protestant denominations, even though the Church shares most doctrines in common with mainstream Christianity. "Seventh-day" indicates the Church's belief that Sabbath is the seventh day of the week (Saturday), and God should be especially honored and worshiped on that day. "Adventist" indicates the Church's belief that Jesus is coming again soon.

Some people incorrectly abbreviate the Church's name as SDA. In the past, that was an acceptable abbreviation. Today, those initials are not the preferred abbreviation of the Church's name. The single word "Adventist" is the preferred abbreviation for our Church.

Here are three important reasons why Adventist is a better abbreviation for the Church's name:

* Adventist conveys one of the central beliefs of the church - that Jesus is coming again soon. The initials SDA do not convey any message.

* The initials SDA can be easily confused with other entities.

* The Adventist Church is a worldwide entity, communicating the gospel in more than 800 languages. In many of those languages, the initials are different. For example, in Spanish, the Church's initials would be IASD. And of course, in Japanese, the initials are not translatable at all.

For these reasons, the Adventist Church asks that everyone use the single word "Adventist" as the only appropriate abbreviation of our Church's name. We appreciate your continued concern and writing about the Adventist Church. Thank you for understanding and correcting your usage in future writings about the Adventist Church.

Sincerely,

George Johnson Jr.
North American Division
Assistant Communication Director for Media Relations"

See Also: http://www.nadadventist.org/news/mfax/mf-07-07-2003.pdf