Biblical and Historical Basis
The history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s relationship with media is marked by various episodes of pioneering and innovation. In 1942, the radio program La Voz de la Esperanza began for Spanish-speaking countries. In Portuguese, one of the first religious radio programs was A Voz da Profecia, which started broadcasting in 19431. In the United States, one of the earliest religious television programs was Faith for Today, launched in 19502. However, the Church’s bold and creative use of media dates back to the Millerite movement, particularly through the work of communicator Joshua Himes in the early 1840s. At a time when printed media and mass publications were new, Himes was well-acquainted with the technological innovations in communication of the time. He established the foundations of Adventist literature and publishing, maintaining weekly magazines across much of America during the first half of the 1840s3.
Even with the dissolution of many Millerite adherents following the Great Disappointment, the remaining group, which would later form the Seventh-day Adventist Church, stayed united and active through the use of printed publications that explained the prophetic disappointment of October 22, 18444. One of the most significant moments in the Church’s relationship with printed media occurred in November 1848 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. That year, Ellen White received a vision indicating that it was time to start a small journal and distribute it to the people5. This periodical was published in 1849 under the name Present Truth. It is considered the first Sabbatarian Adventist periodical. In a way, Ellen White’s vision confirmed that publishing, with content and approach guided by the Bible and with an evangelistic purpose, was a legitimate and recommended resource for preaching the gospel. Although all Christian churches have used the press as a means of communication in one way or another, few denominations have had printed media play such a fundamental role in their origin, development, consolidation, and growth as the Seventh-day Adventist Church6.
Beyond the textual dimension of printed media, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has also innovated in the audiovisual field. Unlike many Protestant religious movements of the time that associated images and religious illustrations with idolatry, Millerites and Adventists made extensive use of lithographs, charts, illustrated diagrams, and other visual resources to represent biblical teachings7. Adventist pioneers believed that God chose to communicate important messages about the future through the description of symbols and images in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. Thus, they understood that images, like text, were an appropriate means of explaining the Bible, as they preserved the original characteristics of the figures present in prophetic revelation8. Among the various reasons for using evangelistic diagrams and illustrated charts by Millerites and Adventists was that these resources helped people better understand biblical texts9.
Thus, it is clear that media and communication technologies are strategic for fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission (Matthew 28:19, 20) to make disciples of all nations. Ellen White, a prolific writer and enthusiast of printed media, wrote: “God has endowed men with talents and inventive ability to accomplish His great work in our world. The inventions of the human mind seem to come from humanity, but God is behind it all. He has brought about the invention of rapid means of communication for the great day of His preparation”10.
Additionally, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in South America has witnessed the great effectiveness of preaching through media via the Novo Tempo Communication Network.
Recent Release
In this biblical-historical context of faithfulness to the pioneering and innovative legacy of using media to preach the three angelic messages (Revelation 14), the Seventh-day Adventist Church is globally releasing the film “How It All Began.” It is the largest feature film production in the denomination’s history. Like any fictional work, the film should not be seen as a complete representation of the history or as an objective chronological catalog of the events and dates that marked the Church’s emergence11. The film presents a reading of the origin of Adventism that promotes hope, faith, and mission and emphasizes certain events, circumstances, and characters found in historical books and documents. The gospels are examples of how the same story can be told in various ways—despite different emphases and approaches, all of them justly represent the life and work of Jesus Christ.
It is important to highlight that the film’s content has been subject to careful evaluation by renowned experts in Adventist history, such as Drs. James Nix, George Knight, and Allan Lindsay. Rather than reconstructing all the details of Adventist history precisely, its goal is to communicate the meaning of being an Adventist. Thus, its greater purpose is to convey to a contemporary audience the origin and significance of the hope of the Second Advent in the heart of a people.
It should also be understood that, to achieve this objective satisfactorily, an audiovisual production of this nature required a team of professionals familiar with the medium and audiovisual language. The choice of professional and committed actors was crucial to the success of the project. As part of the casting process, in addition to traditional auditions, the participation of candidates in other film productions was evaluated to avoid any image-related issues.
The decision on what type of project to engage in after the filming of “How It All Began” is a unique responsibility of the actors, whose autonomy is legally guaranteed in the television and film industry. The Seventh-day Adventist Church, therefore, is not responsible for the participation of the film’s actors in other productions, whether religious or not, nor are they official representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church by virtue of their involvement in the film’s production.
Thus, it can be concluded that the film’s strength lies in how convincingly and emotionally the chosen actors were able to convey hope and faith. The feature film was designed to be assessed like any other audiovisual piece: by what it communicates and the power of its story, regardless of the subsequent works of some of its actors.
In this way, “How It All Began” adds to a series of other Church endeavors that are now part of a robust communication structure serving God: publishing houses, radio stations, television networks, production companies, studios, media centers, and technology hubs, among others. This communication network exists to fulfill Christ’s words: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). The Seventh-day Adventist Church relies on the strength and engagement of its members to share the compelling story of a people living in hope of soon encountering the Lord Jesus. Participation in this task can be through the distribution of books and magazines, social media, radio and television programs, films already produced or yet to be developed in the coming years, as well as through the dedicated lives of faithful worshippers.
Brasília, October 21, 2016.
Seventh-day Adventist Church
South American Division – Communication Department
1 FONSECA, Alexandre. “Much More Than the Sabbath: The Adventist Pioneering in Religious Electronic Media.” Revista de Estudos da Religião, vol. 8, Sept. 2008, pp. 89-100.
2 FENN, Richard Lee. “A Survey of the Uses of Television by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.” Master’s thesis – The American University, United States, 1960.
3 KNIGHT, George. “Adventism: Origin and Impact of the Millerite Movement.” Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2015, pp. 71-77.
4 SCHWARZ, Richard; GREENLEAF, Floyd. “Light Bearers: The History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.” Engenheiro Coelho, SP: Unaspress, 2009, p. 69.
5 Idem, p. 71.
6 MANNERS, Bruce. “Publish or Perish: The Role of Print in the Adventist Community.” Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr. Muller, 2009, p. 69.
7 MORGAN, David. “Protestants and Pictures: Religion, Visual Culture, and the Age of American Mass Production.” Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 134.
8 See BATES, Joseph. “Second Advent Waymarks and High Heaps: Or a Connected View of the Fulfillment of Prophecy by God’s Peculiar People from the Year 1840 to 1847.” New Bedford: Press of Benjamin Lindsey, 1847; see MUELLER, Ekkehardt; PFANDL, Gerhard. “How Adventists Interpret Daniel and Revelation.” In: PFANDL, Gerhard (ed.). “Interpreting the Scriptures.” Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2015, pp. 80-87; and also DAMSTEEG, Gerard. “The Interpretation of Prophecy and the Advent Movement.” In: HEINZ, Daniel; MOSKALA, Jiri; BEMMLEN, Peter (eds.). Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University, 2009, pp. 221-230.
9 PALMER, Susan. “Unraveling Adventist Prophecy: The History and Meaning of the Millerite Charts.” November 2012. Available at: http://bit.ly/1OzM6h1.
10 WHITE, Ellen. “Fundamentals of Christian Education.” Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 1996, p. 409.
11 REYNAUD, Daniel. “Media Values: Christian Perspectives on the Mass Media.” Cooranbong: Avondale Academic Press, 1999.