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 [1]
SessionDateCityVenue# of DelegatesThemeComments
1.May 20–23, 1863Battle Creek, Michigan20General Conference organized
2.May 18–21, 1864Battle Creek, Michigan20
3.May 17, 1865Battle Creek, Michigan21Work with "colored" people organized
4.May 16–17, 1866Battle Creek, Michigan19
5.May 14–19, 1867Battle Creek, Michigan18
6.May 12–18, 1868Battle Creek, Michigan15
7.May 18–24, 1869Battle Creek, Michigan16
8.March 15–20, 1870Battle Creek, Michigan22James Erzberger of Switzerland becomes the first delegate from outside the United States
9.February 7–12, 1871Battle Creek, Michigan17
10.December 29, 1871 – January 3, 1872Battle Creek, Michigan14
11.March 11–14, 1873Battle Creek, Michigan18
12.November 14–16, 1873Battle Creek, Michigan21
13.August 10–15, 1874Battle Creek, Michigan19J.N. Andrews become the denomination's first authorized overseas missionary
14.August 15–18, 1875Battle Creek, Michigan18
1st SpecialMarch 31 – April 4, 1876Battle Creek, Michigan15
15.September 19–24, 1876Lansing, Michigan16First session to be held in another city in Michigan
2nd SpecialNovember 12–13, 1876Battle Creek, Michigan16
16.September 20–28, 1877Lansing, Michigan20
3rd SpecialMarch 1–4, 1878Battle Creek, Michigan22
17.October 4–16, 1878Battle Creek, Michigan39
4th SpecialApril 17–23, 1879Battle Creek, Michigan29
18.November 7 – December 1, 1879Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle39
5th SpecialMarch 11–15, 1880Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle28
19.October 6–12, 1880Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle38
20.December 1–19, 1881Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle41
21.December 7–19, 1882Rome, New YorkRome SDA Church47First session to be held outside of Michigan
22.November 8–20, 1883Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle65
23.October 30 – November 20, 1884Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle67
24.November 18 – December 6, 1885Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle70
25.November 18 – December 6, 1886Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle71
26.November 13 – December 12, 1887Oakland, CaliforniaOakland SDA Church70First Session to be held west of the Mississippi River
27.October 18 – November 8, 1888Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis SDA Church91Jones & 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, 1889Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle109First Session with more than 100 delegates
29.March 5–25, 1891Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle125
30.February 17 – March 6, 1893Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle130
31.February 15 – March 4, 1895Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle150
32.February 19 – March 8, 1897Lincoln, Nebraska140
33.February 15 – March 7, 1899South Lancaster, MassachusettsSouth Lancaster SDA Church149
34.April 2–23, 1901Battle Creek, MichiganTabernacle268Major denominational reorganization with the creation of departments
35.March 27 – April 13, 1903Oakland, CaliforniaOakland SDA Church139
36.May 11–30, 1905Washington, D.C.Tent meeting197
37.May 13 – June 6, 1909Washington, D.C.Tent meeting328Ellen White's last session. First Session with delegates from each of the world's major continents
38.May 15 – June 8, 1913Washington, D.C.Tent meeting372
39.March 29 – April 14, 1918San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco Municipal Auditorium443First Session to not be held in a church building
40.May 11–28, 1922San Francisco, CaliforniaExposition Auditorium581
41.May 27 – June 14, 1926Milwaukee, WisconsinMilwaukee Auditorium577
42.May 28 – June 12, 1930San Francisco, CaliforniaExposition Auditorium577
43.May 26 – June 8, 1936San Francisco, CaliforniaExposition Auditorium671
44.May 26 – June 7, 1941San Francisco, CaliforniaExposition Auditorium619
45.June 5–15, 1946Washington, D.C.Sligo SDA Church828Last Session to be held in a church building
46.July 10–22, 1950San Francisco, CaliforniaExposition Auditorium943
47.May 24 – June 5, 1954San Francisco, CaliforniaExposition Auditorium1109First Session to have more than 1000 delegates
48.June 19–28, 1958Cleveland, OhioPublic Auditorium1160
49.July 26 – August 4, 1962San Francisco, CaliforniaExposition Auditorium1314We Have This Hope
50.June 16–25, 1966Detroit, MichiganCobo Hall1495Behold He Cometh
51.June 11–20, 1970Atlantic City, New JerseyAtlantic City Convention Hall1782That the World May Know
52.July 10–19, 1975Vienna, AustriaStadthalle1756Now is the TimeFirst session to be held outside of North America
53.April 16–26, 1980Dallas, TexasDallas Convention Center1925By His Spirit 27 Fundamental Beliefs Created; now 28 Fundamentals
54.June 27 – July 6, 1985New Orleans, LouisianaSuperdome2044Christ Our HopeFirst Session with more than 2000 delegates
55.July 5–14, 1990Indianapolis, IndianaHoosier Dome2239We Shall Behold Him Global Mission was launched. 3ABN first broadcast of a General Conference Session
56.June 29 – July 8, 1995Utrecht, Netherlands[2]Jaarbeurs Complex2321United in ChristSecond session held outside of North America
57.June 29 – July 8, 2000Toronto, Ontario, CanadaSkyDome1844Almost HomeHope Channel first broadcast of a General Conference Session
58.June 29 – July 9, 2005St. Louis, MissouriEdward Jones Dome1903Transformed in Christ28th fundamental belief added to the 27
59.June 23 – July 3, 2010Atlanta, GeorgiaGeorgia Dome2244Proclaiming God's Grace
60.July 2–11, 2015San Antonio, TexasAlamodome2566Arise! Shine! Jesus is Coming!
6th SpecialJanuary 18, 2022Silver Spring, MarylandGeneral Conference Headquarters290Was 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, 2022St. Louis, MissouriAmerica's Center Complex2713Jesus is Coming! Get Involved!Originally scheduled from June 25 - July 4, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana, but postponed twice, and relocated, due to coronavirus.[4][5][6]
62.2025St. Louis, MissouriTBDTBDTBDFuture Session
63.2030Indianapolis, IndianaTBDTBDTBDFuture 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".
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