The Sabbath School and Personal Ministries Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church were established as a major setting for religious education in the Church. It exists to teach and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in response to the command of Jesus, in the context of the three angels’ messages of Revelation14:6-12. To honour this original purpose, the Sabbath School and Personal Ministries Department continue to communicate the good news to win, hold, and train for Jesus Christ, men, women, youth, boys and girls, in all the world.

The Sabbath School and Personal Ministries Department endeavours to motivate all members to dynamic Christian service with the conviction that “The church of Christ is organized for service” (MH 148), and “Every son and daughter of God is called to be a missionary; we are called to the service of God and our fellow men” (MH 395).

Recognizing that “the Sabbath school work is important, and all who are interested in the truth should endeavour to make it prosperous” (CSW 9); that “the Sabbath school, if rightly conducted, is one of God’s great instrumentalities to bring souls to a knowledge of the truth” (CSW 115); and that “Every church should be a training school for Christian workers. Its members should be taught how to give Bible readings, how to conduct and teach Sabbath school classes, how best to help the poor and to care for the sick, how to work for the unconverted . . . There should not only be teaching, but actual work under experienced instructors” (ChS 59); the Sabbath School and Personal Ministries Department functions as the primary religious educational and training system at the local church level of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, whereby the majority of Seventh-day Adventists worldwide learn the teachings of the Bible, including the tenets of the Church, and become motivated and equipped to share the gospel with every living soul. – Condense from the Inter-American Division Working Policy, 2018-2019, p. 407.