Nearly a half-century after the first Seventh-day Adventist literature evangelist visited the island, Malta has a Seventh-day Adventist Church with its own building and 17 members.

Pastor Ulrich Frikart, president of the Adventist church’s Euro-Africa region, last week presented the dedication message and the consecration prayer in a church packed with visitors and guests including Pastor Daniele Benini, president of the Adventist church in Italy, and Gaetano Pisipisa, the Italian church’s Treasurer. Also present were several other pastors who served the church in the past.

Attendees said the event was joyful, with pastors and church leaders sharing words of gratitude and praise. Adding to the special nature of the event, four new members were baptised the evening before.

In 1976, Charlie Mallia and his wife Jessie returned to their homeland Malta from Australia. They were the first Seventh-day Adventists known to reside permanently in this island. Since 1957, according to the Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Second Edition, literature evangelists have visited the island annually.

In solitude, the Mallias kept their faith and also kept asking the Adventist church in Italy for a pastor to minister on their island. In 1989, 13 years later, their request was finally granted with the arrival of pastor Enrico Long, followed through the years by pastors Timoteo Marzocchini, Giovanni Leonardi, and, currently, David Ferraro.

During the ministry of Pastor Leonardi, the Lord motivated a church member, an American who had resided in Malta, to give a generous financial donation that was used to purchase a building. Now serving as a church, the building is on the main road of Birkirkara. It took two years to renovate and restore it.