The General Conference Session is just under 12 months away! This gathering, to be held in St. Louis at the America’s Center, will be representative of the 13.5 million-strong Adventist family from around the globe and will meet under the theme “Transformed in Christ.”
Convening the Session will be Jan Paulsen, General Conference president, who shared his expectation that the meeting will be a “time of wonderful fellowship and spiritual refreshment.” Referencing the theme of the St. Louis gathering, he said that it “provides the spiritual focus of the Session—it will be a celebration of what Christ has performed in our lives, and a reminder that we also have been called to be agents of transformation within our communities.” In a certain sense, the theme “Transformed in Christ,” suggests an objective for Seventh-day Adventists to “transform the world,” one church leader remarked.
The Session, to be held June 30 through July 9, 2005, is primarily a business meeting for the global church family. Denominational leaders are elected, church business is attended to, and policy decisions are often made. “Because the core 'business' of the Adventist church is proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the challenge will permeate activities at the St. Louis 2005 convocation,” Paulsen said. He continued, “At the heart of all that we will do, and all our decision-making, there is really only one objective: to better prepare and equip our church for the mission God has given us. We are essentially a witnessing community living in anticipation of the return of our Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Organized by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, the highest administrative body in the church’s worldwide system, the quinquennial world Session will be the 58th since its first General Conference Session in 1863. The St. Louis convocation marks the first time Adventists have held their worldwide gathering in the United States in 15 years. Daily attendance at the event is expected to average more than 10,000 people; on the two weekends, more than 70,000 are expected to attend. Some 2,000 voting delegates from all over the world will gather at the America’s Center in downtown St. Louis to participate in meetings that will determine many of the church’s administrative actions for the next half decade. They will receive reports on the church’s growth in those parts of the world where the Christian message is “reaching the unreached,” and have the opportunity to meet fellow believers and church workers from other lands.
The meetings are open to the general public. Join church leaders in prayer for this event, and plan to experience the Session with your family. It will strengthen your faith.
This article was adapted by Diane Thurber, Lake Union Herald managing editor, from GC Session News, the official bulletin issued by the General Conference communication department.
