Welcome to the Ellen G. White Branch Office
The White Estate Branch Office at AIIAS is entrusted with the mission of preserving, promoting, guiding, and facilitating a comprehensive understanding of Ellen G. White’s life, writings, and her integral role within the broader narrative of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, with particular attention to her foundational contributions to Loma Linda University.
DIRECTOR'S REPORT 2024
Dr. Donny Chrissutianto is the director of the Ellen G White Estate Branch office at AIIAS.
SOP Symposium in Malaysia
The first two months of 2024 were filled with a series of symposiums in three different countries in Southeast Asia. Even though amid civil war in Myanmar, a Spirit of Prophecy (SOP) symposium was held in Yangon on January 25-27. Many pastors and workers from different regions of this country were enthusiastic to hear the SOP presentations that for long time not being held. At night, the military forces searched the attendees to make sure that none of them were involved in the insurgence. Despite this challenge, they were “thirsty” and desired to have another meeting on Ellen White and the gift of prophecy in the future.
Thailand was the next destination of the symposium after Myanmar. This meeting was held on January 29-30. There were pastors and delegates from neighborhood countries such as Cambodia attending this event. From the Ellen White Estate main office, Dr. Merlin Burt and Dr. G. T. Ng presented important topics on Ellen White and the gift of prophecy.
This series of symposiums continued in Malaysia. There were two separate events. The first was in Kuala Lumpur on January 30-31 and the other one was in Sabah from February 1 to 3. Pastors and workers from Singapore joined the symposium in Kuala Lumpur. They expected that these lectures would be presented in their country next year.
SOP Training in Timor Leste
In addition to this series of symposiums, a separate symposium for two unions in Indonesia was held at Universitas Advent Klabat, Manado on July 17-20. During this event, there was a follow-up discussion of the planning to open an Ellen G. White research center on this campus with the president of the institution.
A training and seminar on Ellen White and the gift of prophecy was conducted in Timor Leste (the youngest country in Southeast Asia) for the Mission officers, pastors, and young people in the Adventist International School on September 2-4. At the end of this training, a mission officer handed the first two translation books of Ellen White (the Story of Jesus and the Steps to Christ) into their national language, Tetun.
SOP Symposium in the Philippines
In the Philippines, there were several symposiums held in different unions. North Philippines Union Conference convened the event in Baguio on August 28-30. A new divided union in South Philippines with the headquarters in Cagayan De Oro assembled the symposium by mission and conference. This series of lectures on two different missions and a conference were held from September 25 to 29. The Central Philippines Union Conference held a Spirit of Prophecy convention in Cebu where all pastors in that union gathered on October 9-12. Another meeting on the gift of prophecy happened in the Davao mission from 17 to 20 October. All of these meetings in this country discussed the issues prevailing in the church such as country living, vegetarianism, the trinity, kneeling, bathing on the Sabbath, plagiarism, and how to understand Ellen White’s writings. The Branch Office Director and the SOP director of the Southern Asia Pacific Division worked together in these events.
More on the Director's Report for 2024
A consultation meeting was held on March 15-16 at Kent Island, Maryland.
This meeting helped me to see how the work of Ellen White Estate as a whole and the planning for the future.
The education department of the General Conference organized a meeting
for education leaders of five divisions on May 10-14 at the Universitas Advent Indonesia, Bandung. The branch office director presented a history of Adventist education in Indonesia which was started with the counsel of Ellen White.
The Hope Channel Indonesia invited me as a speaker on the Adventist doctrines including the gift of prophecy in the Seventh-day Adventists. This recording took place on August 26-30 in Jakarta. The Hope Channel will broadcast this program weekly in 2025 under the theme, The Present Truth.
During this year, I taught several classes and directed individual studies related to Adventist studies. From January to March, I taught the life, work, and theology of Ellen White’s class. Between March to June, I was assigned to redevelop materials on a history of the Seventh-day Adventist church course for online teaching. Then from June to July, I taught this class. From October to December, I teach the history of the early and medieval church.
In April, an invitation from the General Conference came to me to write a chapter about the State of the Dead in the Seventh-day Adventist history and theology. It is expected to be published at the end of 2024. From August to September, I revised a journal article about the divinity of Christ and its influence on the acceptance of the Trinity in the Seventh-day Adventist church. The editor of this journal plans to publish it at the end of this year.
The plan to start an Adventist Studies Certification finally received approval in October. It began from March to May with a formulation of new classes and modifying several courses in Adventist studies for this certification. The first extension classes will begin in March 2025, the second group will start in summer 2025, and the third cluster will take place in the last quarter of 2025. I humbly request your prayers for this plan so that more pastors can be equipped to glorify His name through this line of work. Amen.
