Understanding the Claims and Counter Claims about Unity and Authority in the Adventist Church

by AT News Team

In the debate over ordination practices leaders in the Seventh-day Adventist Church have made impassioned pleas for “unity” and “submission.” Many Adventists are not aware of the long discussion of these topics that go back to the very beginning of the movement.
 
J. David Newman, editor of Adventist Today, recommends the following two articles from Ministry, the denomination’s official journal for the clergy published by the General Conference. These provide significant information from both Scripture and church history.
 
“The Use and Abuse of Authority” by Andrew Bates was published in the June 2002 issue of Ministry and can be found at this web address:
https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2002/June/the-use-and-abuse-of-authority.html
 
“The Jerusalem Council: a model for Utrecht?” also by Andrews Bates was published in the April 1995 issue of Ministry, prior to the General Conference Session held that summer in Utrecht, Holland. It can be read at this web address:
https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1995/April/the-jerusalem-council-a-model-for-utrecht
 
"When there is a lot of hot rhetoric and emotion, it is vital to keep a strong grip on truth," one Adventist Today reader has commented. "The truth has always been more important to Seventh-day Adventists than emotional opinions."