The Seventh-day Adventist Church was formed in this division in 1863, a region home to freedom of speech and religion.
This division is the largest sender of overseas missionaries and short-term volunteers. NAD sent out nearly half of the denomination’s 1,200 volunteers in 2012.
This division is comprised of Bermuda, Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, the French possession of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Guam, Johnston Island, Marshall Islands, Midway Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, and the United States of America. There are about 1.1 million Seventh-day Adventist members among a population of 345 million.
The division operates a system of more than 850 elementary and secondary schools and 13 colleges and universities. Key institutions include Andrews University in Michigan, Oakwood University in Alabama, and Loma Linda University in California.
Loma Linda operates a medical school, which throughout the church’s history has produced healthcare professionals and missionaries who have served worldwide. Adventist health principles from this division have been documented to increase longevity, as noted in “National Geographic” magazine, reports from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and in the book “Blue Zones.”