The Year 2014 Marks The 20th Anniversary Of The Elders Digest Magazine As A Respected And Well-Liked Journal That Stands The Test Of Time Serving The Leadership Of The Worldwide Seventh-Day Adventist Church.
This special edition appropriately combines the celebration
of 20 years of successful editorial venture of our
magazine with the introduction to the 100th anniversary of
the passing of Ellen G. White to be reminisced in 2015—as
mentioned by the editor, Pastor Jonas Arrais.
The Ministerial Association of the General Conference
of Seventh-day Adventists is engaged in the important work
of providing to our pastors and other leaders of our Church
the necessary resources to inspire, inform, train, and empower
them at the local congregational level where most of
them serve as volunteers. The Elder’s Digest magazine, one
of the three journals published by the General Conference
Ministerial Association, is printed quarterly with a menu of
relevant articles with leadership strategies, didactic tools, health tips for elders, Seventh-day Adventist Church statements,
news around the world, sermon outlines, worldwide
initiatives of our Church, questions and answers, and other
biblical-sound topics for leaders
Elder’s Digest was founded in 1994 and is intentionally
designed to attend the needs of local church leaders around
the world and to keep them focused and connected. It is
prepared to help elders and company directors to grow in
their skills and abilities as leaders. It is recognized as the
best way to equip them while sharing and promoting church
programs and initiatives at the local church level around the
world.
At its inception in 1994, approximately 5,000 copies of
Elder’s Digest rolled off the press and into the hands of
local church elders and pastors each quarter. Today, about
100,000 copies in English are delivered each quarter. Elder’s
Digest is also printed in multiple languages around the
world. Overall, more than 220,000 copies are printed each
quarter and delivered to over 100 countries, including all of
the world divisions. And we are still growing, but with an
unbearable desire to reach a greater amount of local church
elders who are not receiving this valuable resource.
Beside the publication of the magazine in English, the Elder’s
Digest editorial office sends each quarter to all world
divisions the PDF files in advance for translation purposes. More than 200,000 leaders around the world are getting the
Elder’s Digest magazine in 14 languages so far—English,
French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Polish, Bulgarian,
Italian, Romanian, Indonesian, Tagalog, Bahasa, Chinese,
and Swahili. Praise God for His wonderful blessings and
for the hard work of the Ministerial Association counterparts
around the world leading the translations process into those
languages!
After 20 years of uninterrupted editorial work we pause
to express our gratitude to the Almighty God for His providential
guidance and abundant blessings every step of the
way. We also send a big THANK YOU to each one who has
contributed to the honorable success we celebrate at the
closing of this year—former and present editors, assistants,
writers, the General Conference and Division Ministerial
teams, donors, translators, copy editors, proofreaders,
Web masters, summer student workers, designers, workers
of our publishing houses, subscribers, advisors, and partners—including
the General Conference, Division, Union,
and Conference/Mission administrators. We request your
patronage and prayers as we pledge our commitment for
greater realizations to continue building the kingdom of God
in these end times.
Alfredo Garcia-Marenko is editorial assistant for the Elder’s Digest.
