Our Roots, Pt. 27

During the 1880s and 1890s Ellen White expressed a great deal of dissatisfaction with the state of the leadership in the General Conference. Her rebukes were not directed at the existence of the organization itself or its right to be authoritative; she consistently supported the General Conference as being the collective voice of the whole church body, and as such, the highest earthly authority among Seventh-day Adventists. Rather, her objections were about the way key leaders were using the power of the General Conference. There were eight things Ellen White was particularly objecting to.

1. The General Conference was not an adequately representative body.

“At times, when a small group of men entrusted with the general management of the work have, in the name of the General Conference, sought to carry out unwise plans and to restrict God's work, I have said that I could no longer regard the voice of the General Conference, represented by these few men, as the voice of God. But this is not saying that the decisions of a General Conference composed of an assembly of duly appointed, representative men from all parts of the field should not be respected. God has ordained that the representatives of His church from all parts of the earth, when assembled in a General Conference, shall have authority. The error that some are in danger of committing is in giving to the mind and judgment of one man, or of a small group of men, the full measure of authority and influence that God has vested in His church in the judgment and voice of the General Conference assembled to plan for the prosperity and advancement of His work” (Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 9, pp.260, 261).

2. In the General Conference, decision making authority was too centralized.

“We have reached the time when the work cannot advance while wrong principles are cherished. Two or three voices are not to control everything in the whole field. No, indeed. In every field God has men of capability. He does not mean that these men, when they wish to take advance steps, shall send to Battle Creek in order to find out the best way in which to move. The Lord says, I will break up this plan of working. I will sever these connections. Every field shall bear its own responsibility” (Manuscript 37, 1901).

3. “Kingly power” was being exercised.

“In the work of God no kingly authority is to be exercised by any human being, or by two or three. The representatives of the Conference, as it has been carried with authority for the last 20 years, shall be no longer justified in saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we.’ The men in positions of trust have not been carrying the work wisely.

“The Lord calls for wise men to preside over His work, and to be faithful shepherds of His flock. He has a work to be done in every city. The General Conference has fallen into strange ways, and we have reason to marvel that judgment has not fallen, showing ‘by terrible things in righteousness’ that God is not a man that He should lie” (Manuscript 26, 1903).

4. The General Conference had not been following sound principles.

“The blessing of God can attend only the cleanest, purest work between man and his fellow man. But at the very heart of the work wrongs have been glossed over. Strict integrity has been turned aside, and dishonesty has taken its place. Men have not scrupled to conduct the work after their own defective planning. All this bears only too plainly the impress of human, erring wisdom. These men have no completeness of character in Christ, and nothing could be more unwise than to allow such men to be actively engaged in work that God has not demanded of them. Bible principles are not considered of sufficient consequence to demand forethought, earnest prayer in private. Close investigation of the work and its management is not considered needful” (Manuscript 66, 1898).

“It is working upon wrong principles that has brought the cause of God into its present embarrassment. The people have lost confidence in those who have the management of the work. Yet we hear that the voice of the Conference is the voice of God. Every time I have heard this, I have thought it was almost blasphemy. The voice of the Conference ought to be the voice of God, but it is not, because some in connection with it are not men of faith and prayer, they are not men of elevated principle. There is not a seeking of God with the whole heart; there is not a realization of the terrible responsibility that rests upon those in this institution to mold and fashion minds after the divine similitude” (Manuscript 37, 1901).

5. The sacred and the common had been mixed.

“I was alarmed at the state of things [which] now existed, for I knew from the light which the Lord had been pleased to give me, not many were standing in a position before God where they could discern their own soul needs and be a help and a blessing to the church. They professedly believed the truth, but they were far from being sanctified through the truth. Some had been separating their souls from God, and were spiritually blind. Many of our brethren...had been engrossed in business, purchasing and selling real estate, and investing in, and selling shares in mines. This had been a snare to the church with laymen and ministers and was eating out of their hearts the interest in and love for the truth. Speculation swept in a large number of our brethren while the excitement lasted and was becoming a common thing. The practices and customs of worldlings, the feverish ambition, the exciting, absorbing, interest in speculation, was mixed and mingled with the sacred work of the minister. Men carrying credentials from the conference were engaged in such enterprises. God could not bless any such worldly ambition. The condition and evidence of our discipleship is self denial and the cross. Unless these are brought into our experience, we cannot know God; we cannot worship him in spirit and in truth and in the beauty of holiness. But those who ought to have stood in the clear light, that they might present the attractions of Christ before the people, and lift up Jesus before them as soon as out of the desk, were earnestly preaching of buying and selling real estate, and of investing money in mining stock. Their minds absorbed in business affairs could not distinguish between the sacred and the common; discernment was blunted, the deceptive power of the enemy was exercised over their minds” (Ellen G. White 1888 Materials, pp.50, 51).

6. Members of the General Conference executive committee had become entangled in business affairs.

“The voice of the General Conference has been represented as an authority to be heeded as the voice of the Holy Spirit. But when the members of the General Conference Committee become entangled in business affairs and financial perplexities, the sacred, elevated character of their work is in a great degree lost. The temple of God becomes as a place of merchandise, and the ministers of God's house as common businessmen. Their work is brought down on a level with common things. Business cares and perplexities unfit them for the consideration of matters relating to the spiritual interests of the work, which require the keenest perception, the most careful thought, the most delicate tact, and the deepest spiritual insight” (Manuscript 33, 1895).

7. Men were not occupying the correct positions.

“The General Conference Committee has a weighty responsibility in caring for the interests of our people and of the work which is committed to them. As the field of our work widens, this responsibility becomes greater. It is not the will of God that those who are called to this position should so lade themselves down with business cares that they are crippled in the work to which they have been chosen.…

“God does not intend that the General Conference Committee should embrace financial responsibilities that call for a large amount of labor, for the churches are thus deprived of the very help they need. And the decisions of the Conference will come to be regarded as on a level with the opinions of businessmen. The sacred authority with which God has invested His servants is lost.

“The sixth chapter of Acts should be carefully studied by the members of the General Conference Committee, and its instructions should be heeded. Let men be chosen to attend to the business lines of the work, and give counsel in these matters. Let them be devoted men, men of faith and prayer, set apart to do this special work” (Manuscript 33, 1895).

8. There was not sufficient appreciation of the need in foreign fields.

“Brethren in America, I am praying day and night that the Lord may extend your vision, in order that you may see things that are afar off. How can the Lord Jesus approve of your absorbing so much means in increasing facilities whereby to advance the work in America, while foreign fields are destitute of means whereby to begin the work in parts where no beginning has been made? Knowing as we do, how well equipped are our institutions for publishing, for education, and for treating the sick, and what a firm basis the truth has in that field, we wonder that you should think it proper to expend more means there, when these foreign fields are so lacking in that with which you are so well furnished. Here are places all about us that have never been entered, and cannot be worked unless we shall have houses of worship, even though of the humblest character. We cannot call out the people to hear the truth in tents as in America; for in many places, as in Wellington, New Zealand, the wind would strip them to ribbons. We have not a place in these large cities where we can call out the people to hear the truth of God. We cannot unfurl the banner of truth; for we have no standing place. I am looking to the Lord for light, and I shall make appeals again and again, like the importunate widow, until you shall be compelled to hear, and attend to the call…” (Review and Herald, December 5, 1893 par. 4).

These objections to the current state of things added to the cacophony of calls for reform in the way the Adventist Church was doing business.

Next: Concerted Effort