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Founded | 2002 |
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Founder | Justin Kim and Israel Ramos |
Type | Religious |
Focus | Youth and young adults |
Location |
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Area served | World. Conventions in United States |
Method | Annual conventions plus regional conventions |
Key people | Justin McNeilus, President Yamil Rosario, General VP Contents |
Revenue | $694,244 (2009) [1] |
Volunteers | 75 [2] |
Website | www |
Formerly called | General Youth Conference |
Part of a series on |
Seventh-day Adventist Church |
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Adventism |
Generation of Youth for Christ, formerly the General Youth Conference - not to be mistaken for Adventist Young Professionals (AYP), is an annual conference and expression of Adventist theology and 28 Fundamental Beliefs, which organizes and coordinates Bible studies, online sermons, regional youth conferences, mission trips, global networking opportunities for young people, week of prayers and youth camp meetings. [3] It began with a small group of Korean students studying their Bibles together all night. It developed through middle-of-the-night text-messaging between two university students, one in Massachusetts, the other in California. They decided to call people together for a small conference in the woods of California. At that first conference, held in 2002, 200 people were invited; 400 attended. Since then, the popularity of the conventions has grown, and even the President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ted N. C. Wilson has attended and praise the conventions. It has sermons that have been published in hardcover and the 2010 convention registered 5,100 participants.
The SDA church journal for the Southwestern Union Conference concluded that, as a result of these conferences, "the youth now want to do public evangelism in their own church." [7]
The GYC annual gatherings have generated controversy within the Adventist community, by Progressive Adventists. One of the authors for Spectrum , an independent (liberal) Adventist magazine, wrote, "What I am saying is that emotional, anti-intellectual, conservative movements like GYC don’t accomplish much in the long run in spite of all the hoopla. They are ineffective in achieving their own long-term goals and can be spiritually harmful to the young innocents who blame themselves for delaying the Second Advent." [8] Ervin Taylor, writing for the Progressive Adventist magazine Adventist Today, criticized the movement, challenging claims that GYC is a grass-roots organization, and pointing to tax documents showing GYC is well funded. He also suggested that GYC has a conservative ideology. [9]
After some early painful interactions between the youthful organizers and General Conference officials, both groups have developed a positive relationship with the other. [10] Presenters at the Louisville, Kentucky, 2009 GYC convention included various leaders of the Adventist church: The North American Division ministerial secretary; the director of the Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism; presidents of two divisions of the world field; the Adventist Review editor, and four General Conference vice presidents. Saturday's attendance was estimated at 4,600. The 2010 GYC further demonstrated acceptance by the official Seventh-day Adventist leadership. Ted N. C. Wilson, newly elected President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, spoke for the Saturday morning service, January 1, 2011. [11] [ better source needed ]
The GYC is a member of the Adventist Laymen's Services and Industries (ASI). As the ASI website explains, "Adventist-laymen’s Services & Industries is a cooperative network of lay individuals, professionals and ministries who share a common commitment to support the global mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church." [12] [ better source needed ]
At first they called themselves the General Youth Conference, but this was too much like the Adventist "General Conference". They changed their name, keeping the GYC acronym, to Generation of Youth for Christ. [10] They have their own governing board, and are a registered Michigan-based charity with the United States government. [2] [ better source needed ]
Their website describes two levels of government, an executive committee and a board of directors. The executive committee is composed of volunteers, who oversee the operation of GYC. They include young professionals, university students, pastors, and Bible workers. The board of directors is made up of older individuals. The stated purpose of GYC is to balance the youthful energy of the executive committee with those who have more years of experience. The current Board of Directors includes three doctors, three conference officials, three pastors, two university professors, a financial analyst, and a law student. [13] [ better source needed ]
Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher William Miller first publicly shared his belief that the Second Coming would occur at some point between 1843 and 1844. His followers became known as Millerites. After Miller's prophecies failed, the Millerite movement split up and was continued by a number of groups that held different doctrines from one another. These groups, stemming from a common Millerite ancestor, collectively became known as the Adventist movement.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, its emphasis on the imminent Second Coming (advent) of Jesus Christ, and its annihilationist soteriology. The denomination grew out of the Millerite movement in the United States during the mid-19th century and it was formally established in 1863. Among its co-founders was Ellen G. White, whose extensive writings are still held in high regard by the church.
The Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement is a Protestant Christian denomination in the Sabbatarian Adventist movement that formed from a schism in the European Seventh-day Adventist Church during World War I over the position its European church leaders took on Sabbath observance and on committing Adventists to the bearing of arms in military service for Imperial Germany in World War I.
Amazing Facts is a non-profit Seventh-day Adventist evangelistic ministry based in Granite Bay, California, which broadcasts daily television programming worldwide. It is based on the teachings of Scripture, and especially focuses on the Three Angels' Messages of Revelation 14. Beginning as a radio program dedicated to Christian evangelism, it later expanded into television and online Bible study ministries.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a number of supporting, parachurch, independent, self-supporting and other such organizations that work adjunct or in association with the official church.
Maranatha Volunteers International (Maranatha) is a non-profit Christian organization founded in 1969 and is based in Roseville, California United States with offices in Canada, Latin America, India and Mozambique.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church had its roots in the Millerite movement of the 1830s to the 1840s, during the period of the Second Great Awakening, and was officially founded in 1863. Prominent figures in the early church included Hiram Edson, Ellen G. White, her husband James Springer White, Joseph Bates, and J. N. Andrews. Over the ensuing decades the church expanded from its original base in New England to become an international organization. Significant developments such the reviews initiated by evangelicals Donald Barnhouse and Walter Martin, in the 20th century led to its recognition as a Christian denomination.
Last Generation Theology (LGT) or "final generation" theology is a religious belief regarding moral perfection achieved by sanctified people in the last generation before the Second Coming of Jesus. It was a concept that had its origins in the beliefs and teachings of Seventh-day Adventist Church pioneers, and there are verses in scripture in texts such as 2 Corinthians 7:1, Matthew 5:48, and many others. Seventh-day Adventists hold that there will be an end-time remnant of believers who are faithful to God, which will be manifest shortly prior to the second coming of Jesus, as suggested by the 144,000 saints described in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament.
The theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church resembles early Protestant Christianity, combining elements from Lutheran, Wesleyan-Arminian, and Anabaptist branches of Protestantism. Adventists believe in the infallibility of the Scripture's teaching regarding salvation, which comes from grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The 28 fundamental beliefs constitute the church's current doctrinal positions, but they are revisable under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and are not a creed.
Historic Adventism is an informal designation for conservative individuals and organizations affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church who seek to preserve certain traditional beliefs and practices of the church. They feel that the church leadership has shifted or departed from key doctrinal "pillars" ever since the middle of the 20th century. Specifically, they point to the publication in 1957 of a book entitled Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine; which they feel undermines historic Adventist theology in favor of theology more compatible with evangelicalism. Historic Adventism has been erroneously applied by some to any Adventists that adhere to the teachings of the church as reflected in the church's fundamental beliefs such as the Sabbath or the Spirit of Prophecy. They misapply those who hold to mainstream traditional Adventist beliefs as synonymous with Historic Adventist.
The 1952 Bible Conference was a Seventh-day Adventist conference in the Sligo Church in Takoma Park, Maryland from September 1–13, 1952. There were 498 people listed as attending this meeting with worldwide representation. From published reports it appears that there were on average 450 people in attendance during the presentations. The Conference was the second major Bible Conference held by Adventists during the twentieth century, and the next major meeting of its kind after the 1919 Bible Conference. According to the then General Conference president, W. H. Branson, these meetings were regarded as "one of the most important meetings in our history."
Robert Howard Pierson was an American president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists during the 12½−year period June 16, 1966, to January 3, 1979. While in the line of duty, Pierson served in North America, Asia and Africa. He interacted with 3 U.S. Presidents and the Presidents or Prime Ministers of 8 foreign countries, plus many governors, mayors, and other governmental dignitaries. He received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan in the United States. As of 2018, Pierson is the third longest-serving church president after A. G. Daniels, and James Lamar McElhany.
Mark A. Finley is the former host and director of It Is Written, for which he traveled around the world as a televangelist. He was the first Seventh-day Adventist pastor to do a satellite evangelistic series. He also served as one vice-president out of nine for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and has written over 74 published books.
The "three angels' messages" is an interpretation of the messages given by three angels in Revelation 14:6–12. The Seventh-day Adventist church teaches that these messages are given to prepare the world for the second coming of Jesus Christ, and sees them as a central part of its own mission.
Edward E. Heppenstall was a leading Bible scholar and theologian of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. A 1985 questionnaire of North American Adventist lecturers revealed Heppenstall was the Adventist writer who had most influenced them.
Colin D. Standish and Russell Roland Standish were identical twin brothers and "historic" Seventh-day Adventists. They were often referred to collectively as the Standish brothers. They co-authored many books together, which have been published by their Hartland Institute.
The International Missionary Societyof Seventh-Day Adventist Church Reform Movement (IMSSDARM) is an independent Protestant Christian
The United Church of Christ in the Philippines is a Christian denomination in the Philippines. Established in its present form in Malate, Manila, it resulted from the merger of the Evangelical Church of the Philippines, the Philippine Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ, the United Evangelical Church and several independent congregations.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church pioneers were members of Seventh-day Adventist Church, part of the group of Millerites, who came together after the Great Disappointment across the United States and formed the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In 1860, the pioneers of the fledgling movement settled on the name, Seventh-day Adventist, representative of the church's distinguishing beliefs. Three years later, on May 21, 1863, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists was formed and the movement became an official organization.
Samuel Koranteng Pipim is a US-based Ghanaian author, speaker, and theologian. Trained in engineering and systematic theology, he based his office in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where, up until 2011, he ministered to students, faculty, and staff at the University of Michigan. He has authored and co-authored more than a dozen books. He has spoken around the world at events for youth, students, and young professionals. He helped begin and has sat on the board of directors for the Generation of Youth for Christ organization (GYC), a revival movement of Seventh-day Adventist youth in North America.