Adventist Mission

Photo of the Week Fun Facts

This native Fijian chief is holding a cali, a traditional Fijian club used for killing enemies. Before missionaries arrived, the Fijian people were cannibals who collected heads or teeth as trophies of conquests.

The first Adventist missionaries to arrive came aboard the Pitcairn, the first Adventist-owned mission ship, that sailed throughout the South Pacific, bringing news of Jesus to the islands.

Today Fiji’s 322 islands are popular tourist destinations, though the country has suffered through a great deal of political upheaval in recent years. The two predominant ethnic groups on the islands are the native Fijians (a mixture of Polynesian and Melanesian races) and the Indo-Fijians (East Indians brought to the islands to work on the sugar cane plantations during the Nineteenth Century. The two races have lived uncomfortably together since then. While the Fijian population has accepted Christianity, the Indian population has maintained its original language, Hindi, and its Hindu religion. The native Fijian population has a slight majority over the Indian population. The Adventist Church membership in Fiji is slightly more than 25,000, which means the island has one Adventist for every 34 people.

Last year the Thirteenth Sabbath Offering for South Pacific Division provided funds to start building a church for the more than 500 Adventist students attending the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. Thank you for helping give these young people a place to worship and grow their faith.

Photos of the Week: album 1, album 2

Inspiring mission stories: read and watch