Our Roots, Pt. 18

There is one more article in the series on organization from 1907 that we have been following, but it doesn’t follow the history of organizational development any further. Instead, it contains an analysis of the historical data in the context of the dispute over organization the series was originally intended to address. We’ll present that final article when we get to that part of the history.

When the General Conference was formed in 1863 it had roughly 3500 members, 125 churches, and 6 state conferences. With this much accomplished the church leaders at that time figured they were done with the task of organization. To be sure, there were more churches and state conferences that needed to go through the steps of organizing, and they fully intended to continue evangelizing in new territories that would also need to take these organizing steps, but the template was established. They fully believed that this template would be adequate to serve the needs of the denomination for the brief time that remained until the second coming.

Their expectation of being able to now turn their full attention to evangelism was impeded by the progression of the American Civil War. This event didn’t have the effect of placing church members in opposition to each other, since the entire Adventist Church at that time was located within the territory of the Northern side of the conflict, but it was a significant drain on the financial resources of the members, as well as being an impediment to travel, a distraction of public attention, etc.

After the war ended the Adventist Church found their work again impeded—this time by the matter of health. Since the early 1860s Ellen White had been receiving visions on the subject of healthful living. Many of the concepts presented were contrary to the conventional wisdom of the day on how to live healthfully. The Whites tried to live according to the principles of “health reform,” as these concepts were called, and to instruct their fellow Adventists in them, but initially this subject was not given a great deal of emphasis. This changed when James White suffered a stroke on August 16, 1865. This stroke had been brought on by overwork. He eventually recovered enough to return to his work for the Church, but his recovery took nearly a year and a half. This event, combined with the fact that during this same period a number of the Church’s other prominent evangelists were also rendered unable to work because of illness, brought the matter of health reform to the forefront of the Adventist Church’s attention.

Once the Adventist Church realized the importance of the health reform message (both for personal well-being and as an evangelistic tool) it acted decisively to practice and spread it. On September 5, 1866 a Health Institute was opened in Battle Creek, MI. This Institute was a treatment center which implemented the principles of health reform in the care it provided. Legally, it was organized the same way as the Publishing Association—as a separate legal entity operated by a board and not responsible to the General Conference. It, like the Publishing Association, was tied to the official organization of the Church in that it was founded and run by Adventists, and had as its legal decision makers many of the same people who held positions of authority within the Church, but it had no legal obligation to be associated with, or report to, the official Church structure. This organizational precedent would be followed in the creation of each of the “auxiliaries” (as these related but separate entities came to be known) that were established over the next 30 years.

It seems that James White was one of the few skilled businessmen employed by the Church during this period. Until his stroke he had headed the work of the Publishing Association and it had prospered under his care. However, during the absence caused by his health problems both the Publishing Association and the newly formed Health Institute encountered difficulties caused by poor business decisions and ran up massive debts. Things got so bad for the Health Institute that when James White was added to its board in May of 1868 he wondered whether it could be continued at all or if it simply ought to be closed and its few assets sold to attempt to clear its debt. These doubts notwithstanding, he labored to turn the situation around for both the Health Institute and the Publishing Association, for which he had again become responsible. By 1871 these efforts had been successful and both enterprises were once again prosperous.

This experience impressed upon James White the need for the Church to bring skilled businessmen into the work of the Church. A majority of his fellow Church leaders seemed happy enough to allow him to carry the full load of the business aspects of the Church’s work, but James White was painfully aware that such an inordinate burden was what had caused his stroke and he was afraid that allowing the situation to continue would cause another such breakdown. He further recognized that even if he were able to do it all alone there would come a time when he would no longer be around and the Church needed to learn to manage its business without him. He finally managed to convince his fellow Church leaders of this need. At the 1871 General Conference Session a committee was formed and commissioned to recruit skilled businessmen from among the body of Adventist laymen to relocate to the Church headquarters in Battle Creek, MI and help in managing the business aspects of the work.

Next: A Formula for Expansion