The Edmonton South Seventh-day Adventist Church began when a group of Edmonton English (now Central) Seventh-day Adventist Church members living on the south side of the river and in Sherwood Park decided to start a third Seventh-day Adventist church in Edmonton. In the early 1970’s Edmonton English had grown to the place were the church was crowded and space in the parking lot was non-existent.

Saint Stephens United Church at 79th Street and 101st Avenue rented its facilities to the group for Sabbath services. On April 3, 1971 the group met for the first services with 68 transferring as charter members, all from the Edmonton English church. Elder Uniat was the pastor; Allan Fowler, Head Elder; Peter Kiefuik, treasurer; and Josi Brown, church clerk. Currently (2006) three of the charter members are still attending Edmonton South - Jackie Juse, and Josi and Glen Brown. Two other charter members, William Olson and wife Judy live near Red Deer, where Bill is President of the Alberta Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. By the end of the year additional transfers and one baptism brought the membership to seventy nine (79).

The church’s first evangelism campaign was conducted by Elder George Knowles in April, 1972. Thirty seven (37) individuals were baptised, including Ron and Ruth Crabb, John Koperski and his three sons, Rick, Barry and John, who are currently members of Edmonton South. In a few years Ron become the Head Elder, a position he held until mid 1982 when he and Ruth moved to Ontario. By the end 1972 the membership had grown to 117.

Edmonton South either held or participated in city-wide evangelistic campaigns for 11 of the 12 years 1972 through 1983. As a result 228 individuals were baptised or accepted on profession-of-faith resulting in a membership of 324 by the end of 1983. Membership after 5 years (March 31, 1976) was 190 and after 10 years 288. The rate of growth declined significantly after 1983 and significant growth did not return until the late 1990’s/early 2000’s when regular evangelistic efforts were held. The following two graphs show the church’s growth.

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