Let’s take an imaginary trip to Hometown Church. It’s early Sabbath morning. Song service has just ended, and the Sabbath school superintendent has stepped up to the pulpit.

"Happy Sabbath," she says. "During the next few Sabbaths we will have some reports about Investment and Ingathering. The Lord has blessed our church; we have just met our school subsidy. Sabbath school offerings, tithe, and special offerings are increasing. The yearly offerings for the VOP and Breath of Life are coming up, so we will want to prepare ahead for them. We have a very busy Sabbath today. Not only do we have Mission Spotlight, but our church ministries director will tell us about the G.C. report in the last week’s Review. Don’t miss the announcement about the communion service on 13th Sabbath, and remember to set something aside for the 13th Sabbath offering."

By now you are completely nonplused. But the morning is still young. The worship service is preceded by the missionary period, and a man in a uniform talks about Pathfinders and camporees. You hear about a constituency meeting and the need to choose delegates.

In the worship service itself, you notice people are singing the Doxology, but you can’t seem to find it in the hymnal. Then there is the responsive reading to locate. You turn in your Bible to page 699, but you are in 1 Samuel, and everyone else is reading from Matthew. You notice that some people are reading from the back pages of the hymnal for scripture readings. You hear about missionary bands and wonder if this is a kind of musical group of returned missionaries. Then there are quotations from the "red books" and you hear about the Spirit of Prophecy—finally a phrase you recognize from the pastor’s class.

As you leave the sanctuary, you overhear conversations going on in the foyer. "My daughter enjoys Walla Walla, but my son wants to go to Andrews." "I cleaned out my attic last week and gave over 20 items to Dorcas … " " I heard that Worthington has just come out with a new product." So many new words are ringing in your head as you leave church wondering if you will ever understand them all.

Building your new Adventist vocabulary will take some time. To help you, we have prepared a New Believer’s Guide to Adventist English for you. You will find it in the March issue at our new Lake Union Herald Web site: www.LakeUnionHerald.org. It can be printed out for your reference and/or e-mailed to a friend.

Then, just for fun, we have also posted an article that first appeared in Focus magazine, Andrews University's alumni journal, back in 1989 entitled "Adventese Spoken Here" which includes The Seventh-day Adventist Subcultural Literacy List, compiled by a group of Andrews University faculty members. All of us—old-time Adventists and new believers—will enjoy reading the list and seeing just how literate we actually are.

Adventist terminology, like all language, is dynamic—ever changing. As our culture changes, words are replaced by new terms that speak to a younger generation of Adventists. This should not concern us, because we Adventists expect to be continually learning throughout eternity anyway.

Adapted by Ann Fisher, Lake Union Herald managing editor, from Welcome to the Family, an out-of-print book published jointly by Home Study International and the North American Division, and used with permission.