Governance

The Adventist Church has a representative form of government. This means church members have the ultimate say in who leads the church. Adventist members get together and vote for their representatives at the local, regional and global level. The members themselves, as led by God, elect servant leaders to their roles.

The most local form of governance takes place as leaders are selected to serve their local church congregations. After this, Adventists in an area are organized into conferences which are then clustered into larger unions. These unions are organized into 13 world divisions (or here add MENAU, IF and CHUM which dialogue directly with the General Conference. The General Conference has an Executive Committee comprised of union, division and other key international leaders and members, who make recommendations to a large international gathering called the General Conference Session that meets every five years in different major cities.

The General Conference Session features a large group of church representatives called delegates. They come from all over the world to support mission initiatives and global strategies. During this time, the delegates of the General Conference Session also amend the Church’s governing documents. General Conference and division leaders are also elected during the General Conference Session. Currently, Elder Ted N. C. Wilson is the president of the global Adventist Church, a role in which he has served since 2010.