News and items of interest
World Church Executive Committee Considers Statement on Abortion
Members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s top decision-making body deliberated over a period of two days during the 2019 Annual Council about a proposed Statement on the Biblical View of Unborn Life and Its Implications for Abortion. The document emerged in September from a longer period of study and discussion among Adventist theologians, medical experts, healthcare administrators, ethicists and Church administrators. A previous article outlined the process followed by various committees...Executive Committee Members Debate Proposed Compliance Action
Tuesday afternoon’s much-anticipated discussion of possible discipline for church entities deemed not compliant with ordination votes and policies witnessed surprising turns as delegates to the Annual Council wrestled with competing values. Multiple speakers underlined the contrasting importance of preserving church order while also acting with fairness toward church organizations whose constituents have voted for alternate approaches to voted positions on ordination. On the floor were two...Adventist Church leaders approve plan for tithe parity among divisions
Achieving parity in tithe contributed by world church divisions to the Adventist Church’s world headquarters dominated the Monday afternoon discussion of the delegates to the Fall 2019 General Conference Executive Committee meeting, called the Annual Council. The term “parity in financial matters” describes a future scenario in which all thirteen Seventh-day Adventist world territories (called divisions) contribute the same base percentage of their tithe to the denomination’s global...Recommendations resulting from the 2018 Annual Council Compliance Action
A document outlining recommendations resulting from the 2018 Annual Council Compliance Action was distributed to General Conference Executive Committee members today. The 2018 decision was a continuation of the discussion from the 2017 Annual Council of the General Conference Executive Committee. The 2018 Annual Council vote outlined a process for addressing matters of non-compliance within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Executive Committee members will review and discuss the proposed...