General Conference Committee Council
By W. A. Spicer
FURTHER actions by the committee may be reported as follows:— The estimates from all the mission fields were considered, and the financial budget made up for the year 1913, as is reported elsewhere in this paper by the treasurer. The Missionary Volunteer Department was encouraged to continue the holding of institutes for the furtherance of the young people's work in various school centers and elsewhere, as arranged in consultation with union and local conference officers. Ministerial Reading Courses
1. That a required course of reading and study for ministerial licentiates be adopted, and that all licentiates be examined upon this course before ordination. 2. That a course of progressive reading and study be recommended to all ordained ministers. 3. That the preparation of these courses be referred to the Department of Education, working in conjunction with the General Conference Committee. 4. That these courses be operated through the Correspondence School. 5. That the report as to these courses of study be made by the Department of Education at the next General Conference for consideration and adoption. Loma Linda College of Medical Evangelists
In considering the needs of this new missionary undertaking, the following recommendations were made:— 1. That a committee of three efficient men be appointed to visit Loma Linda, to investigate carefully the situation with a view of reducing the operating expense. 2. That until the findings of the above-mentioned committee can be placed in operation, and in view of the needs at Loma Linda, and of the fact that the sanitariums have been requested to pay a tithe of their net gain into the General Conference treasury, the General Conference shall supply the support of five teachers in the school, not to exceed the sum of six thousand dollars, this portion of the recommendation to cover only the present school year. 3. That a direct cash appropriation of four thousand dollars be made to the Medical Missionary College for 1913. 4. That for the erection of such buildings as are deemed necessary, the conferences composing the constituency of the college be requested to assume the responsibility of raising ten thousand dollars for 1913, on the same basis as for 1912, and that the General Conference Committee give its permission and indorsement to regularly appointed solicitors to go into the field to assist the conference presidents in raising this amount. Uniform System of Accounts
The council had before it specially prepared forms for the keeping of church, conference, and union accounts, and the following action was taken:— Inasmuch as the auditors in convention assembled last May gave consideration to a uniform system of keeping church, conference, and union conference accounts, and referred the results of the study to the treasury department of the General Conference for expert advice to be secured from a firm of public accountants; and— Inasmuch as the system worked out and submitted by this firm has been presented for consideration to the presidents of all the union conferences in North America, who have approved the idea of a uniform plan of keeping accounts, and recommended the adoption of the forms submitted; therefore— Resolved, That the General Conference Committee adopt this form of accounts as the uniform system to be used in churches, conferences, and union conferences, beginning with Jan. 1, 1913. The treasurer of the General Conference was further requested to set on foot a movement for a uniform system of accounting for use in our institutions, it being believed that uniform systems will effect no small economies in the denominational work. For prompt preparation of the annual statistical report, it was recommended— That all our union and local conference secretaries, and those in charge of institutions be requested to furnish their annual statistical report at the earliest possible date after the close of each year, completed final returns to be in the hands of the statistical secretary not later than March 1. A considerable number of the actions relating to the distribution of labor can not be reported at this time, as correspondence is being had with those concerned. The following items may, however, be mentioned:— W. C. Hankins, of China, now on furlough, to labor in the Northern Union Conference until the General Conference. L. V. Finster, of the Philippines, now on furlough, to labor in the Central Union until the General Conference. W. L. Foster, of Japan, now on furlough, to labor in the Pacific Union until the General Conference. Frank Mills, of the Foreign Mission Seminary and Review and Herald Office, to proceed to Korea, as superintendent of the printing work. Isaac Baker and wife, of West Texas, to Central America, Elder Baker to take the presidency of the Central American Conference. A. L. Sherman and wife, of the Foreign Mission Seminary, to make Argentina, South America, their field of labor. Miss Frankie Stout, of the Foreign Mission Seminary, to respond to the call for further nurses in Uruguay, South America. R. A. Underwood, of Ohio, to labor in the Columbia Union Conference until after the week of prayer. J. E. Anderson, of Cuba, to join the staff of Cuban Mission laborers. Miss Ruth Workes, of Alberta, to proceed to India. A. F. Prieger and wife, of Alabama, to labor in Haiti, West Indies, Elder Prieger to take the superintendency of the Haitian Mission. Byron Meeker and wife, of Idaho, to make China their field of labor. N. V. Willess, returning from Central America on account of health, to labor in the Southeastern Union. Dr. George Thomason presented his resignation as secretary of the General Conference Medical Department. Soon after accepting the secretaryship, it seemed necessary for him to respond to a call to fill temporarily the position of10medical superintendent of the St. Helena Sanitarium. The way not having opened for his release from that important post, Dr. Thomason stated that he had felt convinced that he should remain in St. Helena, and resign the general work. Under the circumstances, the council released him, no action being taken to fill the vacancy. The brethren of the General Conference Committee in the European Division presented a memorial looking toward a further organization of the divisions of the General Conference, which may be summarized as follows:— The divine plan of organization is one of natural growth, keeping in accord with the steady development and needs of the cause of God. Seventh-day Adventists existed twenty years ere the first conference was organized. As the conferences increased, the need of general organization was seen, and the General Conference was established in 1863. Thirty-one years passed, and the necessity of a new factor in organization between the General Conference and the local conferences was seen. Then came the union conference; and to-day there are twenty-three union conferences, and four union missions. Another want, however, made itself felt, and in an informal way the 1903 General Conference recognized the divisional plan, creating the office of vice-president for the European Division and for the North American Division. In 1909 the Asiatic Division was added, and a vice-president appointed. But this divisional idea has not yet been given any definite plan of divisional organization. In order to give the workers in the European Division the privilege of meeting in council to consider special needs of the division, the General Conference Committee held its biennial council at Gland, Switzerland, in 1907, and at Friedensau, Germany, in 1911. These meetings were a great factor in binding the workers together, and in bringing spiritual blessings to thousands of our people who could not attend the General Conference session in the United States. Yet these meetings emphasized a manifest lack of a proper organization of the division as such. All could see the need of divisional meetings for the planning of the common work, but the representative and constitutional basis for a divisional meeting, as such, was lacking. Feeling this, the European members in recent session at Skodsborg, Denmark, asked the General Conference Committee at this fall session to take under consideration a divisional plan of organization, and, if favorably reported, to appoint a committee to introduce a well-considered plan at the time of the next General Conference. Europe's needs to-day will be the need of South America, Asia, and other parts of the world to-morrow. As we recognize the difference between conferences and mission fields, so there would naturally be a difference between fully organized self-supporting divisions and missionary divisions. North America and Europe are to-day not only self-supporting divisions, but supporting factors for large mission fields. If the world were gradually divided into five or six divisions, we suggest that representative gatherings might be held as follows: The local conference annually, the union biennially, the regular divisional meeting every third year, and the General Conference every fifth year. The president of the General Conference could then during his term of office make the round of these great divisions, and become fully acquainted with the world's great needs. While each conference and union, as well as the General Conference, elects its own president, the division has no way of appointing its own head, but is served by a vice-president of the General Conference. If the divisions had their regular constituency session, elected their own officers, considered their own peculiar wants, as all other organizations, then the workers and people could have the advantage of attending more generally such meetings, and the head of each division would not be the vice-president of the division, but its president, and could at the same time be a vice-president of the General Conference by virtue of his office as president of the division. As long as our membership was mostly in North America, the General Conference sessions were easy of access to the representatives of the work. But now that forty per cent of our membership is outside of the United States,—and this percentage is growing,—these divisional meetings become a real necessity. The General Conference representation should naturally be more and more restricted, while the divisional meetings would give the needed opportunity for more general local attendance. Again: the General Conference session would then be left to deal more with general, world-wide plans, while the divisional session would deal with the more local and particular matters. The divisional system, perfected, would leave the General Conference president freer to be really the president of the world's General Conference, and by his presence at the divisional meetings catch inspiration for the world-wide message, see the world needs, and lay plans accordingly. Our difficulty in Europe will perhaps be best appreciated if we call attention to the fact that by the next General Conference we shall have in this division eight union conferences, two union mission fields, forty organized conferences, over forty organized mission fields, altogether some ninety-five organizations, with nearly thirty thousand members. Our delegation would come up to one hundred ten delegates, and yet this number would take in only one fifth of our gospel workers. Another matter that will necessitate these divisional meetings is the fact that as other tongues besides the English become spoken by vast bodies of our people, provision will have to be made to carry on our deliberative and representative gatherings accordingly. As the result of the discussion and consideration of this memorial, the council voted to favorably refer it to the next General Conference, and a committee was appointed to draw up a plan of organization for submission with the memorial. All in the council rejoiced at the vigorous growth of the work across the seas.