This is a very challenging time for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America. Actions taken at the 2018 General Conference Annual Council meeting in Battle Creek, Michigan, did not have the outcome for the church that we had strived toward. Many of us are dealing with fear, disappointment, and even anger.
This is a very challenging time for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America. Actions taken at the 2018 General Conference Annual Council meeting in Battle Creek, Michigan, did not have the outcome for the church that we had strived toward. Many of us are dealing with fear, disappointment, and even anger.
Dear Columbia Union Members,
This year’s Annual Council—the annual fall gathering of the governing body for our worldwide church—is scheduled for October 11-17 in Battle Creek, Mich.
Our Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee is deeply concerned about proposals that will be considered this year that are designed to bypass long-established church structure and create an overreaching arm that would facilitate increased control of any division or union action the General Conference leadership doesn’t approve going forward. The Union Committee does not believe this tactic will help to advance mission nor achieve unity.
CUASI (Columbia Union Adventist-Laymen’s Services & Industries) members will gather November 1–3 for “Not Mine, But Yours,” a conference organized to help attendees grow in their businesses, connect with other business owners and worship together.
“Our goal is to encourage attendees to recognize that their business, ministry, profession was given to them by God to further His kingdom, and that they should use their sphere of influence to share the gospel,” shares Mark Brown, president. “We want attendees to leave with a recognition that they have been strategically placed by God for His purposes.”
Official Statement
October 2, 2018
An Appeal from the Columbia Union Conference Executive Committee
The General Conference Administrative Committee’s proposed new system of committees to assure compliance and uniformity within the global church will not result in the unity it seeks. We find this approach to be deeply troubling for it will bypass established policies, protocols and processes and reach beyond longstanding governance practices that have contributed to the amazing growth of our diverse, yet united world church family. The global implications of this process are truly a matter of grave concern. In its present form, it appears to centralize even more authority and control in the hands of a relatively small group.