General Conference Governing Body Marks 150 Years, Does Routine Business
by Adventist Today News Team
Update Appended on April 17
The executive committee of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is in Battle Creek, Michigan, this week for its yearly spring meeting. Over the weekend, members from all over the world celebrated the 150th anniversary of the denomination. The divisive issues surrounding ordination at last year’s meeting were evidently off the agenda this time.
The anniversary is actually being observed a month early and leaders took pains to say that they were not “celebrating” because the Adventist faith is focused on the soon return of Christ and a history of more than 150 years is somewhat embarrassing. The founding meeting of the denomination was held in Battle Creek in May 1863, two decades after the “Great Disappointment” of 1843-44 when early Adventists predicted the Second Coming.
The committee received recommendations from a health ministries summit last month to make the outreach of the denomination “more comprehensive,” meeting physical, mental, emotional and social needs as well as spiritual needs. Dr. Allan Handysides, director of health ministries for the General Conference, quoted from The Ministry of Healing by church founder Ellen G. White, “If less time were given to sermonizing and more time were spent in practical ministry, greater results would be seen.” Pastor Ted Wilson, the denomination’s president, also referred to White’s urging in the early 20th century that the best approach to reaching large cities is “medical missionary work.”
“Some delegates, however, questioned whether the … current budget … could fund a quality, appealing program that will impact the community,” reported the denomination’s official news services, Adventist News Network (ANN). A committee member from Australia “strongly urged the executive committee to review existing successful community programs and incorporate them into mainstream ministry.” Pastor Mike Ryan, a vice president of the denomination, agreed. “We have so many programs, but bridging them to create something big, we’re weak on that.”
Earlier in the meeting the committee voted to appoint a replacement for Dr. Handysides, who is retiring in September. The new director of health ministries is Dr. Peter Landless, a physician and ordained minister who has worked with Handysides as an associate since early 2002.
In other personnel changes, the committee appointed Kimberly Westphall as associate director for quality control at the General Conference Auditing Service (GCAS). She has been the GCAS regional manager for North America and is a Certified Public Accountant.
The committee also appointed Jesse Johnson to fill a vacancy on the board of Adventist World Radio. He is president of a vendor in the technology field that provides services to the General Conference.
For two days on the weekend (April 13-14) the committee squeezed into a replica of the small church in which the first General Conference Session was held and listened to presentations by scholars among the GC officers. Dr. Ella Simmons, an educator with a PhD and a vice president of the denomination, spoke about the Battle Creek headquarters of the movement and the crisis it faced at the turn of the 20th century. Simmons recalled that the denomination’s major medical institution was taken away, its publishing house burned down and its college eventually collapsed—all located in Battle Creek at the time—and quoted White that this was “necessary.” ANN reported that Simmons said, “White feared the concentration of institutions in one place would indulge insular thinking and jeopardize the church’s mission.”
Dr. David Trim, a PhD historian and director of archives, statistics and research for the GC, recounted the change in the Adventist sense of mission from solely announcing the soon coming of Christ in the solidly Christian northeastern United States to taking a the full gospel into all the world.
At first, early Adventists were preoccupied with the United States’ “providential” place in history, Trim said. They were reluctant to take biblical phrases such as “all the world” and “every nation,” literally, concluding that they “did not need to leave America to fulfill prophetic destiny,” he said. Indeed, some of the church’s first missionary work was to reach immigrant populations in the U.S.
By 1873, it was James White who called for a change. In one sermon, he mentioned that the Advent message should “go to all people” 14 times. Ultimately, Trim said, it was influential leaders such as White, the visionary views of his wife and good communication—constant reports from Europe detailed the need for mission work there—that led to world mission. Together, “these implanted passion for mission in the Adventist DNA, which I hope will never be extracted,” Trim said.
Reflecting on the shifts in focus and realizations early church leaders came to, Wilson thanked the afternoon presenters for highlighting the need for humility and flexibility in leadership, drawing this lesson from the life of a 19th century GC president, George Butler: “You can’t be a leader and think you know it all. You’ve got to come to the cross every day,” Wilson said.
Update
Total income to the Tithe Fund in local conferences was over $2.3 billion in 2012, reported Robet Lemon, the GC treasurer. This represents an increase over the previous year of one percent in North America where it totaled $933 million and 4.4 percent in the rest of the world where it totaled $1.4 billion. Offerings for world missions totaled $83 million, with $23 million coming from North America and $60 million from the rest of the world. This is 2.6 percent less than the previous year in North America, while the total giving in the rest of the world increased six percent. Lemon hastened to add, "I want to point out that in North America, local churches often give to many projects directly, or their members go on mission trips." This "mission giving goes uncounted" in the official reporting procedures. Past research has indicated that very likely total giving to world missions in North America has increased significantly, but not through the official channels.
The executive committee voted to approve a supplemental appropriation of $300,000 to assist the Adventist Church in South Sudan due to the disruption caused by the conflict there. It also approved a $7 million dollar addition to the 2013 budget for the denomination's auditing service as it transitions to a new arrangement under which it will be funded by auditing fees instead of the GC budget. Over the next four years the new fee structure will be phased in so that at the end of the process, Adventist institutions will pay 80 percent of the cost of operating the auditing service and conferences, union conferences and divisions will pay 20 percent of the cost. Up to this point, denominational organizations have not paid for the audits conducted by the service; it has been entirely funded by the GC.
Committee members were also told that at its annual meeting in the fall it will likely be asked to authorize an increase in the budget for the denomination's official television network, the Hope Channel. It "will require approximately $8 million more than is currently budgeted for the network to continue providing current satellite coverage through 2020," ANN reported. Adventist Today could not determine if this means an additional $8 million a year over the eight years or an additional $1 million per year on an eight-year contract. It is proposed that the amount be paid for from the $102 million in "extraordinary tithe" that the GC received in 2007.
The committee also received a report on the external audit of the GC, presented by the auditing firm Maner Costerisan and Ellis. In the past the committee has agreed "that it would be impractical to try to consolidate financial information from all the world divisions and [GC] institutions," ANN stated, but one committee member asked "why financial information from the separate audited statements of the church's 13 world divisions wasn't available." Lemon responded that his staff is working on a 10-year comprehensive report to be released at the time of the committee's annual meeting in the fall of 2013.
Quotable quotes from the current GC President, Ted Wilson (sometimes known as Wilson II) preached at the uncelebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the General Conference:: “The General Conference will continue to stand firm for God’s truth as the overall supervising body of God’s worldwide work. It will not lessen its strong guiding and nurturing role over all Seventh-day Adventists worldwide until the very events of history occur when ultimately religious persecution prevents organizations from functioning. The General Conference, by God’s grace and His power, will not be decentralized, neutralized, or sidelined.” (I’m not making these sentences up. He actually said this in public)
Classic.
May it ever be known as the "thrill up the legs sermon" for pew warmers that require comforting from a building.
'The General Conference, by God’s grace and His power, will not be decentralized, neutralized, or sidelined'
The 'not decentralized' part is probably the most interesting here.
Could it be that the Universal Timeline will proceed unabated with, or without human intervention?
I may regret asking this, but would Mr. Wagner please define what he means by the "Universal Timeline."
Chances are Wilson is a prophet re: decentralization, at least the next decade. The 3rd world divisions
will probably provide Wilson's sucessor, and they are generally conservative.
What I find most interesting about all the coverage of this anniversary is that everyone equates the organization of the General Conference with the founding (or the organization) of the SDA Church. I have come to expect the routine propagation of this spin on Adventist ™ history from GC sources including both ANN and Adventist Review. I am disappointed that the Atoday news team has (perhaps unconsciously) copied this erroneous assertion from ANN.
1) The General Conference is NOT the SDA Church nor even the organized SDA Church (unless you have drunk too much of the "Institutional Kool-Aid" 8-).
2) The General Conference was NOT the first SDA organization – nor was it the first organized SDA conference. The Michigan Conference was organized in 1861, followed within a year by Iowa and others.
Too many SDA employees and elected officers think they ARE the church. Too many SDA elected officers think they LEAD the church. I am sorry to burst your bubbles but – –
1) Millions of SDA adherents all over the world are the true SDA Church.
2) Jesus Christ is the true Leader of the SDA church (and all other denominations that take His name).
3) The only legitimate purposes of the employees and elected leaders of the SDA church are to serve (the original meaning of "minister") the true Church (1) and its true Leader (2).
4) The definition of "success" for the SDA church is to merge with the "other flocks" of the Great Shepherd when He returns to claim all of his own. This is the true meaning of calling ourselves Adventist ™. When this happens any surviving SDA organizations and institutions will cease to exist as they will have no further purpose. (This does not imply that all SDA organizations and institutions are predestined to survive until the second Advent. They should only survive as long as the true Leader finds them to be useful for His purposes.)
I wish that Elder Wilson III(*) would have openened this meeting by reminding everyone of these four assertions. I know this was his grand-father's view and I hope and pray this is his view.
(*) Among their many accomplishments, N C Wilson was president of NAD, his son Neal Wilson was president of the GC, and his son Ted is president of the GC.
Thanks for reminding us that leadership has veritably become dynastic as well as models of neoptism.
It is not my intention to impugn the motives of the current Elder Wilson nor of his ancestors. As a practicing SDA I wish him only the best. I do however find all the fawning over him by the GC PR mill to be rather over-the-top. Very reminiscent of the way corporate in-house PR mills tend to hype the image of their current CEO (as if they feel their jobs might depend on it?).
Regarding the Wilson "dynasty" – it has almost certainly run its course as Ted has only daughters and whatever the outcome of the current deliberations regarding women's ordination, the Third World majority of SDAs are unlikely to support the nomination of a woman as President in the foreseeable future.
There's always the dynasty continuing through a daughter's husband. Many royal dynasty's, including the Romans, continued in such a fashion. Tiberius was not Augustus's son but son-in-law (and actually his step-son as well I believe).
I've found that many who have a tendency to speak negatively of the current GC President, Pastor Ted Wilson, fail to acknowledge, or simply ignore the fact, that his Presidency is representative of a large Global Organisation, or World Church. His election as President shows the confidence and the trust the World Church has in him in choosing him as the right man for the job. Those who may have preferred others will sometimes get disgruntled and bitter, which is understandable, but it doesn't have to be this way.
The collective representative electorate at a GC in Session felt it fitting to officially elect Pastor Wilson as President, in accordance with church policy and the stringent due processes of church governance. He has a proven track record and served as leader in other parts of the world as well. He has on numerous occasions referred to the World Church as a family. He is truly an admirable leader and one that has earned the title to serve as President. What he says will obviously not please everybody but we have to look at the broader picture of the World Church of Adventist believers, which again I say, he represents and is also accountable to.
"It will not lessen its strong guiding and nurturing role over all Seventh-day Adventists worldwide until the very events of history occur when ultimately religious persecution prevents organizations from functioning. "
Guiding and nurturing SDA's? How about threatening and hegemony? I find it amusing that the GC is disappointed in that they have not fulfilled the "mission" which is to spread the SDA version of the gospel to all humans. In short, they cannot. New people are being born everyday and proclaiming the "soon coming" of Jesus seems a bit of a stretch as this proclamation has been going on for just over 2000 yrs. Anyway, good luck to the GC. They certainly are not guiding and nurturing me which makes me a fortunate person.
I see that the Wilson II propaganda machine has been very successful with Mr/Ms Oct22. He/she has accepted hook, line, and sinker the carefully crafted party line as presented in the Adventist Review and especially the Adventist World which is the voice of the GC to the Third World (If Mr/Ms Oct22 does not live in the United States, the phrase “hook, line and sinker” is an American expression derived from fishing terms meaning totally and completely accepting something without questioning it, i.e., being naive.)
I suspect that his/her view of Wilson II is widely, if not universally, shared in the Adventist Third World given the political and sociological orientations of those cultures. He also is the ideal president for members of the Adventist Theological Society (ATS) as he is a strong advocate, if perhaps even a creature, of their theological agenda.
Perhaps this is the time for the North American Division to begin to consider how to operate independently of the GC on the model of the Anglican Community in which national churches are independent of the English Anglican Church and are able to establish their own polity and theological orientation without interference. The General Conference would then see the advantages of establishing its headquarters in perhaps Brazil rather than in Washington DC.
This is how must denominations have separated when they are either too large, or do not represent their varied constituencies. Most large corporations today have many branches in nations around the world for that reason: to meet the needs which are not all represented in a central location and to adapt to those various needs. This has allowed those companies to grow and flourish when they might have other wise become smaller and less ready to make necessary changes.
It seems today that the time has come to seriously study Erv's suggestion to have several divisions operating much more autonumously than now, or else a schism will happen which is much more disruptive than a planned separation. The SDA ship is as unwieldy as a battleship: very slow to change directions while becoming lopsided in danger of capsizing.