Commentary Says General Conference Model Constitution Would Shift Control of Upper Columbia Conference

A lifelong Seventh-day Adventist, who identifies as an ordained elder, Sabbath School teacher and delegate to the September 15, 2019, Constituency Session of the Upper Columbia Conference (UCC), has written a commentary on proposed changes to the conference’s constitution. The author, publishing in Adventist Today on September 16, 2019, says the delegate materials totaled about 1 pound and 10 ounces of printed information and describes the changes as significant for the denomination.

The author states that the request comes from General Conference (GC) administrators, relayed through the North American Division (NAD) and the North Pacific Union Conference (NPUC), and asks delegates to adopt the GC Model Constitution. According to the commentary, the UCC’s existing constitution, adopted September 2, 1926 and amended 19 times, most recently on May 31, 2015, describes the conference as composed of and responsible to its member churches and does not acknowledge control by bodies outside the conference. The author writes that the General Conference is mentioned only in limited roles, such as representatives who may attend executive committee meetings and an auditing service.

The commentary says the proposed new constitution includes an “ARTICLE III—Relationships” that describes the UCC as “a member unit of the NPUC” located in the territory of the NAD. The author argues that this language would give the GC legal control over the conference, and that the conference’s purposes, policies and procedures would be required to align with the division’s working policies and with fundamental beliefs, programs and initiatives adopted by the GC. The author presents this as a change of control that the existing document does not contain.

The author also points to the 1985 General Conference Session, at which, the commentary notes, local conferences were recommended to develop their constitutions based on a voted model. According to the author, the current GC and NAD policy now requires that “this model constitution shall be followed by all local conferences.” The commentary cites other proposed changes, including language that would require churches to adopt “the tithing system of the Bible,” a provision the author says gives the GC rather than the local conference authority to set the share of tithes sent to it, and a redefinition of a member “in regular standing” as a “faithful supporter of their local church through tithes and offerings.” The author describes that last change as turning tithing from a privilege of membership into an obligation.

The author raises a financial question as well, asking whether members are satisfied with a structure that sends 26 percent of tithe, or 15 percent of combined tithes, offerings, summer camp fees, local pastor support, wills and trusts, and church school tuition dollars, to support the current administrative structure. The commentary asks why more than 10 percent of tithes and offerings should leave the conference. The author says the materials also leave some matters unstated, though the excerpt does not specify what those matters are.

Source: Read the original report