Annual Council is currently underway in Silver Springs, Maryland.
There were the usual LEAD Conference reports on Thursday, and a devotional and short business session on Friday. The devotional theme for this Annual Council is centered around the Ten Commandments.
On Sunday morning, Andi Hunsaker presented “You Shall Not Take the Name of the Lord Your God in Vain” and Harold Butler presented an interesting devotional “You Shall Not Steal.”
Church Manual
The Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual is a book of the principles and regulations that guide the Church in its internal operations and in the fulfillment of its mission to the world.
The General Conference Working Policy is the collection of the Church’s global decisions regarding how entities live and work together. Both the Church Manual and the Working Policy are paid for by tithe funds.
There are several proposed changes to the Church Manual that could be passed on to the 2025 General Conference Session, if this committee votes to send them there. Here are a few:
House Churches
Proposed changes,
While house churches may not have all the ministries and offices of a typical church, they will still work for growth and multiplication. Their structure should follow the same guidelines applied to companies and receive pastoral supervision officially recognized by the local conference or mission. Unions or divisions should provide guidance to formally recognize house churches and ensure effective leadership.
Finance & Tithe
411-24GSa FINANCE - CHURCH MANUAL AMENDMENT RECOMMENDED, To amend the Church Manual, Chapter 12, Finance, pages 141-147.
Added:
“Those churches who are the most systematic and liberal in sustaining the cause of God are the most prosperous spiritually.”—3T405.
Announcing Tithe and Offerings––Returning tithe and giving offerings is an essential part of the worship service. Great care should be given to announcing the tithe and offering collection during Sabbath School, Sabbath worship service, and, where possible, via church bulletins and other church communications. The announcement should promote biblical stewardship principles, including giving as an act of worship, the clear connection that exists between giving and mission, the value of regular and systematic giving, and the wonderful blessings that result from faithfulness. Resources are available through the offices of Adventist Mission and Stewardship Ministries of the local conference.
Deletions:
RECOMMENDED, To delete the Church Manual, Chapter 9, Local Church Officers and Organizations, pages 100-101, World Health Ministries Sabbath Offering, which reads as follows:
World Health Ministries Sabbath Offering—The entire World Health Ministries Sabbath Offering is sent to the conference to be distributed according to policy. Upon the church’s request to the conference, up to 25 percent of the offering received in the church may revert to the church for health ministries programs.
By far the biggest portion of proposed Church Manual changes are supplemental changes requested by several Divisions. This means that these sections will apply only to the Divisions that request them.
Divisions requesting supplemental changes:
Inter American Division
North American Division
South American Division
South Pacific Division (SPD)
Easily the largest request for a Church Manual Supplement is the South Pacific Division. Their request is 66 pages long, and weaves feminism, trade unions, environmentalism, racial justice, marriage defined as “between humans”, pro-vaccination, supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, anti-gun ownership, and the blurring of lines between gender roles and many subtle pro-WO references.
I hope this left-leaning request is voted down by a significant majority. It’s way too long, drifting into many areas that have no business being part of a church manual or supplement. It is laced with wokeness. A couple examples:
“These God-given roles are often supplemented by gender roles, which are assigned by society/culture to men and women. Since people construct cultures, it is also people who can change cultures that contradict God’s original design and deny certain groups of people their God-given humanity, dignity and equality. Within the Christian movement and community initiated by Jesus Christ, traditional and cultural gender roles have been superseded by the inclusiveness in the gifting by the Spirit. The Christian Church, operating according to this model, is a change agent in society rather than a reflector of society” (page 88).
“Differences in gender, race, class, disability, age or religion do not negate this equality in Christ” (page 86).
“What is Human Equality? Human equality refers to the equal dignity, responsibilities and opportunities of females and males. Equality does not mean that women and men are the same, but that women’s and men’s dignity, responsibilities, and opportunities do not depend on whether they are born male or female. Human equality implies that the interests, needs, and priorities of both women and men are of equal value” (page 84).
“Seventh-day Adventists recognise that the biblical record of Creation does not answer all questions that can be asked concerning origins. Our comprehension of such mysteries is limited” (page 82). This could be a nod to naturalism as part of an explanation of origins.
“Factors that Multiply the Invitations to Speakers—Today the invitation of speakers from afar has become increasingly popular. Due to the electronic communication systems, low-cost travel, the proliferation of Adventist parachurch organisations and the need for fund-raisers to impress their donors, a cadre of popular speakers advertise themselves to our churches and members. While the Church has practised a standard protocol to manage invitations to speakers outside the proper conference/mission territory, recent developments make it necessary to put them into writing and have them formally approved by the relevant executive committee” (page 79). What follows is a multiple page list of requirements for someone outside of the Division to speak in the SPD, with the ‘service request’ granted only at the behest of the conference administration. This is ridiculous. Local congregations should be free to invite speakers that the church board wishes to invite.
This is a small sample of the Church Manual changes that are being proposed.
Tidbits
Tithe and tithing is mentioned 105 times in the document
Church is mentioned 877 times
Discipline in mentioned 11 times
Repent and repentance is mentioned 0 times
Religious freedom is mentioned 3 times
Gender is mentioned 10 times, ordination 11 times
Bible is mentioned 40 times
Ellen White is mentioned 17 times
Jesus is mentioned 55 times
The environment is mentioned 7 times
Stewardship is mentioned 21 times
Money is mentioned 23 times
There is no mention of the Compliance Document implementation against rebellious Unions and Conferences, a process that began in 2019 and was since abandoned by the GC. The solution to church entities that are disregarding GC Session decisions is not disregarding Annual Council (2018) decisions to bring discipline to those entities.
We will keep you posted on further developments.
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