'Market competitiveness,' 'surplus printing capacity' cited
Two Seventh-day Adventist publishing houses with historic church roots are the focus of a commission examining the denomination's publishing needs.
In a report to the world church's Executive Committee, members of a publishing commission highlighted financial challenges faced by both publishing houses, including a "surplus printing capacity," in the church's North American region. The two operations are Pacific Press Publishing Association in Nampa, Idaho and Review and Herald Publishing Association in Hagerstown, Maryland.
Both are located in the United States and directly affiliated with the church's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Executive Committee members voted to accept the report and refer the highlighted issues to administration at the world headquarters, the North American headquarters and the boards and administrations of both publishing houses.
The report stated, "[T]he situation is not one of crisis proportions, yet neither is it one of robust health. A 10-year report of sales at both publishing houses indicates a growth of 5 percent. During the same period [membership in North America] membership grew by 22 percent."
The commission, formed in November at the urging of world church President Jan Paulsen, raised issues of sustainability, efficiency and the differing trend in each house's net value.
In the last 10 years, net worth at Pacific Press has increased by 16 percent while Review and Herald seen its net worth decrease by 22 percent, commission leaders said.
The April 5 report echoed earlier studies suggesting a merger "may provide the most efficient and cost-effective structure," but that the matter would be "less complex" if only finances were involved. Other measures include retaining the publishing houses but outsourcing production.
The commission is co-chaired by Lowell Cooper, world church vice president and for Pacific Press board chair, and Don Schneider, president of the church's North American region, who serves as board chair for Review and Herald and vice chair for Pacific Press.
Pacific Press Publishing Association was established in 1875 in Oakland, California and later moved to Mountain View. In 1970, the enterprise assumed operation of Kingsway Publishing Association in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The high cost of living in California's Bay Area spurred a move. Since 1984, it has published at its current location in Nampa, Idaho. Pacific Press also prints books and periodicals, and serves as the lead printer for the Adult Bible Study Guide, the church's Sabbath School lesson quarterly.
Review and Herald Publishing Association, the church's oldest publishing house, incorporated in 1861, was established in Battle Creek, Michigan. A fire destroyed he building in 1902 and assets were moved to Takoma Park, Maryland, near the church's world headquarters at the time. In 1980, it merged with the Southern Publishing Association in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1983 it moved its operation to its present day location in Hagerstown, Maryland. Review and Herald prints books and periodicals, including the Adventist Review and several editions of Adventist World magazines.
Executive Committee members at the church's world headquarters during the Spring Meeting business session heard the history of the denomination's publishing, including growth, relocating, merging, and in some cases, ceasing operations.
Early on, church co-founder Ellen White spoke against the merging of the two publishing houses solely into its Battle Creek operations, but the counsel predated major international church growth. There are now 63 church publishing houses worldwide, not including operations affiliated with educational institutions and lay organizations.
Several committee members noted that the houses provide additional services, such as billing and order fulfillment services and warehousing inventory for church products. The church's director of Education, Garland Dulan, complimented the storage service while noting his department recently scrambled to move a supply of journals when the outside printer they were working with closed down.
Despite the report's call for church entities to give the houses "preferred status" for print jobs "even though costs may be somewhat higher," it did not exempt the houses from "market competitiveness." The church's world and North American headquarters both have used outside printers for some major projects.
Each house faces additional challenges, including an obligation to contribute nearly $1 million each to a former North American church retirement plan. Also, both publishing houses have taken on financial burden to support a dwindling door-to-door Literature Evangelism program in the United States and the printing of books determined "critical" to the denomination.
Paulsen, the church's president, said it would be a "mistake" to view the report as a "weakening of [the church's] commitment to publishing."
Last October, Paulsen told committee members, "Publishing is also a business," and "from time to time we have to ponder the question if we have the best arrangement of publishing institutions."
On Sunday, he indicated the review process was still in its initial stages.
"I think it would be impossible to project what sort of solutions we have," Paulsen said.