Leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church did not always exercise the wisest judgment in the 1890s, yet for the most part they were highly motivated men, dedicated to the discharge of their duties as they viewed them. They worked long hours, often too long for their own good, trying to buildup whatever unit of the denominational structure they were assigned to. [l]
The west coast administrator who failed at first to send that $1000 to Australia did not put the money into his pocket! He would never have thought of such a thing. But neither did he think about the needs of a mission field, even though they had been called to his attention many times.
In an hour that called for broad plans and great faith, the record of the church's leadership is disappointing, not so much because of what it was as because of what it might have been. [2] Who is righteous enough to cast the first stone?
In order to assure a balanced appraisal today, it is helpful to recall once more the rapid advances that marked the Sixteen Years of Crisis--gains in membership, institutions, and countries entered, and in the "Christ-centeredness" of many sermons and publications. Certainly Ellen White did not despair! Knowing better than anyone else both the shortcomings and the excellencies of the church leaders, she recognized some who filled their top-committee assignments as "sober and right-minded men." [3] And she stoutly defended the denomination as a whole from those who used its weaknesses to justify their own waywardness. "The church of Christ," she wrote from Australia--referring devoutly to the church that has the faith of Jesus and keeps the commandments of God--"enfeebled and defective as it may be, is the only object on earth on which He bestows His supreme regard." [4]
She put her life where she put her words. When in 1891 the General Conference asked her to go to Australia, she did not want to go. She was 63, widowed, and overworked. But she went.
Upon her arrival she fell painfully ill with rheumatoid arthritis. Like many a new missionary, she wished she were back at home and wondered why she had ever left. Many a time at night when she couldn't sleep, she wanted to cry. Resisting the impulse, she talked to herself: "Ellen G. White, what do you mean? Have you not come to Australia because you felt that it was your duty to go where the [general] conference judged it best for you to go? Has this not been your practice?"
She answered each question in the affirmative and continued. "Then why do you feel forsaken and discouraged? Is not this the enemy's work?"
"I believe it is."
Dabbing her eyes, she concluded, "It is enough; I will not look on the dark side anymore. Live or die, I commit the keeping of my soul to Him who died for me." [5] "I followed the voice of the [general] Conference," she wrote later the same year (1892), "as I have ever tried to do when I had no clear light myself. ... I am in Australia, and I believe I am just where the Lord wants me to be." [6]
She was surely right. Capitalizing on her isolation from the main center of the work and its leaders who were so slow to make changes, she hewed a college out of poverty and eucalyptus that was to become the revolutionary "blueprint" for all future Adventist education.
When people came to visit Avondale and examine the progress being made, Sister White spoke in such glowing terms of appreciation about the gifts that American and African Adventists had given from time to time that the visitors were deeply impressed. She drew the lesson that in view of these contributions "we are under great obligation, here in Australia, to give ourselves to the Master's work, and to educate and train young men and women that they may be fitted and ready to serve the Lord in home and foreign missions." [7]
For public ears she made no complaints about unfulfilled promises or the shortcomings of administrators.
Even to insiders she could speak during those years with remarkable faith of the God-led future of the movement to which she had thus far given her life. "There is no need to doubt, to be fearful that the work will not succeed," she declared with prophetic insight. "God is at the head of the work, and He will set everything in order. If matters need adjusting at the head of the work, God will attend to that, and work to right every wrong. Let us have faith that God is going to carry the noble ship which bears the people of God safely into port." [8]
Events, as usual, have tended to prove her right. Some steps were, indeed, already being taken, and others were soon afoot, to remedy the problem of overcentralization and "kingly power," steps which today still affect the church for good.
In 1889 the conferences in North America were grouped into six "districts," each under a "superintendent" representing the General Conference.
In 1891 [9] A. T. Robinson was dispatched to organize a mission conference in South Africa. It was assumed that he would create the customary "societies" and "associations." But how could he? He had too few men for so many committees. He resolved to incorporate all the associations into the basic conference structure as one-man "departments." He sought permission from Battle Creek, a full month's mail-time distant. The leading brethren were strongly opposed to his plan but were as usual far behind in their work. Robinson interpreted their delay as approval and forged ahead. When their No finally arrived, the new system was working so well he didn't change it.
Meanwhile Australia had been designated "District No.7." In 1894 it reorganized itself as the Australasian Union Conference, the first union. The superintendent was replaced by a slate of administrative officers and a committee that represented the local conferences.
In 1897 Robinson was called from South Africa to be president of the Central Australian Conference and found the usual bevy of societies and associations waiting for him when he arrived. He dissolved them into conference departments. A. G. Daniells and W. C. White were horrified--until they saw how well his "Victoria plan" worked; there upon they persuaded their other conferences and the new Australasian Union also to reorganize themselves with departments. Experience with departments and unions on a limited local level provided valuable evidence to the 1901 General Conference that the program was good.
In 1897 the General Conference session, which met at Union College, made the General Conference committee more representative by enlarging it to thirteen. (It had been enlarged from three to five in 1883, and then to seven in 1886.) The session also modified some committees, distributed the president's duties among several men, and assigned a degree of autonomy to the European and Australasian fields but (impressive as this may have sounded) left the major needed improvements virtually untouched.
The 1899 General Conference was routine.
The 1901 General Conference saw marked progress.
Not that anyone thought it would. Ellen White herself said later "I did not want to come to Battle Creek. I was afraid the burdens I would have to bear would cost me my life." When the leaders asked her to attend, she said she could not. When in vision God asked her to go, she obeyed. [10]
On April 1, the day before the official session opened, Mrs. White, lately back in America from Australia, met the leaders in the college library. She had been shown the inner lives of many of them, had written testimonies to them, knew them better than they knew themselves. Here were the leaders of God's cause, and as a true mother in Israel, she loved them all.
Solemnly she presented a summary of the messages she would bear to them publicly over the next several weeks, so they could have the benefit of knowing what to expect. Quietly the delegates adjourned to ponder her burden. Next morning they reassembled in the Tabernacle.
With its imposing clock tower, its red cushions, and its beautiful chandeliers, the famous "Dime Tabernacle," [11] the largest building in Battle Creek and certainly the largest church in the denomination, seated more than 2500 persons comfortably. On this occasion, thronged to the ceiling, it is said to have seated 4000 persons, no doubt uncomfortably. The well-known photograph of Ellen White preaching was made while she spoke at this General Conference session. In it hard-of-hearing delegates can be seen sitting on the stairs that ascended from the platform to the balcony. There is a piano in the picture, incidentally, but no organ. The members had desired a pipe organ, but from Australia Ellen White had urged them to save the money for missions. [12]
President Irwin opened the meeting with appropriate remarks; then Ellen White stepped forward. It was her first General Conference in ten years.
She bore the delegates a straight testimony. [13] "You have no right to manage," she declared, "unless you manage in God's order!"
"God has not put any kingly power in our ranks."
"That these men should stand in a sacred place, to be the voice of God, ... that is past."
What then ought to be done? "What we want now is a reorganization ... upon a different principle."
The new principle was "love." What kind of love? Love such as Jesus showed us, she explained. Love that works in the privacy of one's family. Love that keeps a person from gossiping and complaining when at work. Love that takes "the responsibility of fulfilling Christ's command, "Go ye into all the world.' "
"The time has come when this people are to be born again," she urged. Then looking earnestly into the sea of faces before her, filling main floor, balcony, and stairways, she said, "I want to have a home with the blessed, and I want you to have a home there. I want to work in harmony with you." "Let everyone of you go home [to your houses or your apartments where you are lodging] not to chat, chat, chat, but to pray."
As she sat down, the vast congregation was hushed, spellbound with regrets for the past, hopes for the future, and resolutions for the present.
After a pause, Elder A. G. Daniells arose. He had labored with Ellen White for years in Australia and through many an experience had learned to trust her guidance. His counsel on this occasion was that ordinary procedures and preconceived plans be laid aside, and that a very large committee be nominated to effect a reorganization, operating under parliamentary rules for a "committee of the whole," the least formal procedure. His intention was to provide maximum freedom of discussion so that the Spirit might have ample room to work.
As this large committee brought in its reports from day to day for the consideration of the entire body, other sermons were rendered that added further to the session's sense of mission.
Dr. Kellogg gave stirring messages, emphasizing the role of medical missionary work in soul winning.
At 11:30 am on April 3 Elder Daniells urged home upon the delegates that the United States constituted only one twentieth of the world's population. "Outside of this country are nineteen twentieths of humanity!" "Yet of the 75,000 believers in the third angel's message, about 60,000 are here in the United States!" He jabbed his finger toward a world map on the wall behind him. "There are in the world today 1,000,000,000 heathen. Of the 1,400,000,000 who are living, at least two thirds are heathen." [14]
Ellen White was on her feet again and again to add the weight of her testimony to such inspiring challenges as these. "The field is the world," she cried. But has the General Conference recognized this? She asked. Openly she reviewed her own experience. "I told the Lord that when I came to Battle Creek this time, I would ask why you had withheld means from the work in Australia. ... We desire that at this meeting the work shall be so established that no such thing shall take place again. Two or three men, who have never seen barren fields ... should not control matters." [15]
She also appealed repeatedly to physicians and ministers not to separate from each other and not to allow themselves to be divided by jealousy, misunderstanding, and quarrels. "I wish to tell you," she cautioned. "That soon there will be no work done in ministerial lines but medical missionary work." [16]
The delegates mellowed under these messages. Vast changes were effected, and at the end so many wished to praise God for the surprising work He had wrought in their hearts during the meetings that two lengthy testimony services were required.
The changes achieved remain of great importance. For example, the "districts" in North America (with the Southern field leading the way) set about organizing themselves into union conferences on the Australasian model. The result was that groups of conferences gained a measure of decision-making authority unknown before. When extended to the entire world, as in time it was, the plan proved stimulating and satisfactory. Fields far from headquarters were freed to make decisions previously handled in Battle Creek, and the General Conference was freed to care for basic policies and general oversight.
Next, the General Conference committee was enlarged (at that time to twenty-five) so that never again would "two or three men" make major decisions for the entire church. The new number was not static. Every union conference president was declared a member ex officio, and this came to mean that men domiciled all around the globe and elected in local areas would become members of the General Conference committee as truly as officers living in the United States. In the 1970s membership in this top committee exceeds 300! Never again were major decisions to be made by men geographically confined to North America.
Policies were also inaugurated in 1901 to guarantee a current of cash from more prosperous to more needy areas of the church. A process was begun also for incorporating the various societies and associations (Sabbath School, Tract and Missionary, etc.) as "departments" of their respective conferences (local, union, and general).
In all these changes, awareness of the world field is apparent. Departments and union conferences had been developed originally in mission areas. And the entire reorganization was designed to facilitate the management of money, men, and authority toward "telling it to the world."
Unfortunately, when it came to the matter of departments, the Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association hesitated. Though feelings between doctors and ministers improved remarkably during the session, a degree of mistrust remained. A temporary compromise was effected by voting that six of the General Conference committee members be chosen from the medical association.
The next General Conference was held in 1903 in Oakland, California (where the Pacific Press was located before it moved to Mountain View). The basic process of forming unions and departments was completed, and further attention was given to the medical work. Unfortunately, Dr. Kellogg's mistrust of the ministers had deepened rather than lessened in the interim. A motion was introduced to place all Adventist institutions under the ownership of either a local conference, a union conference, or the General Conference rather than under their own semi-independent associations. Dr. Kellogg and a number of his close friends refused to go along, but eighty percent of the delegates voted in favor. Only the sanitarium in Battle Creek and one in Mexico there after remained outside the denominational organization.
In the meantime (February 1902) the main building of the Battle Creek Sanitarium had burned to the ground. While Dr. Kellogg was in the process of rebuilding it, the Review and Herald Publishing Association main building also burned to the ground (on December 30). Ellen White's messages about moving away from Battle Creek suddenly focused. The 1903 General Conference recommended to move its offices and those of the Review and Herald away from Battle Creek.
The mid-course correction was complete. The Adventist Church had cut the umbilical cord that held it to Battle Creek, Michigan, and to the United States. As it moved to the capital of the country, it also moved outward in its vision to take in the world--grateful for its streamlined organizational structure that provided optimum freedom for decision making balanced with optimum coordination of effort.
Two other prominent reorganizational developments of later years should also be mentioned. At the prodding of workers in Europe, the General Conference session of 1913 set up a new administrative unit, the "division," of which there are currently a dozen. A division is conceived to be a section of the General Conference operating in a given portion of the world. At the same time, each embraces a particular number of unions. Since unions in turn are composed of local conferences and local conferences of local churches, the intention is that there shall be no administrative break between the church member and the top officer of the General Conference, and that the denomination shall be one interlinked and continuous whole.
The second major administrative unit created since 1901-1903 is found at present only in North America. At the turn of the century there were, all told, only a few hundred black Adventists in the United States. As their membership grew, so did the number of their pastors. Ellen White urged that the voices of the blacks be heard in representative denominational committees. With the growth of black membership, this counsel was followed at the General Conference level. Then around 1940 several local conferences made it a point to include a black minister on their conference committees to represent the interests of the black race. In 1944 a new policy opened the way for black believers to form conferences of their own (known variously as "colored," "regional," or "black" conferences) within existing unions, and except in the Pacific West they chose to do so. In consequence many blacks have been brought into leadership positions, and a remarkable expansion in black membership has taken place.
Looking back at the 1901 and 1903 sessions, Sister White had reason to feel pleased at the administrative changes. And she was pleased. Whereas once she had said that the day had passed when the General Conference was as the voice of God, in 1909 she felt free to say, "When, in a General Conference, the judgment of the brethren assembled from all parts of the field is exercised, private independence and private judgment must not be stubbornly maintained, but surrendered..." [17] In 1913 she added, "I am encouraged and blessed as I realize that the God of Israel is still guiding His people, and that He will continue to be with them, even to the end." [18]
But she was not and could not be entirely pleased with 1901. Sometime later a vision at noon, while she held her pen ready to discuss that session, carried her back to what did not happen. In this vision she saw the delegates responding fully to God's appeal for reconversion. Confessions lasted far into the night. Rejoicing followed never before heard in the Dime Tabernacle.
The vision faded. The prophet found herself still pen in hand. Divine words were spoken: "All heaven was waiting to be gracious." "This might have been." An agony of disappointment swept over her at the thought. [19]
The 1901 session was no doubt a great victory. But personal feelings continued between ministers and doctors; and when Sister White thought of Dr. Kellogg, her heart almost broke. She felt like David after the victory in the woods of Ephraim: "O Absalom, my son, my son!"
But the medical-ministry polarization, instead of neutralizing, sharpened and actually expanded into a triangle after the 1903 session. Kellogg's pantheism in The Living Temple and his independence at the 1903 session confirmed many ministers in their alienation from him. Meanwhile, Ed Sutherland and Percy Magan, leaders of the reforming educators, grew impatient with the ministers when they failed to endorse all their new ideas at Emmanuel Missionary College. At the 1904 "Berrien Springs Meeting" of the Michigan Conference, held on the college campus, the Sixteen Years of Crisis came to a head.
"Mother White," as she was affectionately known by then, held out arms of reconciliation to all three groups. But Sutherland and Magan, in a huff at the ministers, resigned their positions at the college, while Kellogg and the ministers remained obdurate in mutual distrust. One afternoon Kellogg was giving a talk when he noticed that all eyes had shifted to someone behind him. He turned, saw elderly Sister White coming onto the platform, and offered her the pulpit. There upon the prophetess opened her heart wide in a great motherly appeal to save the doctor if at all possible. Kellogg moved to the back wall. His brother Will was in the audience. Sister White recalled the day when their mother, before she died, made Ellen promise to take her boys with her into the kingdom. Will wept. The doctor stood sober--then examined his watch, noticed that it was time to catch the train for Battle Creek, and stepped outside.
His departure was symbolic.
But Mother White never gave up. Kellogg indeed she could not reclaim, but she bent her aged back unflinchingly to the task of saving the others.
She started the College of Medical Evangelists in Loma Linda and encouraged the ministerial leadership to staff it with physicians trained in Battle Creek. Daniells responded, the physicians responded, and old wounds began to heal. She followed Sutherland and Magan into the South (as we have seen), gave them a testimony of rebuke which they received with repentance, guided their establishment of Madison College and Sanitarium, became an active member of their board--the only time she ever sat on a board--and held them, too, in the church and in the broad fraternity of Adventist workers.
The years 1901 and 1903 were fundamental and pivotal. 1904 was too. Mother White took her position amid the triangle and drew a circle of love large enough to take in all the parties--and welded them into enduring union. [20]
Notes: