Chicago conference draws thousands of Seventh-day Adventist educators

Parochial schools in the Chicago area typically are Catholic, sometimes Lutheran, Jewish or evangelical.

There was a gathering in Chicago this past week of another Christian denomination with a deep tradition of faith-based education: the Seventh-day Adventists.

The conference at McCormick Place drew thousands of educators from Seventh-day schools and focused on professional development and spiritual support.

Many Seventh-day schools are small, but there are a lot of them: more than 850 elementary schools, high schools and colleges across the United States, including 11 in Illinois, which has 98 Seventh-day Adventist churches with roughly 14,000 members.

Worldwide, the denomination, founded in the 19th century, has about 7,000 schools.

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