Exhibition “120 years of the Adventist Church in Chemnitz”

On the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the foundation of the Adventist Church in Chemnitz, a collection of pictures and texts was created, presenting events and people that played a significant role in the foundation of the Adventist Church in Chemnitz. The special thing about it: The Adventist Church in Chemnitz and Friedensau were founded in the same year: in 1899. The exhibition of these documents is currently on display in the University Library of Friedensau Adventist University (FAU).

Gerhard Perk is considered to be the founder of the Adventist Church in Chemnitz. The evangelist settled in the West Saxon industrial city in August 1898 and invited people to missionary events to discuss biblical topics and Adventist beliefs. At first, he used his apartment for the meetings, but when the room was getting to small, he rented a meeting room in Gartenstraße 8 in Chemnitz. On April 29, 1899, the first baptism took place in what was then the Friedrich-August-Bad in Bernsdorf, a south-eastern district of the city. Ludwig Richard Conradi, who is considered to be one of the founding fathers of Friedensau, also took part. This day was later recorded as the founding day of the Adventist Church in Chemnitz. “At the first baptism, 26 people were baptized, 17 of which were from Chemnitz”, according to sources from the archives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In large-format photographs of old documents, supplemented by texts from contemporary journals, the exhibition shows the growth and development of one of the first Adventists churches in Germany. Admission to the exhibition is free.