Faith, Record Rewind

1910 to 1915: An age of mission

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It is apparent when looking through old Australasian Records that there was a strong emphasis on mission both overseas and at home.

There were reports from all the different elements of church work, statistics and numbers: how much was raised in offerings, membership stats, colporteur (literature evangelist) sales.

While first person reports from missionaries both in the South Pacific region and from Australia and New Zealand working further afield add colour and a sense of adventure to the whole publication. These faithful missionaries also recount some of the challenges they have faced.

These excerpts from February 13, 1912 show some of those difficulties faced.

It is tempting to think of early Adventists as unsmiling, starch-collared, wet blankets but there is a fair amount of humour demonstrated in early articles, as this (possibly apocryphal) tale from March 11, 1912 demonstrates.

Above is another excerpt from 1915, this time showing that Adventists were reading other publications (such as The Bible Society Record). It is an amusing anecdote, maybe seen as a strange piece of news that was worth including for the interest value or maybe it fit with Adventist sentiment that ran against mainstream denominations at the time. Whatever the reason it was included, we hope you’ll be as amused as we are.

This rather serious confession is something we probably wouldn’t see nowadays. It does show that the church grapevine was alive and well even in those early days, and also that the church and editors weren’t afraid to quash misinformation.

In 1914, World War I started. In 1915, Ellen White died. Next Record Rewind we’ll bring you some reports/thoughts from the war as we examine those perilous years between 1915 and 1920.