John N. Andrews, the First “Official” Seventh-day Adventist Missionary (1874)

These next few sentences are recycled prom a parallel mini-bio about J.N. Andrews: In 1867, he became the third General Conference president. In 1869 he became editor of the “Review and Herald.” His young wife died in 1872. Two years later, he and his children travelled to Europe as the first “official” Seventh-day Adventist missionaries to that highly influential part of the world. In order to give due credit to Michal B. Czechowski, his name must now be linked to that of J.N. Andrews. Considered unreliable and inexperienced by Adventist leadership, he left for Europe on his own initiative in 1864. The message he preached in various European countries was the doctrinally correct. His work helped to prepare the ground for J.N. Andrew’s arrival 10 years later. Here is the very concise Church Heritage Manual entry concerning this mission: John Nevins Andrews was appointed the first official missionary, and was sent to Switzerland. His 17-year-old son Charles, and his 13-year-old daughter Mary sailed with him. Soon after his arrival, the European Mission was organized. Andrews also reached Prussia in 1875, and reported finding a group of 46 Sabbath keepers there [there because of Czechowski, no doubt. This discovery by Andrews is analogous to the discovery by Marco Polo of “Nestorian” Christians in the Gobi desert on his journey to China). Prior to his death from tuberculosis in Switzerland in 1883 (at the relatively young age of 54), three of his children had also died of tuberculosis.