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Mission to Latin America
The year 1890 marks the arrival of Seventh-day Adventists in South America. On December 10, 1891, the first missionaries--Elwin W. Snyder, Albert B. Stauffer, and Clair A. Nowling--arrived, initiating the literature distribution program on this continent and significantly promoting the advancement of the Adventist message in the world. Interest in the Adventist message grew and spread throughout the continent. -
Hispanic Adventism in North America
The Seventh-day Adventist work among the Hispanics on this continent began in Sanchez, Arizona, in 1899, only 36 years after the Adventist church was officially organized (1863). A bilingual Mexican Methodist pastor named Marcial Serna eventually became the first Hispanic Adventist pastor, raising up several Adventist congregations in the southwest region of the United States during his ministry. -
Ellen White’s Death
Despite the “Great Disappointment” when Christ did not come in 1844, Millerite Adventism lived on. But after that date it was no longer a unified movement. Rather, Millerism split into several denominations, with the Seventh-day Adventist branch of the movement starting out as the weakest but ending up by far the strongest by the time of Ellen White's death in 1915. -
Inter-American Division Relocation
The headquarters of the Inter-American Division were relocated from Havana, Cuba to Miami, Florida, on April 1945. While the change was aimed at taking advantage of better communication and air transportation to all the Inter-American Division countries, it led to the beginning of the Hispanic work in Florida. -
Second Stage of Expansion
The second stage in the expansion of Adventists in Latin America had to do with one of the most controversial issues in the mission of the church: social responsibility. The Adventist pioneers who arrived in Latin America in addition to preaching, lived and practiced the Gospel in the lives of their neighbors. Several analysts of Protestantism in Latin America came to the conclusion that this was one of the secrets of the success of Adventists in that region of the world. -
Massive Migration
The Spanish influence in Florida has become more pronounced. Between 1959 and 1962, over 215,000 Cubans found haven in this land of freedom. The second wave of immigrants, which arrived in 1980, between April and September, 1980, brought more than 125,000 Cubans to the States. By the 1980s, 340,000 Cubans were living in South Florida in the Miami area. Among those leaving Cuba, were some Adventists who found the Spanish-speaking congregation in Miami to be a haven in a new land. -
Hispanic Population: 22.8 million
The U.S. Census.gov website shows that by March 1993 the Hispanic population in the U.S. was of 22.8 million, 8.9 percent of the total population. -
Hispanic Population: 60 million
By 2018, the number--provided by the Pew Research Center--had grown to 60 million, showing the ten top metropolitan areas above the million mark in such places as Florida, California, Texas, New York and IIlinois.
