Secretariat

Session

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a worldwide community of more than 20 million members, who confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and who are united in mission, purpose and belief. But how is an international organisation that serves millions of people governed?

The Church’s internal governance is representative, with executive responsibility and authority assigned to its various entities and intuitions and their respective constituencies, boards and officers. The different organisation levels follow constitutions or articles of incorporation, bylaws, and operating policies and guidelines.

The global denominational levels of the Seventh-day Adventist Church are as follows:

  • General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (The world headquarters of the denomination, commonly referred to as the “General Conference” or the “GC”)
  • 13 Divisions
  • 132 Unions
  • 626 Conferences and Missions
  • 226,000(+) Local Churches and Companies

With the exception of Divisions*, each organizational unit has a defined membership, also known as a constituency. As constituents, members have the privilege of participating in deliberations and decision-making meetings of their respective organisational units.

The highest level of authority to each level of denominational organisation is within the constituency meeting known as Session. 

In the South England Conference, Session is held every 4 years. It is the forum for electing administrative officers and voting changes to the church’s constitution. Delegates also hear reports from each of the administrative departments of the church. The voting delegates for Session represent the members of their local church.

While people may be elected to serve an organisation at certain levels, each officer is accountable to the organisation’s executive committee. An executive committee (or board in the case of institutions) is entrusted through policies or constitutions and bylaws with authority to govern between Session meetings.

*Divisions have been established as an additional organizational unit to serve a defined geographical area. Therefore, divisions are not considered constituency-based.