The international paper for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Adventist World, is adding new languages in both print and online editions to benefit language groups in Europe and Asia, thus increasing the number of church members who have access to the paper.
Six months after the online launching of the German-language edition, around 25,800 Adventist homes (45,000 church members) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland will begin receiving monthly print copies of Adventist World in their own language. The German edition is currently in print and will be distributed in January 2010.
The print launch is in partnership with Advent-Verlag, a church-owned publishing house based in Lüneburg, near Hamburg, Germany, which at the same time is also launching a new free denominational magazine (Adventisten heute) for its membership area. The Austrian Union also plans to launch a new magazine with Adventist World as an insert to be distributed throughout Austria.
Officials of the Seventh-day Adventist Church think this represents an essential development for German speaking church members. “We at Advent-Verlag are excited on behalf of our readers in the German-speaking territories,” says publishing house editor Eli Diez-Prida. “We have always published short news articles from around the world in our magazine, but now the relationship and the identification with the world church will be promoted much more. It will do us good to widen the national and European horizons.”
Adventist World also launched a Vietnamese online edition in October 2009.
The move came about a year after the Adventist church in Vietnam received official recognition by the government and will be available to some 14,000 Vietnamese members who, for many decades, have felt that they were only marginally involved in the world church since they could obtain very few materials. According to Vietnamese government officials, there are more than 300,000 Sabbath keepers country-wide who meet in homes. They will now be able to read Adventist World in their language and in this way identify with the world church.
Two additional versions of Adventist World will be introduced on the Web in January 2010. The new editions will be in Romanian, with about 100,000 Adventist members, and Urdu, Pakistan’s dominant language, with around 12,000 members. Although this group is relatively small, it is “worth being supported,” says Claude Richli, marketing manager and co-editor of the magazine. “These people live in a mainly Muslim society and need to get encouragement by better communication with their brothers and sisters from around the world. Besides, we have knowledge of non-Adventist Christians living in Pakistan who would love to deepen their Christian faith and might be very happy to read the magazine in their own language.”
By 2010, Adventist World will be published in seven languages in print editions and 11 language in online editions, including Russian, Chinese and Korean.
Adventist World was launched by the Seventh-day Adventist world headquarters in 2005. The magazine aims to “lift up Jesus Christ and unite Seventh-day Adventists around the world, in their faith and life, and in their hope and mission.” The editorial offices are located in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA, and in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
The first edition of Adventist World in the German language is in print and will be ready for disbursement in January 2010. For further information, visit www.adventistworld.org. For the German edition visit http://de.adventistworld.org, www.adventisten-heute.de or www.advent-verlag.de.
