During the afternoon business session on October 14, 2025, of Annual Council 2025, the General Conference Executive Committee voted three new union missions into formation, recognizing growth and reorganizing for effective mission in their regions.

In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a union mission is a regional church entity that is established in areas with limited resources for mission and outreach activities.

The three Unions reorganized were the Central Philippine Union Mission and West Indonesia Union Mission in the Southern-Asia Pacific Division (SSD), and the Southern Ghana Union Conference in the West-Central Africa Division.

Central Philippine Union Mission

The Central Philippine Union Mission has four conferences and four missions, and covers 224,000 church members.

“A college that is thriving, many hospitals, clinics, and church members who are thriving,” said Elbert Kuhn, GC associate secretary.

According to Kuhn, gross tithe has had a 47 per cent increase in the past five years.

A video report showed that in 2024, the Central Philippine Union Mission welcomed more than 18,000 believers, a growth that reflects “the dedication of members and leaders across the region.”

The motion moved was to reorganize the Central Philippine Union Mission into the East Central Philippine Union Conference and the West Central Philippine Union Mission.

West Indonesia Union Mission

The West Indonesia Union Mission contains the most populated island in the world, with 145 million inhabitants on the island of Java and 16,000 islands.

The Union has just more than 102,000 members in total and has 11 conferences and missions.

The union will be reorganized into the West Indonesia Union Mission, with one conference and three missions, and the Central Indonesia Union Mission will contain two conferences and four missions.

“Reorganization has one goal in mind,” said Kuhn. “That the gospel go to 16,000 islands and all the people.”

Tithe in the Union has increased by 5 percent during the past five years.

Indonesia is the largest nation in SSD in both population and size.

Kuhn said the reorganization will address both administration and mission objectives, with closer proximity between workers and administration in the vast and varied territory.

Southern Ghana Union Conference

The Ghana Union Conference was organized in 2000 before it was split in 2013.

Alexander Ott, GC associate secretary, asked attendees to pull out their phones and find Ghana on the map, giving them context of Ghana’s neighbours and the wider WAD territory.

The South West Ghana Union Conference will contain six conferences and the South East Ghana Union Mission will contain four conferences and two union missions.

All three unions missions were given approval by Adventist Church auditors for demonstrating their financial health before the recommendation. Auditors issued an unmodified opinion for the 2024 financial statements.

Jan Paulsen, former GC president, made a comment from the floor, letting delegates know that he had been a missionary in Ghana in 1962, perhaps before most attendees were born in 1962. The country at the time only had one mission with 11,000 members.

“You have no idea how much it pleases my heart to see what the Lord has wrought,” he said. “I want to commend and congratulate Ghana and our leaders there for the wonderful growth you’ve had, with God, in your country.”

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