Qualified to Offer Counsel

Ellen White, as one of the original founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, along with James White and Joseph Bates, had participated in the earliest experiences of the denomination. She had passed through the period of growth and expansion that followed the pioneer days. She was therefore prepared to offer guidance and to stimulate courage, faith, and unity among the brethren and sisters during her two years in the European countries. When she arrived she knew something about the problems that faced the work at that time—problems of establishing and financing institutions, locating places where workers might live, selecting sites for evangelistic services, and promoting effective co-operation among evangelistic laborers.EGWE 33.3

Indeed, Mrs. White was, strictly speaking, the only pioneer of the church still available for such guidance. Her husband had died in 1881 and Bates in 1872. J. N. Loughborough, S. N. Haskell, and G. I. Butler, who labored for short periods in Europe either as established workers or as visiting ministers, did not have the same background of experience.EGWE 34.1

But above all, the unique gift of prophecy bestowed on Mrs. White made her visit an event of importance to the European Adventist and to the development of the Seventh-day Adventist witness in Europe.EGWE 34.2

The brethren were expectant. And as she disembarked from the S.S. Cephalonia in Liverpool that August day they were eager to hear her messages. Certain it was that with the light she had received from God she would stress the rapid expansion of the message that was destined to reach the whole world!EGWE 34.3