General Conference Session (Seventh-day Adventist Church)

The General Conference Session is the official world meeting of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, held every five years. At the session, delegates from around the world elect the Church's World Leaders, discuss and vote on changes to the Church's Constitution, and listen to reports from the Church's 13 Divisions on activities going on within its territory.

The first session was held on May 20, 1863 in Battle Creek, Michigan with 20 delegates in attendance. The early sessions were held every year in a small church. As the Church's membership grew, time between sessions lengthened, meeting places got bigger, and more delegates attended. Today the sessions are held every five years in cities with stadiums that can seat more than 70,000 attendees, which includes the more than 2,400 delegates attending and the visitors from around the world who are watching the session.

List of sessions

Session[1] Date City Venue # of Delegates Theme Comments
1. May 20–23, 1863 Battle Creek, Michigan 20 General Conference organized
2. May 18–21, 1864 Battle Creek, Michigan 20
3. May 17, 1865 Battle Creek, Michigan 21 Work with "colored" people organized
4. May 16–17, 1866 Battle Creek, Michigan 19
5. May 14–19, 1867 Battle Creek, Michigan 18
6. May 12–18, 1868 Battle Creek, Michigan 15
7. May 18–24, 1869 Battle Creek, Michigan 16
8. March 15–20, 1870 Battle Creek, Michigan 22 James Erzberger of Switzerland becomes the first delegate from outside the United States
9. February 7–12, 1871 Battle Creek, Michigan 17
10. December 29, 1871 – January 3, 1872 Battle Creek, Michigan 14
11. March 11–14, 1873 Battle Creek, Michigan 18
12. November 14–16, 1873 Battle Creek, Michigan 21
13. August 10–15, 1874 Battle Creek, Michigan 19 J.N. Andrews become the denomination's first authorized overseas missionary
14. August 15–18, 1875 Battle Creek, Michigan 18
1st Special March 31 – April 4, 1876 Battle Creek, Michigan 15
15. September 19–24, 1876 Lansing, Michigan 16 First session to be held in another city in Michigan
2nd Special November 12–13, 1876 Battle Creek, Michigan 16
16. September 20–28, 1877 Lansing, Michigan 20
3rd Special March 1–4, 1878 Battle Creek, Michigan 22
17. October 4–16, 1878 Battle Creek, Michigan 39
4th Special April 17–23, 1879 Battle Creek, Michigan 29
18. November 7 – December 1, 1879 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 39
5th Special March 11–15, 1880 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 28
19. October 6–12, 1880 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 38
20. December 1–19, 1881 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 41
21. December 7–19, 1882 Rome, New York Rome SDA Church 47 First session to be held outside of Michigan
22. November 8–20, 1883 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 65
23. October 30 – November 20, 1884 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 67
24. November 18 – December 6, 1885 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 70
25. November 18 – December 6, 1886 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 71
26. November 13 – December 12, 1887 Oakland, California Oakland SDA Church 70 First Session to be held west of the Mississippi River
27. October 18 – November 8, 1888 Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis SDA Church 91 Jones & Waggoner present Salvation by Faith, see 1888 Minneapolis General Conference, O. A. Olsen becomes first GC president not born in the United States
28. October 18 – November 5, 1889 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 109 First Session with more than 100 delegates
29. March 5–25, 1891 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 125
30. February 17 – March 6, 1893 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 130
31. February 15 – March 4, 1895 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 150
32. February 19 – March 8, 1897 Lincoln, Nebraska 140
33. February 15 – March 7, 1899 South Lancaster, Massachusetts South Lancaster SDA Church 149
34. April 2–23, 1901 Battle Creek, Michigan Tabernacle 268 Major denominational reorganization with the creation of departments
35. March 27 – April 13, 1903 Oakland, California Oakland SDA Church 139
36. May 11–30, 1905 Washington, D.C. Tent meeting 197
37. May 13 – June 6, 1909 Washington, D.C. Tent meeting 328 Ellen White's last session. First Session with delegates from each of the world's major continents
38. May 15 – June 8, 1913 Washington, D.C. Tent meeting 372
39. March 29 – April 14, 1918 San Francisco, California San Francisco Municipal Auditorium 443 First Session to not be held in a church building
40. May 11–28, 1922 San Francisco, California Exposition Auditorium 581
41. May 27 – June 14, 1926 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee Auditorium 577
42. May 28 – June 12, 1930 San Francisco, California Exposition Auditorium 577
43. May 26 – June 8, 1936 San Francisco, California Exposition Auditorium 671
44. May 26 – June 7, 1941 San Francisco, California Exposition Auditorium 619
45. June 5–15, 1946 Washington, D.C. Sligo SDA Church 828 Last Session to be held in a church building
46. July 10–22, 1950 San Francisco, California Exposition Auditorium 943
47. May 24 – June 5, 1954 San Francisco, California Exposition Auditorium 1109 First Session to have more than 1000 delegates
48. June 19–28, 1958 Cleveland, Ohio Public Auditorium 1160
49. July 26 – August 4, 1962 San Francisco, California Exposition Auditorium 1314 We Have This Hope
50. June 16–25, 1966 Detroit, Michigan Cobo Hall 1495 Behold He Cometh
51. June 11–20, 1970 Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City Convention Hall 1782 That the World May Know
52. July 10–19, 1975 Vienna, Austria Stadthalle 1756 Now is the Time First session to be held outside of North America
53. April 16–26, 1980 Dallas, Texas Dallas Convention Center 1925 By His Spirit 27 Fundamental Beliefs Created; now 28 Fundamentals
54. June 27 – July 6, 1985 New Orleans, Louisiana Superdome 2044 Christ Our Hope First Session with more than 2000 delegates
55. July 5–14, 1990 Indianapolis, Indiana Hoosier Dome 2239 We Shall Behold Him Global Mission was launched. 3ABN first broadcast of a General Conference Session
56. June 29 – July 8, 1995 Utrecht, Netherlands[2] Jaarbeurs Complex 2321 United in Christ Second session held outside of North America
57. June 29 – July 8, 2000 Toronto, Ontario, Canada SkyDome 1844 Almost Home Hope Channel first broadcast of a General Conference Session
58. June 29 – July 9, 2005 St. Louis, Missouri Edward Jones Dome 1903 Transformed in Christ 28th fundamental belief added to the 27
59. June 23 – July 3, 2010 Atlanta, Georgia Georgia Dome 2244 Proclaiming God's Grace
60. July 2–11, 2015 San Antonio, Texas Alamodome 2566 Arise! Shine! Jesus is Coming!
6th Special January 18, 2022 Silver Spring, Maryland General Conference Headquarters 290 Was called for at the GC Spring Meeting of 2021 by General Conference Executive Committee for the sole purpose of amending the GC Constitution to allow delegates to participate by digital means at future sessions.[3]
61. June 6–11, 2022 St. Louis, Missouri America's Center Complex 2713 Jesus is Coming! Get Involved! Originally scheduled from June 25 - July 4, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana, but postponed twice, and relocated, due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.[4][5][6]
62. July 3-12, 2025 St. Louis, Missouri America's Center Complex TBD Jesus is Coming, I Will Go! Future Session
63. 2030 Indianapolis, Indiana TBD TBD TBD Future Session

See also

References

  1. ^ "Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research | General Conference Sessions". www.adventistarchives.org. Archived from the original on 2013-01-22.
  2. ^ Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia Vol 10., p.593-54
  3. ^ "Adventist Church Leaders Vote to Hold a Special One-Day GC Session in January 2022".
  4. ^ "World Church Executive Committee Votes to Postpone General Conference Session".
  5. ^ "Leaders Vote to Postpone General Conference Session 2020 for a Second Time".
  6. ^ "Adventist Church Leaders move General Conference Session to St. Louis, Missouri".