The Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
By W. C. JOHN
A World-Wide Organization
The growth of this church from a small company of believers in Washington, N. H., to more than 125,000 members distributed all over the world, has developed, by the blessing of God, through the organization given to us by the Spirit of prophecy. The smallest unit of the church is the individual. A group of individuals associated in a common faith, for the worship and service of God, constitutes a company of believers, to be united into a church when suitable officers have been selected and ordained. With the common purpose of meeting together to search the Scriptures, to meditate upon the sanctity of God's law, to study and prepare for Christ's second coming, and to hear devout exhortations from the elders of experience, the brethren and sisters in Washington, N. H., nearly forty in all, formed the first Sabbath-keeping company, in the year 1844-45. From this company and those who were raised up shortly after, arose leaders whose labors kindled many beacon lights, which eventually developed into hundreds of churches in this country; and as the message was carried across the seas, new churches were brought into existence in many distant lands. The growth of the number of churches made it necessary to organize convenient groups of these into conferences. As a rule, the local conferences follow boundaries of the individual States, although in some cases it is necessary to divide a State into two or more conferences. The first conference organized was the Michigan Conference, Oct. 6, 1861. As the conferences increased in number, it was found advisable to bind them together to secure full coöperation. This resulted in the organization of the General Conference in 1863. The conferences which composed the original General Conference were Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, New York, and Ohio. The continuous and rapid growth of the local conferences resulted in making the work of administering the General Conference more and more arduous; so eventually the local conferences were regrouped into Union Conferences. The first Union Conference was organized in 1901. This was followed by others, until the United States and Canada were organized into twelve Union Conferences. Similar organizations were created in Europe, Africa, Australia, and South America. The local and the provincial missions were also grouped into Union Missions. The growth of the work in Europe made it necessary to combine the Union Conferences under one general organization similar to the General Conference. In 1903 both North America and Europe were administered by two vice presidents of the General Conference. In 1909 the Asiatic Division was formed, and a third vice president elected to administer its affairs. This step was followed in 1913 by the setting apart of North America, Europe, and Asia as Division Conferences. South America became a Division Conference in 1916. This division makes it easier for the General Conference to look after the pressing calls of the unorganized fields, missions, institutions, and other general interests which are continually increasing as the work grows. At present the Seventh-day Adventist Church is organized as follows:— I. North American Division
1. Atlantic Union Conference: 7 conferences, 1 mission, 174 churches. 2. Central Union Conference: 5 conferences, 264 churches. 3. Columbia Union Conference: 8 conferences, 221 churches. 4. Eastern Canadian Union Conference: 3 conferences, 1 mission, 56 churches. 5. Lake Union Conference: 7 conferences, 385 churches. 6. Northern Union Conference: 4 conferences, 228 churches. 7. North Pacific Union Conference: 6 conferences, 203 churches. 8. Pacific Union Conference: 8 conferences, 1 mission, 175 churches. 9. Southeastern Union Conference: 5 conferences, 104 churches. 10. Southern Union Conference: 5 conferences, 102 churches. 11. Southwestern Union Conference: 6 conferences, 130 churches. 12. Western Canadian Union Conference: 4 conferences, 71 churches. 1. British Union Conference: 1 district, 5 conferences, 1 mission, 67 churches. 2. Central European Conference: 5 conferences, 4 missions, 152 churches.20 3. Danube Union Conference: 3 conferences, 2 missions, 106 churches. 4. East German Union Conference: 1 district, 6 conferences, 1 mission, 203 churches. 5. East Russian Union Conference: 3 conferences, 4 missions, 117 churches. 6. Latin Union Conference: 1 district, 2 conferences, 4 missions, 49 churches. 7. Levant Union Mission: 5 missions, 34 churches. 8. Scandinavian Union Conference: 1 district, 5 conferences, 3 missions, 105 churches. 9. West German Union Conference: 1 district, 6 conferences, 2 missions, 192 churches. 10. West Russian Union Conference: 3 conferences, 8 missions, 60 churches. 11. European Division Missions: 20 missions, 99 churches. Asiatic Division Mission: 9 missions, 79 churches. Australasian Union Conference: 6 conferences, 11 missions, 138 churches. India Union Mission: 5 missions, 14 churches. IV. South American Division
Austral Union Conference: 2 conferences, 2 missions, 47 churches. Brazilian Union Conference: 2 conferences, 6 missions, 32 churches. Inca Union Mission: 3 missions, 9 churches. South African Union Conference: 3 conferences, 11 missions, 34 churches. West Indian Union Conference: 3 conferences, 102 churches. Northern Latin American Missions: 8 missions, 27 churches. Miscellaneous missions: 2 missions, 2 churches.