The impact of changes and flexibility within the structure of the Seventh-day Adventist world church was presented during the 2006 Annual Council by Lowell C. Cooper, a general vice president of the world church and vice chair of the 102-member Commission on Ministries, Structures and Services. The Commission held its second meeting over two and a half days prior to the Annual Council.

Addressing delegates, Cooper said his report was informational, and presented no document for voting approval or other action. He proposed that world church officers take the concepts reviewed by the Commission back to their constituencies, solicit opinions, and report those suggestions to the Commission.

Meeting at its first convocation in March, the committee set up two working groups which brought discussion papers on “Principles, Possibilities and Limits of Flexibility in the Design of Seventh-day Adventist Organizational Structure,” and “Union of Churches - An Alternative Organizational Model for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.”

Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the world church, chaired the Commission’s deliberations. He stated that the work of the Commission is based on three principles - unity of the church, how the church’s mission can be realized most effectively, and how resources of the church can be best utilized. He also said that the two presentations “are not position papers presented by the General Conference, but [they are] concept papers to stimulate discussion and cover the territory assigned to the Commission.”

Reporting to the Executive Committee, Cooper described the work of the committee as examining a “philosophical concept of whether, and to what extent, there could be flexibility in the church denominational structure,” compared with the current “single template in our organization’s building blocks.”

He said the church must have both local and global expression, but that the question arises as to how the many local churches around the world become connected as a global family engaged in mission and demonstrating unity. Cooper observed that Adventists primarily derive their representation patterns from their organizational structure: “If we allow for change or variations in structure, how do we find a mechanism for fair representation?” he asked.

Vernon B. Parmenter, an associate in GC Secretariat, serving as secretary, also presented a report concerning an organizational unit called a “union of churches” and defining how that model would affect the overall church organization and membership on the GC Executive Committee. Parmenter defined the term union of churches as “a united organized body of churches within a territory having similar status to a union conference or union mission and a direct relationship to the division.”

Today there are six Adventist “unions of churches,” five countries in the Euro-Africa region and one in the Trans-European church region. It was emphasized that fair methods of dealing with tithe return and church representation need to be addressed.

“Mission and growth happen in a localized setting, and the environments in which they happen vary throughout the world,” Cooper said. “We must recognize that one organizational pattern may not be the most effective way of responding to the core values of mission and unity.”

After a review and comments from the World Divisions recommendations on both issues will be prepared for the next meeting of the Commission prior to the church’s 2007 Annual Council in Kiev, Ukraine.

It is also expected that the Commission’s next assignment will be to consider the issue of the place and effectiveness of the church’s ministries and services.