13 Oct 2009, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States…ANN Staff
Three Seventh-day Adventist administrative regions in Inter-America have achieved self-supporting status, granting them ability to choose their own officers and operate without financial aid from their parent administrative region.
The Dominican Union Mission was granted “union conference” status by voting delegates during a world church business meeting. A union conference typically comprises several provinces or oversees a small country. A union mission is not financially self-supporting and officers are appointed by the overseeing division, one of 13 administrative regions.
The church's Executive Committee also granted union conference status to the church's Inter-Oceanic Mexican Union Mission and the French Antilles-Guiana Union Mission.
“This is a recognition of the maturity of the church in those regions,” said Agustin Galicia, an associate world church secretary. “Not only will they contribute to the world church financially, but with human resources.”
The church's Inter-America division is comprised of some 3.1 million members, the most of any of the 13 world divisions.
