The General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has released the official agenda for the 2022 GC Session, taking place June 6–11 in St. Louis, Missouri. The 111-page document outlines the topics that will be covered during the session’s business meetings.
Surely, there is enough to be concerned about in the agenda. Take the following for example:
"Allows for removal from membership on the General Conference Executive Committee “for cause,” while adding to the definition of “for cause.”
“For cause,” when used in connection with removal from an elected or appointed position, or from membership on the General Conference Executive Committee, shall include but not be limited to:
As one Fulcrum7 commenter has stated,
"It looks like the changes will allow someone to be removed from the committee without removing them from the underlying office which is the reason they’re on the committee.
It allows for a lesser level of discipline—removal from the committee rather than removal from the office someone holds. And if all you’re concerned about is winning the ExCom vote, then that’s all you need."
Yes, that is definitely an interesting proposed change! We’ll be taking a close look at proposed policy changes over the next couple of weeks as the session approaches.
this apparent change would be meaningful if one person - namely the GC president - can now act to remove someone from ExCom…but this isn’t how Annual Council works…removal from ExCom requires a 2/3 vote…
and i’m quite sure that the reasons and motives for any changes in the wording of policy for ExCom would be fully understood by all involved, obviating any opportunities for surprises or abuse…specifically, i don’t see any new opening for the enforcement of headship that wasn’t there before…
Why is it any of the church’s business to make recommendations on medical treatment(s)? Why should the Adventist church micromanage to that level? The church operates medical schools - foremost Loma Linda. Why can’t it simply let their recommendations stand on their own? I would not belong to a congregation that made vaccination a spiritual matter - it has NOTHING to do with salvation.
How disappointing that this denomination has, IMHO, bred such fanatical extremism! That cannot be an effective means of evangelism or member retention.
I’ve never seen it do that. The feed updates instantly. I see my posts and replies as soon as I post them.
Where is your reply?
Agreed! Religious exemptions should have been a no brainer. The church should not be stating that they agree with government mandates on requiring medical shots and instead stating they would grant exemptions for individuals belief freedoms.
Overall the 111 pages are fairly dull reading, I thought. Mainly church legaleeze. Minute details and editing that never should have justified the expense and efforts of such a session.
However - the declaration of belief in the Bible sounds more and more like “verbal inspiration”, the belief in the “Spirit of Prophecy” gives a weird signal to other Christians (imagine Lutherans declaring at each synod that they find Luthers writings virtually heaven sent - even if they thought they were, they wouldn’t make such declarations). And finally there is a new office for every local church: Spirit of Prophecy Writings Coordinator … Yes, there is an agenda behind that - I find it disturbing as it is likely to distort the role and function of EGW, rather than really help us understand her in the 21st century.
Is not our confidence in the Bible sufficient for salvation? In other words, our faith is not founded on the Bible only.
I find it ironic that someone or group in the GC thinks it has the right to tell others what to believe or control what they believe. They seem to venerate EGW but go against her counsel, often. Desire Of Ages 314.4 “The church is built upon Christ as its foundation. It is to obey Christ as its Head. It is not to depend upon man, or be controlled by man. Many claim that a position of trust in the church gives them authority to dictate what other men shall believe and what they shall do.
THIS CLAIM GOD DOES NOT SANCTION.” Let us see how much confidence leadershipn has in their Spirit of Prophecy. This was heer repeated advise! I rest my case.
Covid and the resulting quiet exodus of members are causing many local churches (at least in the West; can’t say anything about other areas) to struggle to find brethren to fill the already existing positions to maintain local church life. And yet here we are implementing another local church position… out of sheer ideology. Funny how reality on local levels and in the GC world differ…
this is an encouraging development…from what i’ve seen, few people in our church have a working understanding of the writings of egw…perhaps this new office can provide systematic, step by step study helps…
i do wonder if the creation of this new office is perhaps a signal that our church leadership is preparing the church for the rise of new prophets…perhaps they know something the rest of us don’t…perhaps a new prophet is already guiding the GC, and we haven’t heard about it yet…
Jeremy, we don’t need a “Spirit of Prophecy Coordinator” to realize that the Spirit is moving in our local churches today and is providng all gifts the church needs (that includes the prophetic gift, of course). The idea that a coordinator would be able to enhance sales of EGW books is questionable (most Adventists have a standard library of EGW books - sometimes in as many editions as there are Bibles in the home). And frankly - I imagine small churches in Germany … say 40 members or less (average age 60 or more) … trying to find a suitable person in their midst … Call it “prophetic gift” call it “realism” or “experience” … it will not work - but rather may antagonize towards the GC in some areas.
is this SOP coordinator an absolute requirement, or is it aspirational…also, is it a paid position, or is it volunteer…
i’m thinking that if this SOP coordinator is an aspirational, volunteer position, it isn’t likely to lapse into the distortion you suggest…instead it can be whatever the appointed person envisions, such as basic get together sessions to systematically read and discuss some of the more well-known volumes, like Desire of Ages, or Great Controversy, for example, which can’t hurt…for one thing, discussion groups, as we all know, tend to veer towards areas of interest and relevance to the particular group, whatever the nominal purpose and subject of the discussion is…
Well, you make wonderful suggestions… church officers - except for the pastor - are unpaid volunteers, as far as I am aware. 
And obviously - you can have an “aspirational” position of a SOP coordinator. Do we need a change of the church manual for that? I don’t think so. In fact, local churches are quite able to select their personell as needed (how about a pathfinder director for a church that doesn’t have any children?)…
No … behind the suggestion is a very different agenda: moving the SDA church (further) away from the preamble of the fundamentals " Seventh-day Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed" …
it may also be a perception by the GC that attacks against egw are sharpening just as some of the outlines of end time prophecy are taking shape…
to me it looks like the GC may be trying to help our churches protect themselves against what’s coming, as they think they must…i’m quite sure that our GC sees adherence to the gift of prophecy, as provided for in the bible, as part of our bible only creed…
These ‘volumes’, serve as classic examples of her plagiarism. They destroy confidence in her prophetic gift for her lying about her sources behind these books.
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