Attention dwindled in the auditorium of Seventh-day Adventist world church headquarters on the final day of Annual Council, as some delegates bid farewell to colleagues and others considered the logistics of wedging hefty agenda binders and a week’s worth of handouts into already bulging carry-ons.
Halfway through his Secretariat report on Sunday, Executive Secretary G. T. Ng felt attentions wane throughout the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters auditorium. The light was dim as he showed his 30th slide featuring statistics, graphs and charts.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church unveiled a major redesign to its website Wednesday and urged regional leaders to make similar upgrades to ensure the denomination has a more consistent global online identity.
Annual Council delegates today approved the next step in a five-year process to better articulate the church’s core beliefs, using clearer—and frequently more inclusive—language.
Hundreds of church officials settled into the plush burgundy theater-style seats. Conversations faded into silence. As the overhead lights dimmed, all eyes were fixed upon the huge movie screen, assembled for the occasion.
How do you explain some of the most mundane yet significant aspects of denominational policy and make it interesting for hundreds of church administrators who have come from around the world for the 2013 General Conference Annual Council?
The Seventh-day Adventist Church announced the first phase of a comprehensive approach to health outreach, one that for the next year and a half will involve promoting health evangelism to local church members and administrators.
The generosity of church members led by God’s spirit, not appropriations, will finish the work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. And young lay people, more often than senior administrators, will ignite that work.
Devir Magaad uses his own strength to operate a pedicab – a tricycle with a large seat for passengers and cargo – through the streets of Cagayan de Oro City, capital of the southern province of Mindanao in the Republic of the Philippines. For that arduous work, he makes perhaps US$5 per day.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church continues to enjoy dramatic growth in Southern Asia, Latin America and Southern Africa, which has pushed worldwide membership to nearly 18 million.
