Story by Kimberly Luste Maran
All members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church are part of a constituency, which is defined as a group of voters in a specified region who elect representatives to a legislatorial body. In this case, church members of the Columbia Union Conference have designated about 310 delegates who will represent them during the quinquennial constituency session occurring this May (2016).
Every five years representatives elect union leadership, receive reports from union leaders and entities, and vote on general decisions and church business. Reports on finances, church membership, auditing and other statistics are also received and voted. The session delegates will also vote on any proposed changes to the union constitution and bylaws.
The union president, secretary and treasurer will give their reports at the session. Each department of the union will share a video report; and each president of union entities (Adventist HealthCare, Kettering Adventist HealthCare, Washington Adventist University and Kettering College) will offer reports from their organizations. All reports will be available online after the session below.
But there is more than business reports and votes at the Columbia Union’s constituency session! The session is also a celebration highlighting mission, evangelism and the blessings of the Lord in the past five years. It is a time to reflect on the accomplishments and activities of the union departments. It is also an opportunity to analyze the state of the Columbia Union—organizationally, financially and statistically—and cast a vision for how next to advance the work of the church in the mid-Atlantic region.
Stay up-to-date during the constituency session through Visitor Facebook posts; Tweets; and directly from the Visitor Website at columbiaunionvisitor.com/2016session.
See a copy of the 2016 Constituency Report here.