Late March arrives and the church changes gears. A poster on the door, an invitation in each member's hand, one sermon a night for a whole week. It's Holy Week — the evangelistic week the Adventist Church holds around Easter, when the subject of every night is one thing only: the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Then comes the question for anyone who leads or attends the club: and the Pathfinders, how do they fit into this? Does the club put together its own week? Hold a separate service? The short answer is no — and understanding why is the key to taking part well. Holy Week is a project of the whole church, coordinated by the Personal Ministries department of the South American Division (SAD), the Adventist administrative region that brings together eight countries of South America. The club doesn't create a parallel week; it joins the church's — and gets, as a bonus, a version made for the age of most of its members.
This article separates what is a rule from what each club decides, shows the 2026 dates and theme, and explains, in practice, how your club takes part. Data verified on 07/22/2026 in the official sources listed at the end.
What is Holy Week and why doesn't the club organize its own?
Holy Week, in Adventist vocabulary, is the name of an Easter-linked evangelism week. Evangelism here means, in practice, a series of open meetings in which the church invites the community to get to know the message of Christ — in this case, focused on the passion and the resurrection.
The project is organized by Personal Ministries, the church department responsible for the evangelism done by each member. The coordination is by the SAD, which each year sets a single theme, prepares the sermon set (the script for the preaching), the poster, the invitation, the decision card and the videos, and makes it all available on the official downloads site so that any church in the Division can hold the week with the same material.
That's why the club doesn't put together its own Holy Week. It would be like each unit trying to hold its own regional camporee on the same weekend as the official one: it would duplicate effort and break the calendar. The week belongs to the entire local church. The club's role is to step into it — bring its Pathfinders, help with the inviting, support the logistics and, when the church adopts it, run the version made for teenagers.
It's worth setting this apart from two things the club does at other times of year. Holy Week is not the spring baptism, which is the second-semester harvest. And it's not just any club Sabbath program either. It's a fixed-date event, tied to Easter, that the whole church lives through together once a year.
When is Holy Week in 2026 and what is the theme?
In 2026, Holy Week runs from March 28 to April 4 — eight days, closing on the Saturday on the eve of Easter Sunday. This year's theme is "The Drama of the Passion".
The thread of 2026 is a simple, powerful idea: Jesus, without writing a single book and without holding any political office, marked human civilization like no one else. Each of the eight nights looks at the cross through the eyes of a character who was near it. Here's the shape of the week:
| Day | Date (2026) | Character / theme of the night |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 28 | The Crucified One |
| 2 | March 29 | Judas |
| 3 | March 30 | Caiaphas |
| 4 | March 31 | Pilate |
| 5 | April 1 | Simon |
| 6 | April 2 | Mary |
| 7 | April 3 | Nicodemus |
| 8 | April 4 | The power of the resurrection |
Fix this caveat firmly in mind, because it's the difference between getting it right and being embarrassed in your promotion: the date and theme change every year. Each edition has its own name, its own sermon set and its own set of artwork. What you read here is for 2026. Before printing a poster, putting together an invitation or announcing it in the club group, confirm the date and the current year's material on the church's official downloads site — never reuse last year's artwork assuming it's the same.
What is Holy Week Teen and why does it fit the club?
Here's the part that most interests anyone working with Pathfinders. Besides the adult church's Holy Week, the SAD prepares Holy Week Teen, produced by the Adolescent Ministry — the department aimed precisely at the 10-to-15 age range, which is the age of most of the club's members.
The official proposal describes Holy Week Teen as "an evangelism tool for teenagers," designed to reach not only the young people of the church but also the friends they bring from school and the neighborhood. Instead of a long sermon, it works with music, prayer and interactive activities — the material includes a manual, a training video, an opening bumper, sheet music and activity resources such as character cards, location cards and investigation sheets. The idea is that the teenager doesn't just watch: they take part, solve, discover.
The focus of the reflections, according to the Adolescent Ministry, is the impact of choices, the worth of Christ's sacrifice and the invitation to accept the destiny He offers. It's the same heart as the adult Holy Week, translated into the language of someone who is 12 or 13.
A note of honesty: running the Teen version at your church is not an automatic club decision. The church may choose to keep everyone together in the main program, or to open a separate track just for the teenagers. This is decided by the church leadership together with the pastor — the club asks, suggests and offers to help, but doesn't decide on its own. There is also a Children's Holy Week, from the Children's Ministry, for the younger ones. It's worth asking which version your church will adopt before taking anything for granted.
Read alsoYouth Week of Prayer at your clubWhat is a rule, what does the club decide, and why?
Much of the confusion about Holy Week goes away when you separate three layers: what is a written rule, what varies from church to church, and what the principle behind it all is. Let's take it in parts.
1) What is a church rule (doesn't change by club). Holy Week is an official project of the SAD's Personal Ministries. The year's date, the theme, the sermon set and the artwork are defined centrally and apply to the whole Division. There is a version for teenagers (Holy Week Teen) and one for children (Children's Holy Week), each with its own material. This is nobody's opinion: it's the package the Division publishes.
2) What varies from church to church — and who decides. How your church will hold the week is a local decision. Who presides, at what time, whether there will be a separate track for the teens, how the logistics are divided, who does the inviting in the neighborhood — all of that is arranged among the district pastor, the church board and the local Personal Ministries leader. The club's role within that arrangement (bringing the Pathfinders, helping with the welcome, the music, the decoration) is worked out by the club leadership together with that leadership. The club contributes; it doesn't command the church's week.
3) The educational principle (the why of it all). Evangelizing isn't an extra in a Pathfinder's life — it's at the heart of the club's ideals. The Pathfinders' Aim is "The advent message to all the world in my generation," and the Motto is "The love of Christ compels me." Holy Week is one of the few weeks of the year when that aim becomes a concrete activity within a preteen's reach: inviting a friend to come and see who Jesus is. It's mission training at just the right scale for the age.
Keep the yardstick in one sentence: the theme and material are the Division's; the local organizing is the church's; and the reason the club is there is to raise Pathfinders who know how to invite.
How does the club prepare and take part in practice?
Taking part in Holy Week well isn't showing up on the first night and seeing how it goes. You can prepare, and the preparation starts weeks ahead. Here's a realistic roadmap for the leadership and the units.
- Confirm ahead of time what your church will do. Talk to the pastor and to Personal Ministries: do the dates line up with the club calendar? Will there be a Teen version? Does the club have any agreed role (welcome, music, decision card)? Without that conversation, the club shows up out of sync.
- Turn every Pathfinder into someone who invites. The official material includes invitations for exactly this. The most beautiful challenge of the week is for each member to bring a friend. It doesn't take a speech: it takes an invitation in hand and an arranged ride.
- Rehearse whatever is the club's part. If the units are going to sing, welcome people or take part in some Teen-version activity, rehearse it in the meetings of the previous weeks. Winging it on the night gets in the way, it doesn't help.
- Look after attendance, not just the stage. Arrange transportation and the routine of the eight nights with the families (or of whatever nights your church holds). A tired preteen in the middle of the school week needs logistics, not scolding.
- Prepare the decision card with respect. The week usually ends with an appeal and a card on which the person can record a decision. Coach the Pathfinders to never pressure an invited friend: an invitation is an invitation, the decision is free.
A reminder about tone, because this separates a good week from a forced one: the guest is not a target number. He's your Pathfinder's school friend. Treat the week as hospitality — welcoming people well, presenting Jesus with warmth — and not as a name-collecting campaign.
And after the week ends?
This is the point most people get wrong: treating Holy Week as an event with a beginning, middle and end on the closing Saturday. An evangelistic week without follow-up is like planting and not going back to water.
The friends who came, the decision cards filled out, the conversations that started — all of that calls for follow-up. The official material already comes with a small groups guide precisely to keep it going: those who got interested keep meeting in a small group after the week ends. It's the link between the impact of one night and a real walk of faith.
For the club, this has a natural outworking through the year. The friend who met Jesus during Holy Week may draw closer to the club, take part in the studies and, if it's their decision and the family's, walk toward baptism later on — which in the Adventist rhythm tends to have its big harvest in the second semester. Holy Week is the Easter sowing; the harvest comes in its time, and you don't rush a child into deciding. The club's role is to keep close, in friendship, between one and the other.
Why is evangelizing part of being a Pathfinder?
If you got the impression that Holy Week is "a grown-up thing" and the club merely tolerates taking part, it's worth correcting that, because it's the opposite.
The declared objective of the Pathfinder movement is "To save from sin and guide in service." The Aim speaks of taking the message "to all the world in my generation." These aren't decorative phrases in the club's ideals — they are the reason the club exists. A Pathfinder learns knots, goes camping and earns honors, yes; but the horizon of all that is to raise someone who, in their generation, knows how to tell a friend about Jesus.
Holy Week is one of the rare weeks of the year when that ideal stops being abstract and fits in the hand of an 11-year-old: invite someone. There's no need to preach, no need for theology — it takes a friend brought by the hand. For many Pathfinders, it's the first real experience of mission in their life. And it's an experience that fits exactly with the mood of Easter: the week when the whole church stops to look at the cross, and no one has to go alone.