Stewards of Holy Enterprise
God designed governance for a universe of harmony and creative energy. He gave us this world to govern! Let’s explore together how we can build on God’s ways to govern our Christian organizations with His values and methods. Let’s rediscover His power of leading in ways that are humble, transparent, and authentic. Can we instill the character of Christ in all of this and return “governance’ to what God envisioned in Eden?
“For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light”.
The Adventist Church has a representative form of government. This means church members have the ultimate say in who leads the church. Adventist members get together and vote for their representatives at the local, regional and global level. The members themselves, as led by God, elect servant leaders to their roles.
The most local form of governance takes place as leaders are selected to serve their local church congregations. After this, Adventists in an area are organized into conferences which are then clustered into larger unions. These unions are organized into 13 world divisions (or here add MENAU, IF and CHUM which dialogue directly with the General Conference. The General Conference has an Executive Committee comprised of union, division and other key international leaders and members, who make recommendations to a large international gathering called the General Conference Session that meets every five years in different major cities.
The General Conference Session features a large group of church representatives called delegates. They come from all over the world to support mission initiatives and global strategies. During this time, the delegates of the General Conference Session also amend the Church’s governing documents. General Conference and division leaders are also elected during the General Conference Session. Currently, Elder Ted N. C. Wilson is the president of the global Adventist Church, a role in which he has served since 2010.
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist’s Governance Structures
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Executive Committee
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General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist General Conference Session
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Conversations on Governance: Good Governance: What Boards Need to Know
Richard Hart, MD, DrPH, President Loma Linda University Health
Lowell Cooper, MDiv, MPH Former Vice President General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist
Donald Pursley, DBA, Former Vice President Loma Linda University Health
Bob Kyte, JD, Former Legal Counsel General Conference ofSeventh-day Adventist and Former President of Adventist Risk Management
Elie S. Honore, MD, MPH, MHA, Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventist
Loma Linda University Health Good Governance: What Boards Need to Know Information from seminars are available in English, Spanish, French, & Russian
Governance: Heart & Soul. A Series of Discussions on Governance, with Attorney Ted Ramirez
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Adventist Learning Community Resources
Adventist Learning Community
The ALC is a website created by the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. It houses thousands of continuing education (CE) courses and resources for teachers, pastors, chaplains, administrators, lay-leaders, and faith-seekers.
The ALC requires you to create a FREE account to access content on the site.
Click on the links below to access ALC CE courses & resources on Governance, Church & School boards.
Adventist K-12 School Board Leadership Training
Adventist K-12 School Board Legal & Financial Issues Training
Adventist K-12 School Board Member Training
Presented by Dr. Richard Hart, Dr. Donald Pursley, Attorney Bob Kyte, and Dr. Elie S. Honore. Thought-provoking articles by Attorney Ted Ramirez on the heart and soul of governance.