The good news this morning for delegates at the Adventist Church’s world session is that the “Profiling Leadership” presenter would not cover his entire 25-plus-page paper. Those were his joking opening remarks, but the material Ted Ramirez presented came with a serious nature.

“How do we, as leaders, act with responsibility in a relentlessly irresponsible world? ... Within our church, how well do we foster a consistent, dependable sense of responsibility and keep irresponsible behavior outside the church?” he asked.

This seminar, titled, “Acting With Responsibility: Aspirations of a servant along pathways of governance.” was the fourth of a series of five on profiling leadership presented at the world church Session.

“Do you accept your responsibility as a leader? This floor is completely full of leaders today. Do you act responsibly?” Ramirez asked.

This point led to the statement, “It is love that leads us to react with responsibility.” Comparing the Adventist walk with a “spiritual DNA,” Ramirez said, “Although Adventists now comprise a well-established religious denomination, our spiritual DNA is that of explorers and pioneers. In rediscovering this heritage, we envision learning and listening for the fresh voice of God and His people with whom we serve.

“Let us unify, communicate and act,” he begged.

Many delegates thanked Ramirez for his paper, saying they planned to study and use the thoughts it presented in their own leadership roles.

Delegate Burns Musa Sibanda, from the church in the Southern Africa Indian Ocean region, suggested that love is the key to acting responsibly in leadership roles. “When you look at leaders and members acting responsibly, you can sense that we can only act responsibly if we have love for this church.”

“When you look at scripture you find leaders who have made irresponsible decisions although they were in a responsible position,” said delegate Alex Rajkumar Ponniah. “It shows how much we need Jesus Christ in our lives.”

Along with appreciation came concerns that it will become another item only talked about, but nothing done. “We can present papers and talk [about] many things. Everyone will go back [home] and nothing [will] happen,” said Sendra Gunawan. “Our style of management has been top-down all the time.”

A warning came from a panel leader who suggested that perhaps too much responsibility is placed on leaders to be everything, and that the church needs to realize that leaders work with committees and boards, receiving insight through those counselors.

Athal Tolhurst, former undersecretary for the world church, said that it’s easy to find criticism “because of the weakness of human nature. If we were to take the principles of it ... that we are responsible to God first, if we have our relationship with God right, then relationship to fellow men will be on the right course.”

For the full text of the document see