All Seventh-day Adventist schools are places where children and young people may learn about God, the Creator of the universe. With the dominance of evolutionary theory in secular schools, Adventist schools are to defend and promote the biblical creation. This is because creation is the basis for knowing God and His powerful words. Other biblical doctrine such as Sabbath observance, Christian family life, sin and salvation, the Godhead, the philosophy of work, are all related to creation.
For that reason, the Education department of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD) in collaboration with the Geoscience Research Institute (GRI) of NSD came up with the idea of providing every Adventist school with a creation display or a creation museum. In this initiative, schools should have a space, a room or a corner in the school building, where creation artifacts are to be displayed. The purpose is to remind students that creation is real, and God is real. It is to teach them that the world did not come to existence by chance or accident.
To fulfill this purpose, for the last year, the NSD Geoscience Research Institute and the Education departments have purchased creation artifacts and fossils from Tucson, Arizona, USA, and distributed them to all Adventist schools in the Japan Union Conference, the Taiwan Conference, and the Mongolia Mission. Each school has received creation items worth $1,000 USD. In response to this initiative, all schools have prepared a space to display these artifacts and fossils. Each of our schools in Korean Union Conference has had creation museum in place for more than 10 years already.
Since it is not possible to visit all the schools right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a launching or inauguration of these creation displays was done in the NSD headquarters in Paju, Korea, on June 16, 2021. In the office of the NSD Education department director, a space has been prepared with some shelves to display similar artifacts and fossils that were given to the schools. Half of this office is dedicated for this purpose, symbolizing that the Education department of NSD exists to introduce God to all students, and to bring them to the knowledge of their Creator.
At the symbolic inauguration of the creation displays, NSD president Kim SiYoung thanked Choi ChongGeol, NSD GRI director, and Richard Sabuin, NSD Education director, for their effort to make this happen. “We need to introduce God to many students studying in our schools, who have not known God and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior,” he said. All NSD employees attended the special event and witnessed the ribbon cutting ceremony.
Although it was a small event, it represented the most important value in Adventist education. Let us pray that all our Adventist schools continue to be a place where many children and young people come to know God and to have a personal relationship with Him.
Richard A. Sabuin, NSD Education Director