History of The Southern Asia Pacific Division
The Southern Asia-Pacific Division (SSD) was born in 1996 at its former headquarters in the sprawling commercial center of Asia - Singapore. Relocated in 1997, the headquarters is now located in Silang, Cavite, Philippines - a 42 Kilometer distance south of Manila on Aguinaldo Highway. SSD is one of the 13 regional organizations of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that has more than 13 million members worldwide.
Abraham La Rue, a 60-year old sef-supporting missionary, established his mission headquarters in HongKong. At the 1909 General Session of the Adventist world Church, the Asiatic Division Conference was established in Shanghai. Ten years later, in 1919, it was reorganized into Far Eastern Division with territory covering Japan, China, Mongolia, Tibet, Malaysia, Dutch Indies, Siam, and the Philippines. In 1930, the Far Eastern Division headquarters was moved to the Philippines and annexed Korea and the French Indo-China into its territory. Since 1936, Singapore became the home to the Far Eastern Division until 58 years later, when it changed its name to Asia-Pacific Division (APD) and it expanded to include Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. The short lived APD was divided into two in 1996 - Northern and Southern Asia Pacific Divisions and the latter moved to the Philippines in 1997 and into its new office in June 1999.
In 2005 (not sure), SSD celebrates with close to one million members in the Philippines on the occasion of the 100 years of church's presence in the country.
