The Pathfinder virtual card is simpler than it sounds — and less like a physical ID card than the name suggests. It's the official tool from the South American Division (SAD), connected in real time to the SGC, that gathers a member's history: classes, honors, events, and clubs they've belonged to. It's also the required path for completing leadership classes. Here's the catch that trips everyone up: no one issues the card on their own. Access is unlocked by the club itself, inside the SGC. Below is the step-by-step, verified against official sources: who unlocks it, where to log in, what the card proves, and what to do when login doesn't work.
What the virtual card is (and why there are two)
The name "virtual card" — which on the SGC's official channel also appears as Cartão Virtual JA — covers two things that searches tend to mix up. The first is the member's virtual card: an individual record that shows the member's full history of classes, honors, events attended, and clubs they've belonged to. The second is the leadership virtual card, used to fill out and track the Leader, Master Leader, and Advanced Master Leader classes — and this one can only be filled out and tracked on the official site, at clubes.adventistas.org/br/personal-card/.
On format, it's worth clearing up an expectation: the virtual card is a web tool, not a ready-to-download PDF or a printed ID card. It also appears in the official Pathfinders and Adventurers apps, but filling out leadership classes only works on the site. Proof of requirements is attached as PDF or JPG files of up to 2 MB.
The tool isn't new: the member's virtual card was announced on February 1, 2016, alongside the Find a Club portal, connected "in real time" to the SGC — the SAD's official club management system, live since January 2015. In practice, that sums it all up: the card is a mirror of what the club has registered in the SGC.
| What you need | Member card | Leadership card |
|---|---|---|
| What it's for | Viewing the official history: classes, honors, events, and clubs belonged to | Filling out and tracking the Leader, Master Leader, and Advanced Master Leader classes |
| Where to access it | On the official site and in the Pathfinders and Adventurers apps | Only on the clubes.adventistas.org site (personal-card) |
| Who unlocks it | The club registers the access data in the SGC | The director or secretary starts the card by filling out 1 requirement in the SGC |
The two layers of the virtual card, according to official SAD sources.
How to get the virtual card: the real step-by-step
First truth: there's no "issue card" button for members. The login screen itself warns: "The requested data is registered directly by the club." In other words, step one is always the same — talk to your club's director or secretary.
The member's path has two steps. First, ask the club leadership for the three pieces of access data: SGC member code, email registered in the system, and year of birth. The secretary finds all of this inside the SGC, in the SECRETARIA module, under C007 – Members, View button — the "Data for Virtual Card access" block sits at the bottom of the member's record. Then, go to clubes.adventistas.org/br/personal-card/ and log in with those three pieces of data.
For leadership classes there's an extra step: the card only appears after the director or secretary fills out at least one requirement through the SGC. The path is the UNIDADES module, C167 – Classes: find the member, open Cards, choose the class (for example, LEADER), open the Card, fill out one requirement with a completion date and note, and save. From there, the leader-in-training fills out the rest on their own: click Fill Out, enter the completion date for each requirement, and update the card. The home screen shows progress in items, completed, and percentage — the Leader card, for example, has 17 items.
And approval? Only after the member completes 100% of the card does it show up as pending for the club director to review and recommend for Investiture. If the club has a Regional Coordinator, the card also goes through them — and the requirements are subject to approval by the Field (your Conference or Mission). Once completed and approved, the class is automatically added to the member's history in the SGC.
"The requested data is registered directly by the club."Virtual Card login screen (clubes.adventistas.org)
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To access the virtual card you need to be active in a club (or be Field staff). In practice, then, it works as a mirror of active enrollment in the SGC and of the member's official history: if you show up there, it's because the club registered you in the official system.
And what about validity? No official source mentions the card itself expiring or needing annual renewal. What is annual is the insurance the club purchases inside the SGC — and these are separate things: the official page states that annual insurance is not required to access the card. This also means the virtual card does not serve as proof of insurance. And if some event or Field accepts the card as an ID for registration, that isn't documented in official sources — confirm with your Conference or Mission before counting on it.
For leadership classes, though, the rule is clear and dated: since June 1, 2022, under OMD 018/2022 guidance, the Pathfinder Leader, Master Leader, and Advanced Master Leader classes (and the Adventurer Leader class) must be completed exclusively through the virtual card. During the transition from the physical card to the virtual one, there was a two-year overlap period, and physical booklets already in progress could still be completed.
Does it apply to Adventurers? And in Spanish-speaking countries?
Yes, it applies to both ministries. The virtual card is present in both the Pathfinders and Adventurers apps, the Find a Club portal covers both, and OMD 018/2022 explicitly includes the Adventurer leader class among those that must be completed through the virtual card.
In the Spanish-speaking countries of the South American Division, the tool is called the Tarjeta Virtual and is found at clubes.adventistas.org/es/personal-card/, with the same login (SGC code, registered email, and year of birth). There, it covers the Guía Mayor, Guía Mayor Master, and Guía Mayor Master Avanzado classes — because in Spanish-speaking countries, Pathfinders are called Conquistadores. It's the same system across the SAD's 8 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
The card doesn't show up or login doesn't work: what to do
The most common cause is simple: login data is registered by the club. If the email is out of date in the SGC, if the member code is wrong, or if the record simply doesn't exist, login fails. The fix is to ask the secretary or director to check (and correct) the data on the member's record, in SECRETARIA, C007 – Members. It's also worth checking whether your enrollment is active — inactive members can't access the card.
If it's the leadership class that's missing, remember the extra step: the director or secretary needs to start the card by filling out at least one requirement in the SGC (UNIDADES module, C167 – Classes). There's also a special case: leaders invested on or before May 31, 2022, who don't have a record in the system should request registration through the Field — the final record is created by the SAD.
Finally, if the card won't open in the app, use the site. The official Pathfinders app for iPhone hasn't been updated since 2016, and there are user reports, from January 2024, that the virtual card stopped working in it. The reliable path is the personal-card site, straight from your phone's or computer's browser.
The official system issues it — and where Desbravai fits in
Full transparency here: the virtual card is issued and maintained by the church's official structure — the SGC and the SAD portal. Desbravai does not issue the virtual card, doesn't handle insurance, and doesn't replace the SGC: the club's official records live in the official system, and that doesn't change. The practical rule we recommend to every club is simple: official records in the SGC, day-to-day in Desbravai.
And what is that day-to-day? On Desbravai, every member has a club profile, with defined roles and organization by units. The club gets a public page — with meeting time, location, achievements, and photos — inside a map of more than 14,000 clubs, built on the SAD's official base. And the club's photo gallery comes with consent controls (LGPD/ECA compliant): photos of minors only appear with authorization.
All of this is free, works on phone and computer (web), and doesn't require a card to get started. While the virtual card holds each member's official history, the club's page on Desbravai shows the club's life to the community — the two coexist just fine.