What is Session?

The General Conference Session is the forum for electing world church officers and voting changes to the church’s Constitution. Delegates also hear reports from each of the 13 administrative regions of the church. Voting delegates for Session represent world regions both by church population and the self-sustainability of administrative regions. The Constitution states that at least 50 percent of delegates shall be laypersons, pastors, teachers, and nonadministrative employees, of both genders and representing a range of age groups and nationalities. Church members also have the opportunity to reconnect with friends from around the world.

Transformation Over Time

While Sessions are now held in football stadiums, pictures from early Sessions show delegates lined along the entrance to a small church. Back then, the movement’s leaders came to Session in the U.S. state of Michigan mostly from the Midwest and Northeastern United States by train or by horse and buggy. Today, about one-third of the movement’s membership now resides in Africa, with another third residing in Central America and South America. Brazil now has more Adventists than any other country — 1.3 million.