The 60th Session of the General Conference promises to be a very important one in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. What makes this session so important is the agenda. One of the most important agenda items will be the Fundamental Beliefs of the Adventist Church. For the first time since 1980 we will discuss and vote on some modifications to the expression of our Fundamental Beliefs. It is true that we added a new Fundamental Belief in St. Louis in 2005, entitled “Growing in Christ,” but so far we have not edited the document of our Beliefs that was voted in 1980.

Our 28 Fundamental Beliefs have a very important preamble that is and should always remain a significant part of the whole document. It states:

“Seventh-day Adventists accept the Bible as their only creed and hold certain fundamental beliefs to be the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. These beliefs, as set forth here, constitute the church’s understanding and expression of the teaching of Scripture. Revision of these statements may be expected at a General Conference Session when the church is led by the Holy Spirit to a fuller understanding of Bible truth or finds better language in which to express the teachings of God’s Holy Word.”

It is of importance to quickly add that neither the suggested modifications to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs voted by the 2014 Annual Council as a recommendation for adoption to the Session in San Antonio nor the so-called new Fundamental Belief added in 2005 are really “new” in the sense that we have added something we have never believed thus far. As a matter of fact, the reality is that we, as a church, have always believed what is stated in the Fundamental Belief called “Growing in Christ” and, as we will see at this coming General Conference Session, all the so-called changes to the 28 Fundamental Beliefs are really not changing anything in which we have believed. Naturally the question that results is if we are not changing anything, why is there a need to discuss and modify the expression of our Beliefs?

The reason for the suggested revision is mainly better language. This is not to say that the language was not good enough, but the simple fact is that languages change with time. For example, there was a time when everyone understood the phrase “nature of man” as including both genders, male and female. Today, however, it sounds exclusive in some parts of the world. Or, for example, in the Fundamental Belief 23, which speaks of marriage and family, the expression “marriage partners” is used twice. This phrase once had quite a different meaning than it does today. If we would like the statement to continue to say what it meant before we need to adjust the language.

Some other editorial changes are an attempt to state more clearly what we have always believed. Unfortunately, some expressions of our faith have been interpreted in a way we never intended them to be. For example, regarding the 6th Fundamental Belief that states our belief in Creation, we always have believed in a creation week that is represented by a real week as we know it today. This is further underlined in our observance of the Sabbath as a memorial of the Creator and the Creation. For this reason, some changes are suggested to this very foundational belief of our Church. It is also of great significance to note that at the 2010 General Conference Session in Atlanta the delegates voted a request to harmonize the 6th Fundamental Belief with the document voted by the 2004 Annual Council called “Response to an Affirmation on Creation.”

These are only a few examples of the many suggested modifications to the Fundamental Beliefs. The suggested revisions will be discussed at the Session on Monday morning, July 6, 2015. We invite all the readers of the BRI Newsletter to earnestly pray for the Lord to guide our discussion and the actual decision in this regard by the worldwide representation of the Church.

The next important item will deal with the issue of Ordination. Here we invite our readers to visit the webpage where all the work of the Theology of Ordination Study Committee, including the final report, is presented: https://www.adventistarchives.org/gc-tosc

As you know, we have been blessed in reaching a consensus in regards to the theology of ordination. As far as the issue of women’s ordination is concerned we have finished our work with three different positions on the issue. All three groups believe, based on their study of the Bible and the writings of Ellen G. White, they have something significant to offer the delegates as they consider the issue. Each of these three groups has suggested a position document and a way forward document, which you can find on the same webpage.

This item will be presented to the Session on Wednesday, July 8, 2015. Again, we invite our readers to pray for the Lord to guide His Church to find a way that would be best for the Church as we move forward in accomplishing the mission entrusted to us.

As usual, at the Session we will also deal with some suggested changes to the Church Manual. It will be of interest to many of our readers to note that, among other suggested changes, we will discuss a stronger emphasis on discipleship in this important document for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Only the General Conference Session has the authority to make changes to the Church Manual and to consider the Fundamental Beliefs. The Church Manual items will be discussed on Sunday, July 5, 2015.

So, as you can see, the upcoming General Conference Session promises to be a very important one. If you are not planning to attend, please join us in prayer and watch the daily news reports presented and broadcasted during the Session by Hope Channel, Adventist Review, and Adventist News Network.