General Conference Session -- Day 9 (Friday)
	Friday, July 7, marked day number nine for the delegates representing
8.5 million Adventists in more than 200 countries at the  final
business day of the 56th World Congress of the Seventh-day Adventist
Church.
	Delegates voted today to add to the official church manual "sexual
perversions, including homosexual practices" as church-recognized
reasons for divorce.  The delegates added to prohibited practices in
marriage which already included adultery and fornication.  The Church
Manual guides church-related practices for Seventh-day Adventists.
	"Even though the Scripture allows divorce for the reasons mentioned,"
says another part of today's voted statement, "earnest endeavors should
be made by those concerned to effect a reconciliation urging the
innocent spouse to forgive the guilty one and the latter to amend his
or her conduct, so that the marriage union may be maintained."
	In an action that will govern future quinquennial world gatherings
of the Church, delegates voted to place a limit of 2,000 on the number
of official delegates who will vote on Church business at the 57th
World Congress in Toronto, Canada in 2000.
	Delegates at the current world congress, which began on Thursday, June
29, in the Jaarbeurs convention center in Utrecht, Netherlands, number
some 2,600.
	Delegates also mandated major changes in the composition of future
world congress delegations.  Lay member representation will increase
from 18.25 percent to 25.6 percent at the next world congress.  The
percentage of local church pastors, teachers and "front-line" church
workers will increase from three to 24.4 percent.
	At the 11 a.m. worship session of the international meeting today,
Walter L. Pearson, Jr., Silver Spring, Maryland, associate director of
the Ellen White Estate, told delegates, "The slender margin of time
that separates us from the second coming of Jesus to earth presents us
with a unique window of opportunity." The opportunity, he said, is the
spreading of the Christian gospel throughout the world.
		At a mid-day press conference, official statements from the office
of Robert Folkenberg, president, relating to the place of women in
society, and abuse and family violence were made public at the
congress.
	He said, "Women are entitled to the God-given privileges and
opportunities intended for every human being--the right to literacy, to
education, to adequate health care, to decision making, and to freedom
from mental, physical or sexual abuse."
	The statement continued, "We take seriously reports of abuse and
violence, and have highlighted these issues for discussion at this
international assembly.  We believe that to remain indifferent and
unresponsible is to condone, perpetuate and potentially extend such
behavior."
	During the final business session, delegates elected a number of world
officials.  These elections include:
	Samuel Leonor, Avon Park, Florida, elected treasurer of the
Africa-Indian Ocean Division of Adventists with headquarters in
Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa.  Leonor has been president of
Walker Memorial Medical Center, Avon Park.
	I. Nagabhushana Rao, Tamil Nadu, India, reelected treasurer of the
Southern Asia Division of Adventists which is headquartered in Hosur,
Tamil Nadu, India.
	Michael L. Ryan, Silver Spring, Maryland, elected as a world field
secretary of the Church, with the specific assignment of director of
the Church's Global Mission operation.
	Robert E. Lemon, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, elected as an associate
world treasurer of the Church with headquarters in Silver Spring,
Maryland.  Lemon has been treasurer of the Church in Canada.
	Elected associate directors of the world auditing service of the
Church were Robert Cooke, Coenraad Haupt, Daniel Herzel, Philip Just,
Robyn Kajiura, Ellen Nixon and Richard Salsbery.
	Willmore Eva elected as an associate world director of the Church's
ministerial association.  He has been pastor of the Kettering (Ohio)
church.
	Jose Luis Campos reelected, and David Woolley elected as associate
world directors of the Church's publishing department.
	Richard O. Stenbakken and Martin Feldbush have been reelected as
director and associate director of the Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries,
respectively.
	Elected associate world director of the Church's Public Affairs and
Religious Liberty department was Wintley Phipps.  He has been pastor of
the Capitol Hill church in Washington, D.C.
	Elected associate world director of the Sabbath School and Personal
Ministries department of the Church was Jonathan Kuntaraf, Singapore,
Republic of Singapore.  Kuntaraf has been Personal Ministries director
of the Asia-Pacific Division which is headquartered in Singapore.
	Reelected associate world directors of the Youth department were
Malcolm Allen, Richard Barron, and David Wong.  All are from Silver
Spring, Maryland.
	The Friday night speaker was Dwight Nelson, senior pastor of the
Pioneer Memorial Church on the campus of Andrews University.  He told
those attending the Session that the present, troubled world is a
fertile field in which Christians can fight and win the war that began
when Satan rebelled against God in heaven.  He said young people today
are "a broken generation.  I believe we are rearing the most broken
generation in the history of this planet."
	He cited "the crescendo of natural disasters that is battering our
planet today," and the "phenomenal resurgence of the Radical Right," as
other exhibits to support his contention that world conditions are ripe
for widespread preaching of the Christian gospel."
	Nelson said, "We must be a people consumed with a passion for Christ. 
God is calling us to proclaim both the glad tidings of His pardon to
all the human race, and the urgent invitation to accept that very good
news while there's still time to accept it."
	     
                                           End