Ninth Business Meeting
58th General Conference session, July 5, 2005, 2:00 p.m.

WILFREDO SUMAGAYSAY: [Welcomed delegates to another business meeting of the fifty-eighth General Conference session. Prayer was offered to open the meeting.]

EVELYN LIPKE: [Presented item of music.]

GERRY D. KARST: Good afternoon, and I welcome you to the 2:00 “Challenges to Mission” portion. The first day we dealt with “The Church and Spiritual Life,” yesterday we talked about “The Church and Society,” and today Elder Mark Finley is going to bring to us “The Challenge of the Church and Apostasy.” Now I’d like to invite you once again to participate, as you have done in the past days.

MARK FINLEY: This section is called “Challenges to Mission,” and we are focusing particularly today on a major challenge facing the Seventh-day Adventist Church and all Christian churches that experience growth.

The Great Commission that Jesus gave to the church was not “Go and baptize.” The Great Commission was “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19, NIV), so baptism should take place after one has become a disciple of Christ. So the focus of the church is not on baptism. The Great Commission is “Go and make disciples,” and it includes much more than baptism. Disciplemaking is the development of a faith-filled group of people who are praying Christians, who are daily growing in grace, studying God’s Word, worshipping with His people, and witnessing to the glory of His Name. When the church fails to nurture new converts, it really fails in accomplishing the Great Commission, and it’s not faithful to God.

In the past five years the Seventh-day Adventist Church has exploded in growth, and we can praise God that 5,049,157 accessions to the church through baptism and profession of faith have taken place. But at the same time we lament the fact that in this same five-year period 1,397,608 people have been dropped from church membership.

That becomes a serious problem. Is it possible to reverse the church’s high apostasy rate? And do we have any examples on a divisionwide basis in which there has been an intentional approach on the part of conferences and unions and divisions to reduce apostasy, and can we measure it statistically?

I would like to look at one division in particular. The South American Division has become a positive example of apostasy rate reversal. The secretary’s report for the South American Division in the year 2000 indicated that the apostasy rate in South America in 2000 was approximately what the apostasy rate is all over the world today. It was 33 percent in 2000. The South American Division took a look at that.

Recent discussions with Elder Roy Nagel indicate that the apostasy rate in South America is now running at 18 percent. Now, that is a dramatic reversal, so the question becomes How was it achieved? The South American Division leadership reports that they have implemented a strategy of small groups throughout that division that in their mind have made a dramatic difference in reversing those apostasy rates. That may be something for other divisions in the world to take a look at.

Church growth thinkers list the following reasons that people leave the Seventh-day Adventist Church and churches in general.

1. Conflict with a pastor or another church member.

2. Discouragement over personal problems.

3. Lack of friends. Church growth studies indicate that if you do not establish a set of new friends within the church within the first year after you are baptized, your likelihood of leaving increases.

4. A weak biblical faith. A number of studies indicate that when people have a weak biblical faith, when they do not understand what they are doing in joining a religious community of Seventh-day Adventists, they are likely to leave more quickly.

5. The perception on the part of some that have joined a church, a fellowship of believers, that it is not relevant to their needs.

6. Lack of a house of worship. In many places where there are mass baptisms, studies indicate that if a house of worship is not provided for those new believers, the likelihood for them to leave rises exponentially.

Let us look at the New Testament for a model of a vibrant, spiritual growing community. What are the elements of New Testament growth?

1. You notice that one of the elements of nurture in Acts 4:13, 31 is a meaningful devotional life.

2. Acts 2:42 describes a network of small groups in house-to-house fellowship that nurtured and bonded New Testament believers.

3. According to Acts 2:46, there was corporate worship and praise through the Sabbath experience and through biblical preaching. Corporate worship was a part of the New Testament experience.

4. There was active community involvement through witnessing, according to Acts 6:7 and Acts 8:4. That leads us, then, to some very important and critical questions:

In the past two years the Seventh-day Adventist Church has lost nearly one third of the aggregate number that was baptized. (It was not one third of those baptized-it was one third of the number of baptisms.)

1. Is that acceptable to the Lord? If not, what can we do about it?

2. How can we sustain rapid growth rates, while at the same time reduce apostasy?

3. What initiative can conferences, unions, divisions, the General Conference, take in the next five years to make a significant difference in reducing apostasies worldwide?

We can choose to spend the next 40 minutes describing how the church ought to be more loving and everything that the church isn’t doing. May I suggest to you that there is enough creativity in this room, and enough brainpower in this room, from the delegates to the fifty-eighth session, that we together can come up with comprehensive strategies to make a difference.

PATRICIA GUSTIN: There is probably no part of what we do that is as neglected and as important as dealing with this question of apostasy. We have to constantly remember that evangelism is not an event but a process. We then move on to teaching, and that teaching can take many forms. It can be personal sharing, Bible studies, evangelistic meetings, but there must be a teaching ministry. Then of course there eventually comes a time for decisions and harvest, but the process is still not completed. There must be ongoing nurture. Jesus spent three and a half years with His disciples, and when He left them He said, “I have yet many things to say unto you” (John 16:12). The nurturing process is ongoing, and we must never give the impression that once one has entered into our fellowship the process is over. We are going to be dealing more and more with those who come to our faith from a non-Christian foundation. The need for nuture will only increase.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: I think most of you are aware of the fact that over the past 15 years I have had some small role in the Global Mission initiative. It has given me an opportunity to visit many new congregations that are scattered around the world. Some of those congregations are found in islands, very rural areas, but there are quite a number of them that are found in cities.

Sometimes I travel through an area, and there will be a group that is gathered for the first time in the history of our church, and there will be 50 new members. Another place, 30; sometimes 12 or two. On occasions I have had the opportunity to come back after one or two years. Sometimes I am very happy; at other times there is a deep sadness that comes over me, because the congregation that was established has reduced to less than half its original size.

I hope that our conversation this afternoon can be an expression from the world family. How can we develop a culture of nurture that keeps our people and disciples them to make them active members for Jesus Christ?

MARK FINLEY: I am going to ask our chairman to come, and we will focus on the question “What initiative can conferences, unions, divisions, and the General Conference take, in the next five years, to make a significant difference in reducing worldwide apostasies?

GERRY D. KARST: Thank you very much for the presentation. This is once again dealing with one of those very significant challenges of the church that touch all of us everywhere, in every country of the world, and we need to talk about how to reduce that last ratio. I have heard it said that a choir that only practices and never performs will soon stop practicing. Perhaps there is something to be learned from that in the area of discipleship as well.

DOUGLAS HUENERGARDT: I would like to talk specifically about the terms discipleship and disciplemaking, because it seems that if we focus on these as a specific program of activities for church members, it places our perspective squarely on the interplay between us and Jesus-on Jesus’ being able to give us that sense of what it means to participate fully in the kingdom that He offers. And that element is essential, because to the degree that we just focus on developing a nurturing community, it becomes too focused in and of itself.

I believe that what is needed is the challenge, to both individuals and the community, to attempt to become Christ’s disciples through their activities.

A number of people have been writing and speaking specifically about this, because our focus has been so much upon converts through baptism. Thank you very much.

DANIEL CHAIJ: I have a couple of recommendations specifically addressed to the field that I represent, which is the North American Division. We have heard of the high percentage of our youth that leave the church. I feel that the ministry to our children and youth is just as important as it is to the adults that we try to reach. Now, the elementary and academy enrollment in our schools in North America has been going down. This is particularly because our parents don’t want to send their children to boarding school.

We have, therefore, right now in North America a redundancy of academies and colleges. If we were to sell some of these properties and establish an endowment fund so that more of our children could go to the elementary schools that we have, we would lose less of them later in life. That has been my observation and my experience. And I think that we would be doing a very important ministry that is just as important to save the children in our families as to save new converts. I would propose that some serious consideration be made on this subject. I know that it goes against the established historical tradition, but we have too many boarding academies and colleges, and we need more elementary children in our schools. Thank you.

GERRY D. KARST: Thank you very much. And once again, all of your comments are being recorded so that they won’t be lost.

JONATHAN KUNTARAF: When we study why people leave the church, in many cases the reason is not theological. It is the lack of warm fellowship and the lack of support that new members have received from our church members. Therefore, at all levels we need to strengthen fellowship opportunities so that our members can support one another. And we find also that many new members who join the church because of the efforts of our lay members stay longer in the church.

Sometimes when we have large evangelistic meetings many people are baptized without adequate follow-up support, and many of them leave the church after the evangelist leaves. Therefore, I think we need to strengthen the groundwork activities; to train our members to become more involved. As a result, new members will stay in the church because they will be supported by our own members. Small group ministries are very useful to meet these needs.

GERRY D. KARST: Thank you, Brother Kuntaraf; we always sense the passion when you speak.

ROBERT PAULSEN: I’ve had the privilege of going into many parts of the world and working for the Lord. We went into India and saw 15,000 baptized at one series of meetings. We had already made arrangements to build churches in every one of those villages so that they would have places to worship. Now when we provide a village with a church, the next village wants to hear about Christ and have a church also.

So my challenge is that maybe the General Conference will take a look at how our funds are allocated, and maybe $1 million could be put out as a challenge to laypeople to match that and use it for building churches in these areas. This is needed also in Africa and other parts of the world. They need places to worship. Thank you so much.

GERRY D. KARST: Thank you, Brother Paulsen; we affirm you and the other laypeople who are out on the front lines doing evangelism.

PAUL TOMPKINS: I’m thrilled by the discussion that we’re having. But I’d like to widen it slightly. I’d like to widen it to the area of recovery. I believe that we have many young people who leave the church, perhaps in their late teens or early 20s. They may leave for a number of reasons, often because of lack of friendship. But so often we just carry on with church. We forget to nurture and visit them. In fact, studies show that very few ever receive any sort of visit or backup call. I would like us to develop a strategic plan over the next five years to reach out to our Adventist prodigals. I believe that there are many who will come back to the church. They never left Jesus; they haven’t left God. They’ve forgotten about church. They can be reached if we will take time to pray and to act. I believe we can do it. Thank you.

JOCHEN HAWLITSCHEK: Apostasy takes place at the local church. In my opinion, the General Conference, unions, divisions, etc., cannot do very much about regulating that. It’s my duty as a local church member, as the older brother, to support the younger brother, the newborn that comes in.

GERRY D. KARST: Thank you very much. A good point.

DENIS HANKINSON: Thank you. The Great Commission in Matthew 28 was to make disciples. And I know that teaching and baptizing are very important steps in that. Is it possible to get statistics about discipleship? In our conference we’re attempting to develop ways of actually measuring that discipleship. The first is an attendance count. Our churches report their attendance at church each week. The second is a one-year hold rate. This is based on the data that suggests that the high percentage of people who drop out of church do so within the first 12 months. We’ve found that keeping these statistics has enabled us to give early indicators of health or disease in our churches and then to work with those churches to plan initiatives to develop the good things they’re doing or work on the areas that they are struggling with. Thank you.

ARTUR STELE: How to retain the church members is a very serious challenge for the Euro-Asia Division. I believe there are two areas in which we as a church need to work. First, we need to work on how we worship on Sabbath. When people come to our worships, they must see, must experience, that something is going on that is real, that the Lord is present, that people are really worshipping in a very live manner. Very often our worships remind me of funeral ceremonies. I think we must work in this area.

Second, we need to provide circles or small groups during the week that can help our people to feel that they are loved, that somebody cares about them. When we look at the membership in our division, sometimes 70 to 80 percent are women. Their husbands, their families, are outside of the church. They come, but they need support groups. The small group can provide love, care, spiritual nourishment, and prayer, and so I would like for us to work on these two areas.

GERRY D. KARST: Thank you, Elder Stele.

BASIL HALL: We see around us in our churches influential pastors leaving or having a difference with the mother church and then going independent. Sister White tells us that when Lucifer decided to become Satan, God spent a lot of time trying to woo him back. But when these independents are created, I don’t see the same spirit from the leadership of the church in wrestling with these people. So I would like to see the leadership, especially, address this issue.

GERRY D. KARST: Thank you very much.

ALEX R. PONNIAH: I would once again record a word of thanks to Elder Mark Finley. He has passion for evangelism; he’s one of our greatest evangelists in our church. He has identified the need for discipleship, and I think that is one of the core areas needed to retain and maintain our membership in church. Our church has a lot of materials on discipleship, but the question is Are we using these materials effectively in disciplemaking? I would like to share what my own local church has implemented in order to ensure that there is some form of protection, some form of continuity, some prevention of backsliding. At the time of baptism a spiritual guardian is appointed to take care of that individual, a sort of mentor who follows up with that person to ensure that the person comes to church, fellowships, worship service, etc.

Also, Sabbath school in itself can be a cell group to invite participation of its members. Thank you.

STOY PROCTOR: I wonder if we could have departments and other teams be a part of this planning process so that we address the discipleship issue after the evangelistic campaign has finished, and also spend a little of our resources on discipling at the time that we’re planning for these evangelistic campaigns.

GERRY D. KARST: Thank you, Elder Proctor.

JESUS URIARTE: I must say that in my local church and my local conference we are making a concerted effort to follow Christ’s calling not in having people baptized but in making disciples. There are a few suggestions I would like to bring for your consideration. 1. Our local pastors have to be involved in this. We can speak here until next year, but if the local pastors don’t become involved in discipleship, it is not going to happen. 2. We should have departments whose only purpose is to follow up on new disciples. 3. We should develop a curriculum of continuing studies with these new disciples. 4. We should involve these new members in active participation in our churches. Thank you.

VIOLETO BOCALA: I want to address the question that was raised by Dr. Ryan. Those who are baptized often leave after one year. Often in developing countries we have a great number of baptisms but also a large number of backsliders. I want to make two suggestions as to how we can help this. First, I would suggest to the local missions or conferences that when they penetrate a new area, they should see to it that they have a worker, even a lay pastor only, left in that newly established congregation to nurture the congregation at least one year.

Second, the local missions or conferences should include, in their budget, funds for a church building for the congregation that is raised.

FATIHA BENAZZA: I have a suggestion: it is important to be friendlier with people and to know the culture of the people. It is very important that we be patient. When someone gives his or her heart to Jesus, we have to see what spiritual gifts that person has and invite the person to do something in the church.

GERRY D. KARST: We thank God that you are here. Again, thank you so much for your contributions, and once again, please write them down and turn them in to the presenters. At this time we need to adjourn this meeting of the General Conference session to make way for a brief corporation meeting, which will follow immediately. [The meeting was adjourned.]

GERRY D. KARST, Chair
AGUSTIN GALICIA, Secretary
BILL BOTHE, ATHAL TOLHURST,
FRED THOMAS, and CLAUDE SABOT, Proceedings Editors

Ninth Business Meeting Actions
58th General Conference session, July 5, 2005, 2:00 p.m.

CHALLENGES TO MISSION 2005-2010
Presentations were made on the Challenge of Mission by Mark A Finley, Michael L Ryan, and Patricia J Gustin. A lengthy discussion followed.
GERRY D KARST, Chair
AGUSTIN GALICIA, Secretary
LARRY R EVANS, Actions Editor
JANET C UPSON, Recording Secretary

Tenth Business Meeting
58th General Conference session, July 5, 2005, 3:10 p.m.

GERRY KARST: I will call the General Conference back into session, and at this point we will take the item that was tabled in the previous session off the table.

I see the speaker who made the previous motion standing by the microphone, and I will grant him the floor at this time.

CLAUDE RICHLI: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Based on the comments of the parliamentarian this morning as well as on the comments of the General Conference president, I am more than willing to withdraw the motion, and I appeal to the chair to let the speaker who would be willing to make a motion to reconsider making that motion.

GERRY D. KARST: Thank you, Elder Richli. The motion does belong to the floor, but the one who made it has given his consent to withdraw it, so unless there is any opposition to that, we will accept from the chair the withdrawal of that motion. Is there someone who supported the earlier motion to endorse this new fundamental belief wishing to move a motion to reconsider?

[A motion to reconsider was made, seconded, and voted.]

[A motion that the item be referred to the committee was made, seconded, and voted.]

LOWELL C. COOPER: Mr. Chairman, I’d like to introduce a procedural motion because we’ve had a number of attempts to use a point of order procedure to address the calling of the previous question. In order to give the body better facility to make its determination on the length of discussions, I’d like to introduce the motion that floor discussion of an item after its introduction be entertained in 15-minute segments, thus authorizing the chair to ascertain the will of the body on whether or not discussion should continue for another segment. I’d like to move that, Mr. Chairman.

[The motion was seconded, and voted with a two-thirds majority.]

GERRY D. KARST: Let’s come now to the presentation “Tell the World,” Elder Ryan.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Two days ago you received a handout called “Tell the World.” And at the back of that booklet is a DVD. One of the challenges to any organization is to align its resources in the direction of its mission. The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a lot of resources. But to get these resources and to align them in a common direction is always a challenge. This little booklet, “Tell the World,” is a guide to divisions, unions, and conferences that is easy to follow. Now, we realize that there are a lot programs and a lot of diversity in the church, different needs and different places, and so this is not meant to be something that is etched in stone.

[The DVD was then shown to the delegates.]

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Mr. Chairman, prior to making the motion to accept this report, I would like to give credit to Bettina Krause. Bettina was very instrumental in putting this report together, and I want to thank her for the work that she put in on that. [A vote was taken to record the presentation of the report.]

GARY D. KARST: Just before turning the chair over to Mike Ryan, I want to say a word of appreciation to the delegates for being on the floor for the business session. There are other attractions, and in previous sessions sometimes we have been rather few on the floor when items have been brought, but you have been here, and I want to say thank you.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Larry Evans, the undersecretary, will introduce to us item 302.

LARRY R. EVANS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is found on page 36 of your backup materials. We have one sentence that we would add: “The General Confer­ence president shall be an ordained minister of experience.” I would move that.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: I have a second.

I see someone at microphone 4. Dr. Beardsley.

LISA BEARDSLEY: I wholeheartedly agree that the General Conference president should have experience in ministry and that the General Conference president must have a shepherd’s heart for the worldwide church. The General Conference president must also be visionary, a capable administrator of a multinational global organization, a compelling communicator, and a role model in integrity, humility, faith, and practice. In recent years, however, ministerial ordination has been more specifically focused on those with a traditional pastoral experience and training. The proposed amendment overlooks the fact that pastoral experience can come from a variety of contexts, such as hospital or military chaplaincy, the ministry of education, the ministry of healing, literature evangelism, and media ministry, to name some of these contexts. It also overlooks that church endorsement is also demonstrated through church credentials other than ordination. The amendment presents no evidence that it is biblically based or informed by the writings of Ellen White; in fact, it seems to disregard Joel’s description of the latter rain on the remnant church with a liberal and undiscrimating outpouring of God’s Spirit on His people, young and old, male and female. The amendment disregards the transforming power of Christ that equips all for ministry by erasing the oppressive distinctions of class, race, and gender that Paul describes in Galatians 3:28. This amendment would disqualify some otherwise qualified candidates who have demonstrated spiritual leadership in chaplaincy, Adventist education, the ministry of healing, or other contexts. This amendment might even disqualify some scholars with earned doctorates in biblical studies or biblical languages teaching in a seminary that prepares ministers. This amendment would disqualify some university college presidents who faithfully nurture the collegiate flock and demonstrate spiritual leadership and administrative skill. This amendment would also categorically disqualify all women in ministry. I would prefer to continue to allow the Nominating Committee to consider the totality of a presidential candidate’s qualifications and giftedness by God. The spiritual needs of the worldwide church vary, and each president has brought his own unique experience to those needs. This amendment would constrain a full deliberation by the Nominating Committee. For these reasons I move to refer this back to the Constitution and Bylaws Committee to consider a revision to read, “The General Conference president shall be an ordained or credentialed employee of experience.” Thank you.

[The motion was seconded. The chairman put the motion to a vote, and declared it lost.]

GUILLERMO MAGANA: That was pretty close. Is there any type of system that we have that would count and see how many of the majority voted?

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Yes, there is a provision that we can do that. You would need to call for a division of the house.

GUILLERMO MAGANA: I call for a division of the house.

[Following a division of the house, the chairman again declared the motion to refer lost.]

LAWRENCE T. GERATY: I rise to speak against this proposal because it seems to me that it makes a mockery of the two resolutions we voted over the weekend: the resolutions on the Holy Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. It seems to me that one will look in vain in those sources for authorization to exclude women from leadership positions in the church. This morning we had an excellent paper on leadership from Angel Rodríguez. On pages 55 and 56 of Profiling Adventist Leadership he talked about the importance of inclusion in several matters, including gender.

We all recognize that it is unlikely that the Seventh-day Adventist Church will elect a female president, but why vote a policy that from the beginning excludes more than half of our membership? This is telling God that even if He calls another Ellen White our church will not recognize her leadership. Remember that in Christ there is no male or female, so why should it not be the same in this church that we love? I appeal to the delegates to reject this exclusionary policy. Let us stand for the inclusion that has been advocated in our leadership sessions. Let us not tie God’s hands to bring into leadership those whom He will. Thank you.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Thank you very much for that, Dr. Geraty.

GUIL­LERMO MAGANA: I also agree with Dr. Geraty and speak in opposition of the amendment. I am going to come at it from the youth perspective. I attend Andrews University, and we have a fine seminary there. There are a lot of students that would be great once they become ordained; however, there are also other students who are not in the seminary but are in other different majors, and they would make fine General Conference presidents down the road if they would choose to do so. I think this is just narrowing down the scope of those that would wish to pursue this or what persons God has in His plan.

It would be like saying, in the political arena, that one has to be a lawyer in order to run for president of the United States. So I speak in opposition of the motion.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: I make no comment on your position, but it is very refreshing to hear young people’s voices echoing across this auditorium.

ALVIN KIBBLE: Mr. Chairman, I stood earlier to express my approval and my affirmation of the strategic plan that had been presented before the assembly. Within that plan were three strategic values that we also voted and approved of, those being that we value growth, that we value quality of life, and that we value unity.

Previously when I stood, it was for the purpose of asking how we were going to translate those key values throughout the world church and within the divisions that make up the world body. Unless or until we have clear intentional targets, those values simply become wonderful sentiments.

Mr. Chairman, it is noticeable that right after approving of that wonderful strategic plan and those core values, we would propose to take an action that would strongly strike at the inclusion of all genders in the selection of the leadership of our world church. It is for this reason that I would appeal that we reconsider the former action in recognition of the value of unity, and that we continue to pursue clearly a definition of what that value means in our operation and practice.

SAMUEL KORANTENG-PIPIM: Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment, which says, “The General Conference president shall be an ordained minister of experience.” I think it is a good thing. The church is not a corporation. The church is not a political institution. It is a spiritual entity, and the Bible teaches that the church must be headed by ordained elders or ministers.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Thank you for that comment.

GEORGE REID: I regret, Mr. Chairman, that we are coming back to something that this church has dealt with twice before in session. I am rising to speak in favor of the proposal. If we are going to approach the question of women’s ordination through a back door, then let’s be quite honest and set it out front.

HARLIN ABAYON: I stand to speak against the amendment because I believe we are now in our fifty-eighth session of the General Conference, and we have already elected the president of the General Conference, and this provision was not there.

I think, Mr. Chairman, we should not limit the powers of the Nominating Committee, because the Nominating Committee is trusted by the delegates, and trusted by the church, to elect even without this particular provision.

ABRAHAM CANTEROS BASUR: Mr. Chairman, I think that we have been on this subject for a long time, and it is time to put an end to it.

PATRICIA MUTCH: Mr. Chairman, It’s my understanding from the presentation of this item that the rationale that caused the committee to present it to us is that it needed to be aligned with other parts of the constitution or bylaws that restrict leadership in other levels of the church organization to ordained ministers. I would like not only to speak against this item, but also to call into question the wisdom of those other items that this was intended to be aligned with. I believe that God made the human being in two forms, male and female. And research on the brain as well as evidence from leadership around the world today shows that He gifted both forms of the human species with abilities and wisdom and capacity.

I speak against this motion.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Thank you, Dr. Mutch. We’re nearing the end of the 15-minute period. We will take a few more speakers. And I would hope that eventually we can bring this to a vote.

JOHN FOWLER: As was mentioned by the previous speaker, the requirement of ordination for several positions is already in the constitution. I do not think we should sacrifice the need for ordination to the top leadership positions of this church by arguing for ordination or by arguing that such a provision excludes the women. That issue must be addressed by revisiting the issue of ordination if necessary. I support this amendment.

ISRAEL LEITO: I move the previous question. [Seconded.]

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Let’s vote on whether we’re going to extend the time for discussion. [It was voted not to extend the time for discussion.]

AGUSTIN GALICIA: The motion before us states, “The General Conference president shall be an ordained minister of experience.” [The motion was voted.]

MICHAEL L. RYAN: I’m asking Larry Evans to bring the next item.

LARRY R. EVANS: On page 37 of your backup materials you will find Article I-Territorial Administration. There have been some realignments of divisions, and we need to amend the constitution and bylaws accordingly. [The changes were moved, seconded, and voted.]

MICHAEL L. RYAN: We will then go to item 308. Please introduce that for us.

LARRY R. EVANS: This is item 308, page 84 in the backup material. [The change in terminology from Standing Committees to Session Committees was moved, seconded, and voted.]

LARRY R. EVANS: Item 313 is found on page 89. This is in reference to a recommendation for consideration by the Constitution and Bylaws Committee made at the last session in Toronto.

A request was received by the Constitu­tion and Bylaws Committee to consider an amendment to the General Conference Constitution and Bylaws, Constitution, Article X, Term of Office, limiting service by a General Conference president to two consecutive terms of service. After the issues involved were considered, it was voted to refer this request to the General Conference session with a recommendation that the change not be approved.

[The motion was tabled until copies of the backup material could be made available for those who did not receive it.]

Continued in Bulletin no. 8.

Continued from Bulletin 7.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: We're going to move on to Church Manual items. Elder Miranda, please introduce them for us.

ARMANDO MIRANDA: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As an introduction I'd like to say that the Church Manual Committee is composed of representatives of every division, including laypeople, pastors, and administrators. It has worked during the quinquennium to consider the recommendations that come from around the world.

We have received a number of initiatives and recommendations to amend the main body of the Church Manual. And these are the items that we will discuss together, because the General Conference session is the only body who has the authority to make changes, additions, or deletions to the main body of the Church Manual. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask Elder Vernon Parmenter, who is the secretary of the Church Manual Committee, to lead us in the process.

VERNON B. PARMENTER: Mr. Chairman, if I could direct the delegates to turn to page 43 for the ?rst Church Manual item, and this particular item, if we agree to it, then relates to several other items that we would like to follow.

"In the Church Manual the word minister refers to a clergyperson who may or may not serve as pastor of a local church. And the word pastor refers to a minister who is assigned pastoral responsibilities by a con-ference/mission/?eld for a congregation or a number of congregations." And then the asterisk: "This de?nition of the words minister and pastor refers only to their usage in the Church Manual and is not intended to refer to the title when addressing a clergyperson. It is understood that the use of these terms varies throughout the world divisions."

The words are used differently currently, and we would like to make them consistent as we move through the manual. So, Mr. Chairman, to bring it before us I would move that we approve these amendments.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Thank you. We have a motion. Is there a second to that? All right, very good. We will take any comments that you might have on this.

SAMUEL KORANTENG-PIPIM: Mr. Chairman, I would like to know why the need for the distinction in the meaning of the terms minister and pastor. In the dictionary these terms are used interchangeably. Historically they are used interchangeably. Biblically and in the Spirit of Prophecy they are used interchangeably.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Thank you very much for that comment and question.

VERNON B. PARMENTER: Mr. Chairman, I wonder if we could ask Elder Cress, the ministerial secretary, to answer that.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Elder Cress, you have the ?oor.

JAMES A. CRESS: Mr. Chairman, my comment and the clari?cation in response are essentially the same thing. It is accurate that the words are used interchangeably. However, the words are also a job description and an honori?c, if you will. When I was a young man, you called an ordained minister elder. There are parts of the world in which elder is a laity of?ce that no pastor will be called to. In some parts of the world you call an unordained minister pastor, and in other places they become pastor only when they are ordained. All of this is appropriate for the culture that is utilizing it and understanding it. However, in the Church Manual we need to have some consistency of knowing that when we use the term minister it's referring to the job description.

When we use the term as an honori?c, Pastor Ryan or Elder Ryan, in that particular case it doesn't refer to a job description; it refers to an honorable title that you would refer to the person that holds that job description. There is nothing theologically to be interpreted from this. It is simply a matter of attempting to be consistent in the use of the wording, and the few actions that are being brought here together will simply bring a consistency in its usage in the Church Manual.

Nothing of a theological nature should be read into this, nor in fact would it essentially matter if we decided for consistency to go the other way. This is a matter of consistency. Thank you.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Thank you very much, Elder Cress.

GERHARD PFANDL: Thank you. My question is whether this has been thought through in regard to translations. We may make the distinction in English between minister and pastor, but what happens in languages in which you do not have two words that express the same idea that you have in English? Let's remember that in the Bible you have bishops and elders who are ordained. In the Bible pastor or shepherd is a spiritual gift; it's not an of?cial church of?ce. We have used the word pastor for church of?cers, but that's not biblical. In the Bible you would have to use bishop or elder, whereas pastor is clearly a spiritual gift, being a shepherd.

MICHAEL L. RYAN: Thank you for that. Is there a comment that you wanted to make on that?

VERNON B. PARMENTER: Mr. Chairman, the only comment I could make is that we are dealing with the English language here. It's very dif?cult to address any complications that might occur in other languages, and most of us are not familiar with those, but we do want to make the terms that are being used in the English version consistent, and that's really, as Elder Cress has indicated, all we are trying to do here.

SAMUEL KORANTENG-PIPIM: All those who speak to even the English language, when such a distinction is made in our Church Manual, even though no such distinction is found in the Spirit of Prophecy or the Bible, the problem we create is this.

Whenever a person reads the Spirit of Prophecy, they have to reinterpret the Spirit of Prophecy in harmony with our new de?nitions. Consequently it would be wise on our part at session that before we make such a distinction, we make sure that it is informed by the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy. This applies whether we are speaking about the English language or some other language. I am simply referring to the distinctions we are trying to create in a term that has historically and theologically been used interchangeably.

JONATHAN KUNTARAF: We try to have consistency in English; however, it will create another problem in other languages. For instance, in Indonesia there is only one word for minister or pastor.

KENAOPE KENAOPE: I am wondering if we are speaking the same language, let alone the English language itself. I think the item on the ?oor is that it is not reducing a clergyperson who is ordained-no, it is not saying that. The item is simply saying the word minister refers to a clergyperson who may or may not serve as pastor of a local church.

Now, I don't think there is a problem with that if we are making this distinction for the usage of the Church Manual.

[John Testerman then moved the previous question. It was seconded and voted.]

[The vote on the agenda item was then called for, and passed.]

VERNON B. PARMENTER: Mr. Chairman, item 404 is a ?ow-on item. This has to do with granting letters of transfer, and the change is on line 12. I'll read just that sentence.

"On receiving this," and that's referring to the letter of transfer, "the clerk brings the request to the pastor . . ." We are suggesting that we delete "if he is an ordained minister." We think that it's totally unnecessary that a person has to be ordained to become involved in the membership transfer process. [This item was moved, seconded, and voted.]

Item 406 is another illustration of this de?nition that we agreed on earlier. Reading on line 9 regarding the baptismal service: "In the absence of an ordained minister," instead of the word pastor, "the elder shall request the president . . ." So here, Mr. Chairman, it's clear to us as a committee that more than just the pastor is available to conduct baptisms. And so it needs to be broader than just the local pastor of a church. [The item was moved, seconded, and voted.]

Item 407, referred to on page 52, has to do with church leaders when there is no one possessing the necessary experience and quali?cations to serve as elder. It recommends that a church leader be elected in such situations. [The item was moved, seconded, and voted.]

Item 410 changes the term minister to pastor. [The item was moved, seconded, and voted.]

We will go to item 420. This amendment changes the words ministerial ordination to ordination to gospel ministry. [The item was moved, seconded, and voted.]

MICHAEL L. RYAN: The schedule indicates that we have come to the end of our time period for this meeting, and after the benediction we will stand adjourned.

PIERRE CAPORAL: [Prayed in his native language.]

GERRY D. KARST, Chair
MICHAEL L. RYAN, Chair
AGUSTIN GALICIA, Secretary
BILL BOTHE, ATHAL TOLHURST, FRED THOMAS, and CLAUDE SABOT, Proceedings Editors

Tenth Business Meeting Actions
July 5, 2005, 3:20 p.m.

GROWING IN CHRIST-ADDITION TO THE STATEMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS
VOTED, To withdraw the previous action to rescind Growing in Christ- Addition to the Statement of Fundamental Beliefs made during the morning business session. 30 (1238)

GROWING IN CHRIST-ADDITION TO THE STATEMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS
VOTED, To reconsider Growing in Christ-Addition to the Statement of Fundamental Beliefs.

GROWING IN CHRIST-ADDITION TO THE STATEMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS
VOTED, To refer Growing in Christ- Addition to the Statement of Fundamental Beliefs back to the writing committee.

ITEM DISCUSSION-LIMITED TO FIFTEEN MINUTES
VOTED, To accept the following motion from the ?oor:

Floor discussion of an item after its introduction shall be entertained in ?fteen-minute segments, thus authorizing the Chair to determine the will of the body as to whether or not discussion should be continued for another fifteen-minute segment. A vote to close discussion must have a two-thirds majority.

STRAGETIC PLAN FOR MISSION- REPORT

Michael L Ryan reported on a ?ve-year strategic plan for mission and showed a DVD entitled Tell the World.

OFFICERS AND THEIR DUTIES-CON-STITUTION AND BYLAWS AMENDMENT

VOTED, To amend General Conference Constitution and Bylaws, Constitution, Article IX-Of?cers and Their Duties, to read as follows:

ARTICLE IX-OFFICERS AND THEIR DUTIES

Sec. 3. President: The President is the ?rst of?cer of the General Conference, and shall report to the Executive Committee in consultation with the secretary and the treasurer. He or his designee shall preside at the sessions of the General Conference, act as chairperson of the Executive Committee, serve in the general interests of the General Conference as the Executive Committee shall determine, and perform such other duties as usually pertain to such of?ce. The General Conference President shall be an ordained minister of experience.

TERRITORIAL ADMINISTRATION-CON-STITUTION AND BYLAWS AMENDMENT
VOTED, To amend General Conference Constitution and Bylaws, Bylaws, Article I-Territorial Administration, to read as follows:

ARTICLE I-TERRITORIAL ADMINISTRATION

Sec. 1. The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, hereinafter referred to as the General Conference, normally shall conduct its worldwide work through its divisions, each division to operate within a speci?ed territory in harmony with General Conference policies.

Sec. 2. The duly organized divisions are: East-Central Africa Division, Euro-Africa Division, Euro-Asia Division, Inter-American Division, North American Division, Northern Asia-Paci?c Division, South American Division, South Paci?c Division, Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division, Southern Asia Division, Southern Asia-Paci?c Division, Trans-European Division, and West-Central Africa Division. The boundaries of these divisions shall be subject to adjustment only at Sessions of the General Conference or at Annual Councils of the Executive Committee.

Sec. 3. If a territorial adjustment is made at an annual council, it shall be made only provided each division and other territory affected is represented at the council by at least one of its of?cers, or in the case of an unorganized territory, by a senior church leader from that territory. An exception to the requirement of such representation shall be made in a condition of emergency. In such a case, the Executive Committee shall make whatever adjustments are necessary for the conduct of the work in the territories affected.

Sec. 4. Union conferences and union missions, together with all other organizations and institutions within a division's territory, shall be responsible to that divi-sion's executive committee, or in the case of General Conference institutions and ?elds without divisional af?liation, to the General Conference Executive Committee.

STANDING COMMITTEES-CONSTITU-TION AND BYLAWS AMENDMENT
VOTED, To amend General Conference Constitution and Bylaws, Bylaws, Article II-Standing Committees, Sec 1, to read as follows:

ARTICLE II-SESSION COMMITTEES

Sec. 1. At each regular session of the General Conference, such committees as may be found necessary, including the following, shall be elected for the duration of the session to consider items of business that may be referred to them and to bring their reports and recommendations to the session:

a. Session Church ManualCommittee

b. Session Constitution and BylawsCommittee

c. Session Nominating Committee

d. Session Plans Committee

TERM OF OFFICE FOR PRESIDENT- GENERAL CONFERENCE CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS AMENDMENT- REQUEST

A motion was made to table this item until later, as all the delegates were not in possession of the backup material.

USE OF THE TERM CONFERENCE, ETC-CHURCH MANUAL AMENDMENT
VOTED, To amend the Church Manual, Introduction, page xxii, Use of the Term Conference, etc., to read as follows:

Use of Terms in the Church Manual

Each organized Seventh-day Adventist church is a member of the sisterhood of churches known as a conference, which is a united organized body of churches in a state, country, or territory. Until full conference status is achieved (see General Conference Working Policy), other terminology such as mission, section, delegation, or ?eld may be used to describe the collective organization of local churches. In the Church Manual the term conference or union conference may also apply to a mission or a union mission.

In the Church Manual the word minister refers to a clergyperson who may or may not serve as pastor of a local church; and the word pastor refers to a minister who is assigned pastoral responsibilities by a con-ference/mission/?eld for a congregation or a number of congregations.*

*This de?nition of the words minister and pastor refers only to their usage in the Church Manual and is not intended to refer to the title used when addressing a clergyperson. It is understood that use of these terms varies throughout the world divisions.

METHOD OF GRANTING LETTERS OF TRANSFER-CHURCH MANUAL AMENDMENT
VOTED, To amend the Church Manual, Chapter 6, Church Membership, page 36, Method of Granting Letters of Transfer, to read as follows:

Method of Granting Letters of Transfer-Application for a letter should be made to the clerk of the church with which the member desires to unite. The clerk then sends the request to the clerk of the church from which the member desires to be transferred. On receiving this, the clerk brings the request to the pastor or to the church elder, who in turn lays the request before the church board. After due consideration the board recommends to the church, favorably or otherwise, concerning the application. (See p. 36 below and pp. 37-42, 59, 192, 204.) The pastor or elder then brings the recommendation to the attention of the church, announcing that this is the ?rst reading. Final action is taken the following week, when the request is again presented and a vote of the church is taken. The purpose of allowing one week's interval is to give any member opportunity to object to the granting of the letter for any valid reason. This objection should not ordinarily be publicly stated, but be lodged with the pastor or elder, whose duty it is to call the church board to consider the objection. The objector should be given opportunity to appear before the board to present the objections. If they are not based on valid grounds, the person raising objection should be admonished to withdraw them. On the other hand, if they are based on valid grounds, it is the duty of the church board to institute such investigation as may be needed. In such case the ?nal action on granting the letter by the church is deferred until the matter has been satisfactorily settled.

If the dif?culties involve-No change

BAPTISMAL SERVICE, THE-CHURCH MANUAL AMENDMENT
VOTED, To amend the Church Manual, Chapter 7, Church Of?cers and Their Duties, page 50, The Baptismal Service, to read as follows:

The Baptismal Service-In the absence of an ordained minister, the elder shall request the president of the conference/ mission/?eld to arrange for the administration of the rite of baptism to those desiring to unite with the church. (See pp. 32-35.) A local church elder should not of?ciate in the baptismal service without ?rst obtaining permission from the conference/mis-sion/?eld president.

CHURCH LEADERS-CHURCH MANUAL AMENDMENT
VOTED, To amend the Church Manual, Chapter 7, Church Of?cers and Their Duties, page 52, Church Leaders, to read as follows:

Church Leaders

Occasionally in newly organized churches, and sometimes in older ones, there is no one possessing the necessary experience and quali?cations to serve as elder. Under such circumstances the church should elect a person to be known as "leader." In the absence of the pastor or a conference/mission/?eld assigned minister, the leader is responsible for the services of the church, including the business meetings. The leader must either conduct these or arrange for someone else to do so. A church leader may not preside at any of the church ordinances, administer baptism, conduct the Lord's Supper, perform the marriage ceremony, or preside at business meetings when members are disciplined. A request should be made to the confer-ence/mission/?eld president for an ordained minister to preside at such meetings.

SELECTING CHOIR LEADERS- CHURCH MANUAL AMENDMENT
VOTED, To amend the Church Manual, Chapter 8, The Services and Meetings of the Church, page 71, Selecting Choir Leaders, to read as follows: Selecting Choir Leaders-Great care- No change

Choir leaders should work in close collaboration with the pastor or church elder in order that the special musical selections harmonize with the theme of the sermon. The choir leader is under the direction of the pastor or elders of the church and does not work independently of them. The choir leader should counsel with them, not only as to the music to be rendered, but also concerning the selection of singers and musicians. The choir leader is not an ex of?cio member of the church board.

LICENSED MINISTERS-CHURCH MANUAL AMENDMENT
VOTED, To amend the Church Manual, Chapter 10, Ministers and Workers, pages 137 and 138, Licensed Ministers, to read as follows:

Licensed Ministers

To give young men-No change

In its actions the conference/mission/ ?eld committee shall not go beyond that which the division committee authorizes. It shall not authorize a licensed minister to go from church to church outside the church or group of churches of which he is a local elder, performing church rites which pertain to the functions of an ordained minister. A conference/mission/?eld committee action cannot be substituted for church election or ordination to gospel ministry.

GERRY D KARST, Chair
MICHAEL L RYAN, Chair
AGUSTIN GALICIA, Secretary
LARRY R EVANS, Actions Editor
JANET C UPSON, Recording Secretary