“How Can I Keep From Singing”

The Seventh-day Adventist story in Michigan began with the religious ferment that followed William Miller’s preaching about the Second Advent during the 1840s. After the Millerite movement fractured, a small group of believers continued studying scripture and gradually developed the teachings that became Seventh-day Adventism. Michigan became an early center of the movement when leaders and publishing operations gathered in Battle Creek during the 1850s. There, James and Ellen White helped establish a publishing house, congregation and growing network of institutions. The denomination formally organized at Battle Creek in 1863, making Michigan one of the principal birthplaces of worldwide Seventh-day Adventism.