General Conference Proposes Year of Grace for Unions
On Thursday, the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference and Division Officers Committee (GCDO) will again consider the topic of unions that have voted to ordain women. While last week the recommended action from the office of the General Conference president was to dissolve the unions and attach them to the General Conference as missions, this week a rewritten “pastoral action” will propose giving the unions a year of grace and will appeal to them to repent of their actions.
If approved by GCDO, the action will then go to the Annual Council meeting of the General Conference Executive Committee. The Unity Documents (both the 50-page original and the 17-page summary) prepared by the Secretariat as opinion statements for reference in discussion of the action will also be presented to Annual Council delegates. Minor editorial changes have been made to the documents, according to Adventist Review.
With a year of grace, there is more time to allow for the consultations that are outlined in the General Conference Working Policy. For instance, according to section B 75 30, when consideration is being given to adjust the status of a union, the first action to be taken is by the Division Executive Committee and the North American Executive Committee holds their year-end meeting later this month.
According to reliable sources, should the unions choose not to repent or ask forgiveness for their actions, the item will be brought back to Annual Council in 2017.
Image Credit: Adventist News Network
Bonnie Dwyer is Editor of Spectrum Magazine.
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