The Adventists in German-speaking Switzerland elected Pastor Stephan Sigg (51) as their new president at their delegation meeting in the Congress House in Zurich on 12 March. Sigg will take over the church leadership from Günther Maurer, who has held this function for two terms since 2009.
The 145 delegates from 32 churches together with the pastors elected Dr Stephan Sigg as Head of the German-Swiss Conference (DSV) of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church for the next four years.
Due to his commitments as head of the youth department for the Western- and Southern-European church organisation (Inter-European Division EUD), Sigg will only take up his new position after the international youth congress in Valencia / Spain has taken place, anticipated in the autumn of 2017. In the meantime, Pastor Günther Maurer (64) will continue to lead the church in German-speaking Switzerland. Since 2015, Maurer has also been President of the Swiss Union of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which also includes the territories of French-speaking (Romandie) and Italian-speaking Switzerland (Ticino) and Liechtenstein.
As the new President of the German-Swiss Adventists, Stephan Sigg envisages a church, whose members, liberated by God's grace, follow in the spirit of Jesus, and based on God's Word authentically demonstrate an active faith of love in the society they live in. The message of reconciliation is to be credibly carried into the world through communion and witness, to invite people to meet the Lord of life with hope.
Origin and career
Stephan Sigg was born in Switzerland in 1966 and spent his childhood and school days in the Aarau region. After finishing school, he completed an apprenticeship in carpentry and worked in the wood industry. Later he joined an architect firm. In 1988, he began his theological studies at the Bogenhofen seminary in Austria from where he moved to the theological seminary Marienhöhe near Darmstadt / Germany for one year. He completed his studies with a Master degree at Newbold College, Bracknell / England. In 1994 Sigg entered the pastoral profession as a pastoral assistant in Basel which belongs to the German-Swiss Conference (DSV) of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. From 1997 to 2007 he headed the DSV youth department. In 2007, he was appointed professor for practical theology at the Adventist Theological Seminary in Friedensau / Germany, where he taught the Bachelor and Master Degree courses. He continued his post-graduate studies at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan / USA, which he completed with a doctorate in Ministry (D.Min.) in 2013. Since 2010, Stephan Sigg has been head of the youth department for the Western- and Southern-European Adventist Church organisation.
Stephan Sigg is married. The couple has two adult children.
Adventists in Switzerland
At the end of December 2016 2,576 Adventists lived in German-speaking Switzerland and 2,076 in the French- as well as Italian-speaking part. There are a total of 4,652 adult-baptized Seventh-Day Adventists in Switzerland. Adventists in Switzerland worship in 54 churches and five groups.