General Conference Session (Seventh-day Adventist Church)

The General Conference Session is the official world meeting of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 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 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 than 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]

Session	Date	City	Venue	# of Delegates	Theme	Comments
1.	May 20–23, 1863	Battle Creek, Michigan		20		General Conference organized
2.	May 18–21, 1864	Battle Creek, Michigan		20
3.	May 17, 1865	Battle Creek, Michigan		21		Work with "colored" people organized
4.	May 16–17, 1866	Battle Creek, Michigan		19
5.	May 14–19, 1867	Battle Creek, Michigan		18
6.	May 12–18, 1868	Battle Creek, Michigan		15
7.	May 18–24, 1869	Battle Creek, Michigan		16
8.	March 15–20, 1870	Battle Creek, Michigan		22		James Erzberger of Switzerland becomes the first delegate from outside the United States
9.	February 7–12, 1871	Battle Creek, Michigan		17
10.	December 29, 1871 – January 3, 1872	Battle Creek, Michigan		14
11.	March 11–14, 1873	Battle Creek, Michigan		18
12.	November 14–16, 1873	Battle Creek, Michigan		21
13.	August 10–15, 1874	Battle Creek, Michigan		19		J.N. Andrews become the denomination's first authorized overseas missionary
14.	August 15–18, 1875	Battle Creek, Michigan		18
1st Special	March 31 – April 4, 1876	Battle Creek, Michigan		15
15.	September 19–24, 1876	Lansing, Michigan		16		First session to be held in another city in Michigan
2nd Special	November 12–13, 1876	Battle Creek, Michigan		16
16.	September 20–28, 1877	Lansing, Michigan		20
3rd Special	March 1–4, 1878	Battle Creek, Michigan		22
17.	October 4–16, 1878	Battle Creek, Michigan		39
4th Special	April 17–23, 1879	Battle Creek, Michigan		29
18.	November 7 – December 1, 1879	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	39
5th Special	March 11–15, 1880	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	28
19.	October 6–12, 1880	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	38
20.	December 1–19, 1881	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	41
21.	December 7–19, 1882	Rome, New York	Rome SDA Church	47		First session to be held outside of Michigan
22.	November 8–20, 1883	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	65
23.	October 30 – November 20, 1884	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	67
24.	November 18 – December 6, 1885	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	70
25.	November 18 – December 6, 1886	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	71
26.	November 13 – December 12, 1887	Oakland, California	Oakland SDA Church	70		First Session to be held west of the Mississippi River
27.	October 18 – November 8, 1888	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Minneapolis SDA Church	91		Jones & Waggoner present Salvation by Faith, see 1888 Minneapolis General Conference, O. A. Olsen becomes first GC president not born in the United States
28.	October 18 – November 5, 1889	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	109		First Session with more than 100 delegates
29.	March 5–25, 1891	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	125
30.	February 17 – March 6, 1893	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	130
31.	February 15 – March 4, 1895	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	150
32.	February 19 – March 8, 1897	Lincoln, Nebraska		140
33.	February 15 – March 7, 1899	South Lancaster, Massachusetts	South Lancaster SDA Church	149
34.	April 2–23, 1901	Battle Creek, Michigan	Tabernacle	268		Major denominational reorganization with the creation of departments
35.	March 27 – April 13, 1903	Oakland, California	Oakland SDA Church	139
36.	May 11–30, 1905	Washington, D.C.	Tent meeting	197
37.	May 13 – June 6, 1909	Washington, D.C.	Tent meeting	328		Ellen White's last session. First Session with delegates from each of the world's major continents
38.	May 15 – June 8, 1913	Washington, D.C.	Tent meeting	372
39.	March 29 – April 14, 1918	San Francisco, California	San Francisco Municipal Auditorium	443		First Session to not be held in a church building
40.	May 11–28, 1922	San Francisco, California	Exposition Auditorium	581
41.	May 27 – June 14, 1926	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Milwaukee Auditorium	577
42.	May 28 – June 12, 1930	San Francisco, California	Exposition Auditorium	577
43.	May 26 – June 8, 1936	San Francisco, California	Exposition Auditorium	671
44.	May 26 – June 7, 1941	San Francisco, California	Exposition Auditorium	619
45.	June 5–15, 1946	Washington, D.C.	Sligo SDA Church	828		Last Session to be held in a church building
46.	July 10–22, 1950	San Francisco, California	Exposition Auditorium	943
47.	May 24 – June 5, 1954	San Francisco, California	Exposition Auditorium	1109		First Session to have more than 1000 delegates
48.	June 19–28, 1958	Cleveland, Ohio	Public Auditorium	1160
49.	July 26 – August 4, 1962	San Francisco, California	Exposition Auditorium	1314	We Have This Hope
50.	June 16–25, 1966	Detroit, Michigan	Cobo Hall	1495	Behold He Cometh
51.	June 11–20, 1970	Atlantic City, New Jersey	Atlantic City Convention Hall	1782	That the World May Know
52.	July 10–19, 1975	Vienna, Austria	Stadthalle	1756	Now is the Time	First session to be held outside of North America
53.	April 16–26, 1980	Dallas, Texas	Dallas Convention Center	1925	By His Spirit	27 Fundamental Beliefs Created; now 28 Fundamentals
54.	June 27 – July 6, 1985	New Orleans, Louisiana	Superdome	2044	Christ Our Hope	First Session with more than 2000 delegates
55.	July 5–14, 1990	Indianapolis, Indiana	Hoosier Dome	2239	We Shall Behold Him	Global Mission was launched. 3ABN first broadcast of a General Conference Session
56.	June 29 – July 8, 1995	Utrecht, Netherlands[2]	Jaarbeurs Complex	2321	United in Christ	Second session held outside of North America
57.	June 29 – July 8, 2000	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	SkyDome	1844	Almost Home	Hope Channel first broadcast of a General Conference Session
58.	June 29 – July 9, 2005	St. Louis, Missouri	Edward Jones Dome	1903	Transformed in Christ	28th fundamental belief added to the 27
59.	June 23 – July 3, 2010	Atlanta, Georgia	Georgia Dome	2244	Proclaiming God's Grace
60.	July 2–11, 2015	San Antonio, Texas	Alamodome	2566	Arise! Shine! Jesus is Coming!
61.	May 20-25, 2021	Indianapolis, Indiana	Lucas Oil Stadium	TBD	Jesus is Coming! Get Involved!	Future Session, Originally scheduled from June 25 - July 4, 2020 but postponed due to coronavirus[3]
62.	2025	St. Louis, Missouri	TBD	TBD	TBD	Future 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

1. https://www.adventistarchives.org/general-conference-sessions
2. Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia Vol 10., p.593-54
3. https://news.adventist.org/en/all-news/news/go/2020-03-19/world-church-executive-committee-votes-to-postpone-general-conference-session/