Our Roots, Pt. 19

By the 1870s things were finally going well for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. When they turned their full attention to the task of evangelizing, however, it slowly occurred to them that the scope of the task was much greater than they had in mind. Their efforts, which were concentrated and headquartered in Michigan, reached only through the northern United States. Even in this area they were scantily represented. As the benefits of organized labor began to be felt in terms of church growth they came to realize that taking the three angels’ messages to the whole world required that they literally take it to the whole world, not just the modest territory they currently occupied, or even expansions of influence within the territory of the United States.

This realization of the full scope of the task came at a time when foreign missionary activity was becoming popular in denominations throughout the United States. The Adventist Church shared in, and perhaps fed on, this enthusiasm. The result was a dramatic growth in membership both in the United States and other nations. This growth put strains on the organizational system which had not been foreseen at its founding.

One of these strains was the need for more qualified workers. To address this need a school was begun in Battle Creek, MI on June 3, 1872. Its first academic year was only 12 weeks long and it didn’t even have its own school building, but from that humble beginning it eventually grew into the institution known today as Andrews University. Additional schools were opened in other places. In 1873 the Educational Society auxiliary was formed to address this growing enterprise.

This pattern for organizational expansion (see a specialized need and form an auxiliary to address it) led to the creation of the General Tract and Missionary Society in 1874, the General Sabbath School Association in 1878, the Health and Temperance Organization in 1879, the Missionary Board in 1879 (which was reorganized in 1889 as the Foreign Mission Board), the General Conference Association in 1887, the National Religious Liberty Association in 1889, and the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association in 1893. This profusion of independent entities with overlapping purposes caused a state of administrative confusion that will be addressed more fully later in this series.

The 1880s also saw changes, albeit relatively minor ones, in the “official” Church structure. The most notable of these was the gradual enlargement of the General Conference Executive Committee. At its creation in 1863 it had three members. This was enlarged first to five, then seven, and by 1891 had reached a membership of nine. Also, at the 1889 General Conference Session it was decided that Sessions would be held every two years. Up to that point General Conference Sessions had been held every single year.

These expansions created a need to define relationships and philosophies of authority.

Next: Centralization vs. Delegation