General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists


The General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists is the governing organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Its headquarters is located in Silver Spring, Maryland and oversees the church in directing its various divisions and leadership, as well as doctrinal matters.
The General Conference, which is overseen by an executive committee and an elected President of the General Conference, is the administrative head of the global church. The denomination is organized in a representative form of church government, which means authority arises from the membership of local churches. In addition to administering their own congregations, churches send representatives to vote on matters and leaders in a shared local unit of administration. They vote also on who will represent them in a large area, with further representation selected at each successively larger administrative region. Finally, the General Conference elects the executive committee and officers who hold its authority between the decisions of the quinquennial General Conference Session.

Major entities

Four units of church structure provide organization. They are interdependent while holding some unique authorities and consisting of specific constituencies.
  1. The local church and its members.
  2. The local conference is made up of a number of churches in an area such as a state, province, or territory.
  3. The union conference is made up of conferences and fields in a larger geographical area.
  4. The General Conference administers the worldwide direction of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The General Conference includes 13 regional administrative sections, called divisions.

    Divisions and Attached Unions/Fields

DivisionHeadquarters Location
East-Central Africa Nairobi, Kenya
Euro-Asia Moscow, Russia
Inter-American Miami, Florida
Inter-European Berne, Switzerland
North American Columbia, Maryland
Northern Asia-Pacific Goyang, South Korea
Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa
South American Brasilia, Brazil
South Pacific Wahroonga, New South Wales, Australia
Southern Asia Hosur, India
Southern Asia-Pacific Silang, Cavite, Philippines
Trans-European St Albans, England
West-Central Africa Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

Attached Union/FieldHeadquarters Location
Middle East and North Africa UnionBeirut, Lebanon
Israel Field Jerusalem, Israel

Educational institutions

The Seventh-day Adventist educational system is extensive worldwide, however only a few institutions are structured directly under General Conference oversight
https://adventistcolleges.org/

Outreach

The General Conference holds three meetings in which leaders from around the world gather to discuss church issues and finances. While two meetings meet annually, usually at the world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, the third meets every five years in a selected city.