General Conference Session
The General Conference Session is the official world meeting of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists that is 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 the 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 that 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. 1863 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 2. 1864 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 3. 1865 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 4. 1866 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 5. 1867 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 6. 1868 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 7. 1869 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 8. 1870 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 9. 1871 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 10. 1871 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 11. 1873 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 12. 1873 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 13. 1874 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 14. 1875 Battle Creek, Michigan
- (*) 1876 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 15. 1876 Lansing, Michigan (First Session in another city in Michigan)
- (*) 1876 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 16. 1877 Lansing, Michigan
- (*) 1878 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 17. 1878 Battle Creek, Michigan
- (*) 1879 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 18. 1879 Battle Creek, Michigan
- (*) 1880 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 19. 1880 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 20. 1881 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 21. 1882 Rome, New York (First Session outside of Michigan)
- 22. 1883 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 23. 1884 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 24. 1885 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 25. 1886 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 26. 1887 Oakland, California (First Session west of the Mississippi River)
- 27. 1888 Minneapolis, Minnesota (see article 1888 Minneapolis General Conference)
- 28. 1889 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 29. 1891 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 30. 1893 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 31. 1895 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 32. 1897 Lincoln, Nebraska
- 33. 1899 South Lancaster, Massachusetts
- 34. 1901 Battle Creek, Michigan
- 35. 1903 Oakland, California
- 36. 1905 Washington, D.C.
- 37. 1909 Washington, D.C.
- 38. 1913 Washington, D.C.
- 39. 1918 San Francisco, California
- 40. 1922 San Francisco, California
- 41. 1926 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- 42. 1930 San Francisco, California
- 43. 1936 San Francisco, California
- 44. 1941 San Francisco, California
- 45. 1946 Washington, D.C.
- 46. 1950 San Francisco, California
- 47. 1954 San Francisco, California
- 48. 1958 Cleveland, Ohio
- 49. 1962 San Francisco, California
- 50. 1966 Detroit, Michigan
- 51. 1970 Atlantic City, New Jersey
- 52. 1975 Vienna, Austria (first session outside of North America)
- 53. 1980 Dallas, Texas (27 fundamental beliefs voted; now 28 Fundamentals)
- 54. 1985 New Orleans, Louisiana
- 55. 1990 Indianapolis, Indiana
- 56. 1995 Utrecht, Netherlands[1]
- 57. 2000 Toronto, Canada
- 58. 2005 St. Louis (28th Fundamental Belief added to the 27)
- 59. 2010 Atlanta, Georgia
Future:
- 60. 2015 San Antonio, Texas
- 61. 2020 Indianapolis, Indiana
(*) refers to a special session
See also
- General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
- 1888 Minneapolis General Conference
- Seventh-day Adventist Church
- History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
External links
- GCSession.org
- General Conference Session Bulletins from Adventist Archives
References
- ↑ Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia Vol 10., p.593-54