GC Departments Realigned 
Committee Reconfigured
By: Shirley Burton  
     
UTRECHT--General Conference officers and the Executive Committee will
have more specialized assistance in the nurture of the Church and
promotion of plans as a result of changes made to the Constitution of
the Seventh-day Adventist Church here today.
	Various areas within Church Ministries have been returned to
free-standing departments and another added.  Family Ministries,
Personal Ministries and Sabbath School, Stewardship, and Youth will
once again be recognized; and Children's Ministries will be added,
bringing to 14 the Departments of the Church.
	Reducing membership of the General Conference Executive Committee to
260 (from nearly 400), the Session delegation called for more lay
representation as well as world participation.  The delegation endorsed
the GC commitment to provide travel expenses for overseas members to
the twice-yearly meetings.
	Specifically, each of the 11 world divisions of the General Conference
will have at least three lay members on the Committee--with the
possibility of more being selected in the group of 30 members at large.
 All lay persons will be processed through Union executive committees
to their counterparts at the Divisions, thereby providing more
involvement from that territorial level.
	Additionally, one pastor will be selected for each 500,000 or major
fraction thereof.
	Other members of the GC Executive Committee will be the GC and
Division officers, GC departmental directors and field secretaries,
representatives from GC institutions and agencies such as the Adventist
Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Adventist World Radio (AWR), and
Adventist Risk Management (ARM), the director of Archives and
Statistics, and past presidents of the General Conference.
	Reduction of numbers in the Executive Committee is expected to result
in increased attendance and accountability.
	While decreasing the size of the current Executive Committee, today's
vote increases the number recommended by the Constitution and Bylaws
Committee which had suggested that there be only two lay persons from
each Division.  Their recommendation also eliminated both the election
of associate departmental directors and their membership on the
Executive Committee.  Associates would have become appointed rather
than elected personnel.
	However, Vice President Calvin Rock led his Constitution Committee
to a compromise--approved by the delegation--which allows associates to
be elected by the world body but gives their places on the Executive
Committee to laypersons.
	During more than nine hours and over two days, Dr. Rock had allowed
floor concerns to be addressed before the Constitution Committee in
this on-going process of democracy with the Church.
	     
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