The Seventh-day Adventist Church in South America has a mission and, in order to fulfill it, the support of a large structure. To serve the more than 2.5 million members, including over 300,000 students, patients, and people assisting in social projects, its structure has about 7,000 civil servants who work in a differentiated work regime. This is without counting the employees in a common work regime.
The activities of the workers are governed by the Ecclesiastical-Administrative Regulations manual of the South American Division, applied to those who serve in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
In addition to other issues essential to the functioning of the church, this document defines the procedure to be followed in the event of inappropriate conduct by workers, who are direct representatives of the religious organization, which can result in ecclesiastical discipline.
In this regard, each instance of the Adventist Church, as a conference, mission, and union, is responsible for its own workers. However, the decision regarding discipline is not only up to the managers of the institution or headquarters to which the servers are connected. The final decisions in any situation are the result of the vote of its steering committee, which is formed not only by local administrators but also other members, including regular members of the church.
To validate the result, it is not necessary to have a confirmatory vote by the management committee of the immediately supervisory organization. In other words, there is ecclesiastical autonomy for a conference, for example, to reach a decision without the endorsement of the union, the body that manages its work.
In Practice, How Does It Work?
First, the reported situation is analyzed by the administrators of the organization where the worker(s) involved acted, and they are responsible for carrying out the disciplinary ecclesiastical procedure. In order to guarantee a more complete analysis and transparent procedure, and so all parties involved are duly heard, the steering committee appoints a ministerial commission, composed of experienced ordained pastors, to deal with the matter.
The ministerial commission has the task of properly analyzing the case with ethics, respect, and balance, giving the worker the opportunity to present his or her arguments. After following the complete process, the committee approves a recommendation to the corresponding steering committee, which will have the final decision, according to the guidelines presented in the Ecclesiastical-Administrative Regulations.
The manual specifies that ecclesiastical-administrative discipline can range from advice, exhortation, warning, or admonition to a corrective suspension for a fixed period of no more than 12 months, or even a more severe measure, such as dismissal or separation of the body of workers.
Growth to Advance the Mission
There are four aspects of the worker's relationship with the church that may be affected if ecclesiastical discipline is applied: license/credential; ordination, if the worker is an ordained pastor; membership in the church;, and bond of denominational service.
The application of discipline in any of these aspects naturally creates pain in the life of the worker and his or her family. However, as with the discipline applied in the home or local church itself, it can contribute to the restoration and development of the person involved. In addition, administrative discipline offers protection to the church and strengthens the concept of holiness that should characterize service to God.
The church conducts the administrative-ecclesiastical discipline of workers with impartiality, justice, love, and ethics, and makes every effort to assist in personal development. And even though one is disconnected from denominational service, the church encourages the person to continue to serve God with his or her gifts and experience in the local congregation and new work environment.
This procedure, and all others defined in the regulations, follow a biblical principle of discipline to correct and help. It is the kind of measure that gives workers the opportunity to grow in the development and improvement of service to God. In addition, they contribute to the church in an organized way, preaching the gospel and faithfully fulfilling the mission given by Jesus.
This article was originally published on the South American Division’s Portuguese news site