7th Day Adventist Church, Move to Central & Eastern Africa #seventhdayadventist #seventhdayadventist💗#seventhdayadventistchurch The Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) message first entered Central and Eastern Africa through mission stations established from the south. In **Zimbabwe** (then Southern Rhodesia), the work began with the founding of the **Solusi Mission in Matabeleland in 1894**. The mission grew slowly, and the first organized church in the central territory was the **Lower Gwelo Adventist Church, established in 1905 with just 19 members**. A key figure was **Frank B. Armitage**, an American missionary who arrived at Solusi in 1897 and helped build the mission, later establishing the Somabula Mission (renamed Lower Gwelo) in 1901 with eight students from Solusi. Armitage was so loved by the local community that he was nicknamed **"Matandabantu"** (one who loves people), and when he left, local people walked 20 miles to the railway station to bid him farewell, weeping. One of the first indigenous converts was **Jim Mayinza**, who accompanied the missionaries and became a pioneer of the Adventist message in the region. The work in Zimbabwe grew steadily, and by 1916 the Rhodesia and Nyasaland Union Mission was formed with its headquarters in Bulawayo. In **Tanzania** (then German East Africa), Adventist mission activities were initiated in **1903**, with missionaries sent mainly from Germany, England, and Scandinavia. The first foothold was in the **Pare region**, which became the birthplace of Tanzanian Adventism. The work grew slowly but steadily; by 1916, a total of **400 members had been baptized**. A significant turning point came during **World War I**, when most European missionaries left the country, and the work was left in the hands of **native African believers**. This forced the church to become more self-reliant. By **1922**, the church had published a translation of the **New Testament in the Pare language**, and a few years later, Africans were ordained as SDA ministers for the first time. The **printed word** played a crucial role in spreading the faith. One remarkable story is that of **"Simon of Zanzibar,"** who bought an Adventist book titled *Wasonaje?* (*What Readest Thou?*), and after reading it, he became the first person to keep the seventh-day Sabbath in Zanzibar. By 1960, the SDA church in Tanzania and Zanzibar had grown to more than **13,000 members** and was organized into its own union. - @thehistoryof.tales