Adventist Record May 11 2018 reports “In an historic agreement, all nine of the Australian conferences and the Australian Union Conference (AUC) have united together with the aim of transforming the Church, advancing the Church’s mission and exploring potential changes in its entity and governance structures."
After the completion of an extensive review process that took in views from multiple sources across social media platforms like Facebook, church leaders are encouraged by the response.
Further “David Swain, a lay member of the Greater Sydney Conference Executive Committee, said, “The review is clearly not just about structural reform. It is dealing with the broader issues that confront the Adventist Church in Australia and, especially where it really counts, the local church. It certainly has the potential to transform the Church and its mission”.
It is believed that, “The process will explore a single Adventist education system and a single aged care system in Australia. There are currently nine education entities operating across the country."
Also the report went onto say that, “Working groups will identify “potential models” of what each of the single systems might look like in practice and an extensive process of consultation across all of the conferences is planned for the last half of 2018."
In conclusion the report also stated that “transforming the Church is exactly what many members and ministers across Australia are looking for. In a survey conducted by the Structure Review Team, 98 per cent of ministers and 96 per cent of lay members (primarily head elders) across the country are seeking either moderate or transformational change."
A summary of the review can be accessed via https://corporate.adventist.org.au/australian-church-structure-review/
****
