Adventist education: 150 years of a missional project to an education network

Abstract

Adventist Education had its origins established through a need of the newly structured religious community in the early 1860s. In these early days, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which was organized as a religious entity, aimed to preach the gospel with the message of the imminent return of Jesus Christ to this earth. And, to fulfill its mission, it was necessary to prepare missionaries who could spread this message. With missiological characteristics, the first movements emerged to establish schools that trained young people to be sent to fulfill this mission. After 150 years, this purpose has not only been achieved, but the movement for confessional education has transformed into an educational project present in more than 165 countries. The objective of this article is to present the development of this educational project that began as a missional vision and became one of the largest educational systems in the world.