The Seventh-day Adventist Church is calling on a family to serve in Switzerland. We pray that the Holy Spirit will go before this missionary family, and that we each will make a fresh re-commitment to reach the unreached with hope.
In August 1874, J. N. Andrews filled out his passport application. He was preparing for an overseas journey with his two children.
On September 15 that year, they would sail together for England and then on to Switzerland—the first official overseas missionaries of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. A small group of Sabbath keepers, many of them watchmakers, had asked the General Conference to send a missionary to support the fledgling work.
The window to overseas mission had opened, and soon hundreds of Seventh-day Adventist missionaries would be criss-crossing the globe, carrying a message of hope.
“Andrews University is named after J. N. Andrews, and we remain deeply committed to educating young people for mission and service.”
“Now, nearly 150 years later, we’re thrilled that one of our doctor of missiology students, Jonathan Contero, will soon be following in the footsteps of J. N. Andrews. He and his wife, Abi, and their two children have heard the mission call.”
Today Switzerland is a mission field once again. In fact, much of Europe, once a bastion of Christianity, is considered post-Christian, with young people abandoning the faith of their forefathers.
Once again, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is calling on a family to serve in Switzerland. Although currently serving as church-planters in Spain, the Contero family recently had the opportunity to stand on the shores of America, and as the Andrews family may have done, they looked out toward Europe.
“To me it’s an inspiration to be on the path, following the steps of a person like Andrews. For our family it’s also something that we have prayed a lot about. We are passionate about mission. We are moving to another country, another language and we ask for your prayers for our family because it’s a challenging move. We know for sure that God will be with us but we need your prayers to find the ways that God is preparing for us in Switzerland.”
Today the Seventh-day Adventist Church is refocusing its mission resources on the major mission challenges facing us—the 10/40 Window, the large cities, and the growing secular and post-Christian world. We pray that the Holy Spirit will go before this missionary family, and that we each will make a fresh re-commitment to reach the unreached with hope.
