The world Seventh-day Adventist Church had a busy year in 2000. In mid-year a quinquennial World Session brought a record 70,000 participants to the SkyDome convocation in Toronto, Canada. The church reported a record number of accessions, with 11.3 million adult baptized members around the world, representing an average annual church growth rate of nearly 3,200 new members each day. The Toronto Session elected new world leadership for the next five-year term and emphasized, in the words of Jan Paulsen, who was re-elected as World Church president, that “we are a church of today and tomorrow, together in the God who makes us one, looking unto Jesus, working together ‘until the day dawns.’”

The first day of the Year 2000 did not bring about the anticipated computer-related world catastrophe, but the days that followed enabled our reporters and editors to bring the church news that spoke both of anticipation for a better time to come, and of issues and matters that remind us of the uneasy world we live in. What follows is a review of some of the Year 2000 reports from the pages of the Adventist News Network Bulletins.

And now ... from the Adventist News Network team: The staff of the Adventist News Network and the General Conference Communication Department wish you a very happy and prosperous 2001 and new millennium! Thank you for your news contributions and support as we communicate important news about the progress and challenges of the Seventh-day Adventist Church around the world.