Gathering again for His mission.
January 7, 2024 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Jonathan Walter, Adventist Review
There is something truly moving about people coming together from all corners of the earth for a common purpose. Whether it is the Olympic Games, the United Nations General Assembly, a global climate conference, or, as in the case of the Adventist Church, a General Conference (GC) Session witnesses a global phenomenon. Whenever people of diverse nations, cultures, ethnicities, and languages gather to collaborate, uniting and working jointly to accomplish a project, it brings with it a particular realization of what connects us, what we can achieve together, and how similar we all are, despite our cultural and ethnical differences.
Unity in diversity beyond borders is inspiring to human beings. Of course, secular gatherings and a GC Session couldn’t be more dissimilar in nature and purpose. What differentiates them is obviously the cause behind the gathering of representatives of all living humanity. There are undoubtedly many international conferences and meetings with good intentions and goals. As emotionally thrilling as attending the Olympic Games or any other global sporting, political, or ideological event may be, that sense of unity will go only so far and has yet to produce any lasting peace, betterment, or transformation of the human condition.
We, as a church, on the other hand, unite for a General Conference Session in love, truth, and humility for the utmost elevation of God, our Creator, and the purpose of mission, because we know Jesus is the only solution for broken humanity, and time is running out!
Crucial Gathering
A GC Session is perhaps the most inspiring, important, cross-cultural gathering of this day and age.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the largest missional organization of God’s end-time remnant believers. And while no human-filled organization is perfect, it is an impressive, Spirit-guided body that keeps God’s truth not just afloat but uplifted and proclaimed. Also, don’t forget the prophetic legacy and responsibility that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has been granted to carry and continue!
Being a Seventh-day Adventist means being a mission-focused, Bible-believing Christian, aware of the end-times we live in, engaged in the work at hand, and mindful of the daily need for Jesus, as well as the Holy Spirit’s baptism. It means joining with fellow brothers and sisters locally and globally to serve in God’s effort to prepare hearts for His return. This is why our church is structured the way it is and why it is crucial that we gather regularly—locally and globally.
Being a representatively organized body means that every member, whether living in downtown Manhattan, the suburbs of Manilla, the countryside of Kenya, or the highlands of Papua New Guinea, exerts an influence on the direction of the world church. On a global scale, a General Conference Session, with its 2,804 delegates representing at least 150 countries, is the place to be to witness God’s global remnant church in action and participate in its mission plans. From July 3 to 12, 2025, we are blessed to have the opportunity to be part of such a historical gathering again!
GC Session Is Full-scale
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 GC Session was postponed to 2022 and scaled down in terms of non-business-related programming. The 2025 General Conference Session in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, is set to bring back the full in-person experience. Attendees can look forward to exhibitions, inspiring programs, reports and presentations, business and auxiliary meetings, women’s gatherings, and a significant presence of special guests. In other words, the 2025 GC Session experience will return to what it used to be.
The main meetings will be viewable via livestream to give those who cannot attend access to the main programming. This, however, falls short of capturing the full experience of attending a General Conference Session in person.
Besides powerful worship and insightful business meetings, attendees will have much to explore, including a vast exhibit hall. Here various Adventist ministries, institutions, departments, and organizations from around the Adventist world will showcase their work and offer evangelistic materials, resources, and networking opportunities. With 50,000-plus attendees anticipated from every corner of the global mission field, the exhibit hall promises to be a prime space for unveiling new ideas and innovations for reaching the world with Jesus. If you want to learn more about what church and lay ministries around the world are doing and how you can participate, this is the place for you!
Digital tools will enhance and broaden the experience, making it accessible to a broader audience. For 10 days the exhibit hall will function as a hub for personal interactions, much like a large family reunion, where friends and alumni of the many educational institutions of our worldwide church will reconnect in person.
The upcoming session will also highlight Mission Refocus and the I Will Go strategic plan, along with other key church initiatives. These priorities are designed to motivate and guide the church into a new season of wholistic, comprehensive, and frontline mission work.
Finally, during the GC Session, world and division leaders are prayerfully nominated, elected, and entrusted with the holy work of servant leadership to the global church for the next quinquennium.
Will You Be There?
In just a few months Seventh-day Adventists will come from all corners of the world to gather in St. Louis, knowing God loves His church and has been with us through our ups and downs. By His grace we will unite to seek, do, and further His will, expecting an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that brings us closer to His ultimate purpose: seeing His victorious, redemptive, and glorious kingdom project finished soon!