The question we get asked the most is 'What does SDA stand for?'



SDA ​stands for Seventh-Day Adventist. The choir is actually a department of the Croydon Seventh-Day Adventist Church. 

Our name is actually Croydon Seventh-Day Adventist Gospel Choir, but as you can see that is quite long to put on an album cover, concert programme, or TV credit, so we go for the abbreviation SDA. To be honest, whilst many feel it can be confusing to have an abbreviation which could mean anything, we find that it opens the door for discussion when people ask the question.





What is a Seventh-Day Adventist?

An ordinary human being who believes in an extraordinary God! A Seventh-Day Adventist hurts, cries, gets down, sometimes gets it wrong, aspires, hopes...just like any other human being. Let's get rid of the myth from the outset that a Christian is already perfect, with an unrealistic view about life, is all about 'pie-in-the-sky- notions, and is under some sort of 'mind control'. Nothing could be further from the truth. 



A Seventh-day Adventist Christian believes in God, and that He showed himself to mankind through His Son Jesus Christ, who was born and lived on earth, and whose death is the means of our salvation, and whose resurrection is a reminder that he has the power over death, and we can too experience eternal life, and whose promise to return is real, significant, and will put an end to - and give way to a new world  free from -  sorrow and pain and death. That is why we are called Adventist.

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Adventists recognise that every aspect of life : health, relationships, finances, work ethic, integrity, and so on, are all covered in the writings of many individuals whose inspired  letters, poems, songs, historical accounts, personal memoirs, wit and wisdom  comprise what we know as the Bible, which is actually a self-contained library. Adventists endeavour to put the principles into practice, and have actually built up an impressive portfolio of schools, hospitals, and health companies. In fact with going on eight thousand schools and  universities, it runs the largest Protestant education system in the world. ​

Without probably knowing it, you have benefitted from something that has been the subject of TV documentaries, health studies,  and film-makers : Adventist health! ​

In the 19th century, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church operated the largest medical institution in the world, and today runs the largest Protestant medical system in the world. Among its institutions are the world-famous Loma Linda Hospital and  University  in California, Sydney Adventist Hospital, and the massive seven-campus Florida Hospital, the largest admitter of patients in the USA.  Each time you sit down to eat a commercialised breakfast cereal - it's thanks to the Adventist health system, whose famous Battle Creek Sanitarium institution was at one time run by Kellogg.  For more info click here. You are always welcome to pop into a Seventh-Day Adventist Church at any time. It is not a closed shop.