Early General Conference Minutes Record Organization of Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1863

The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s General Conference minutes from its earliest years are reproduced in a Spectrum Magazine series, which describes this installment as the first of five parts covering the church’s first 20 years. This part covers the sessions from 1863 to 1866, a period that includes the founding of the church and its major institutions.

The first General Conference session, held in May 1863 at Battle Creek, Michigan, organized the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Twenty delegates attended from eight states: New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. James White was nominated for president but declined, and John Byington was elected. Uriah Smith was elected secretary and E.S. Walker treasurer. After White declined, J.N. Andrews and G.W. Amadon were elected to the three-member Executive Committee along with Byington. The session adopted a constitution and bylaws for the General Conference and recommended a constitution for state conferences.

The 1863 session also recommended that the Publishing Association produce a new prophetic chart and a chart of the Ten Commandments suitable for public lectures. It empowered a committee of the Battle Creek Church to prepare a record of that church’s action relative to accusations against James White. The minutes state that White had been accused of financial improprieties and other misdealings in the publishing work, and that an investigative committee found no substance to the accusations. A committee was also formed to recommend regulations for those building and holding meeting-houses.

In May 1864, the minutes record cash on hand in the General Conference treasury of $1,139.29. Delegates voted that state conferences choose a committee of six to work with the Executive Committee in settling accounts with ministers for the previous year. The minutes note that the appearance of impropriety in ministers setting their own remuneration was recognized. The same session passed a resolution commending Ellen White’s recent work, *An Appeal to Mothers*, for general circulation and calling on parents and guardians to place it in the hands of the young.

In May 1865, James White was elected General Conference president and accepted. The nominating committee was unable to agree on Executive Committee members and made no nominations. White then moved that J.N. Andrews be elected to the committee, and the motion passed. He then moved that J.N. Loughborough be the other member, and that motion also passed. The 1865 session adopted several resolutions on public questions. One stated that casting a vote to strengthen intemperance, insurrection or slavery was “highly criminal in the sight of Heaven,” while deprecating “any participation in the spirit of party strife.” Another acknowledged a pamphlet on the church’s views on bearing arms as “a truthful representation” of its views from its beginning. A third recognized civil government as ordained of God, affirmed the duty to render tribute and honor to the civil power, and declined participation in “acts of war and bloodshed” (Romans 12:18).

The same session passed a resolution expressing “deep distress” at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, whom it described as “the noble-minded and upright chief magistrate of this nation.” It recorded that the crime revealed “the true character of the slaveholders’ rebellion.” Delegates also resolved that “a field is now opened in the South for labor among the colored people and should be entered upon according to our ability,” and voted to build a meeting house in Battle Creek to host the annual General Conference session.

The minutes for May 1866 record that J.N. Andrews was asked to prepare an article setting forth the teachings of Scripture on the subject of war. G.W. Amadon, superintendent of the Battle Creek Sabbath School, was asked to prepare immediately question books for Sabbath Schools in a progressive series adapted to infant classes, children and adults.

Source: Read the original report