SILVER SPRING, MD—Annual Council will be held at the General Conference headquarters building in Silver Spring, Maryland from October 10-16, 2019.
Although the preceding week is filled with Annual Council pre-meetings, the first session of the Annual Council (AC2019) will begin Thursday evening, October 10, at 6:00 p.m. The meetings conclude the following Wednesday afternoon, on October 16.
AC2019 pre-meetings include the Secretaries, President’s and Treasurer’s Council, Church Manual Committee, Hope Channel, Mission Board and GCDO (General Conference Division Officers).
On October 10 & 11 (Thursday and Friday), there will be LEAD presentations (LEAD stands for Leadership, Education, and Development). The LEAD part of the AC is customarily filled with presentations from the White Estate, Adventist Education, Sabbath School Departments, Adventist Health, and various departments of Church leadership.
Devotional Speakers this year are Neil Nedley, Vicki Griffin, Ross Grant, and Pastor Ron Kelly.
Sabbath is a meaningful group worship experience for all attendees.
On Sunday, the business portion of the meeting begins. There will be particular agenda items discussed and voted on. Daily agendas will be released on the Executive Committee Portal as they become available; they will also be distributed daily to attendees at the meetings. Some issues to look for this year are:
A report on the Compliance Committees that were voted into place last year at Battle Creek. These Committees were put in place to address SDA Church entities that were flouting General Conference Session votes regarding the different roles of men and women in ministry. Though there have been reports from two websites that the Compliance Committees were disbanded by ADCOM, much of that is fake news. The GC Executive Committee is aware of a lingering need to address organizational defiance to world church votes, and they will not let it go. It is possible that GC2020 will be asked to weigh in (with discipline) on the issue of world Church votes being defied. We will see how that goes, and report on it in real time.
Abortion. There is an ongoing process to replace the SDA Church’s current Abortion Guidelines with a more clear pro-life Statement. This Statement was drafted by the BRI and submitted to various committees for review. Look for this Statement to be brought up in the form of a motion. There will be discussion and a vote. Two options are available. The new Statement on Abortion can be adopted (or rejected) by the GC Executive Committee, or it can be sent to the 2020 General Conference Session for a vote there. We will post a copy of the document when it is made available to attendees & press.
The North American Division (NAD) has expressed a desire during their 2018 Year End Meetings for what they call “tithe parity” in the world church. Essentially, this means that the NAD would contribute less to the world field, and keep more tithe in the NAD. They currently contribute 6.35% of tithe dollars to the world field (or Church), and want to see that amount dropped to 2% (the same level that other Divisions are remitting).
The Agenda for GC2020 will be set in this meeting. Stayed tuned for updates!
Fulcrum7 will be in attendance at Autumn Council, reporting on events there. Stay tuned next week, and pray that God’s Holy Spirit gives the Church wisdom & courage to do His perfect will.
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“Sorrow endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).
“Ye shall go out with Joy . . .” (Isaiah 55:12).