Finacial Cost of the GC Session

[Gregory Matthews]

See:

 

http://spectrummagazine.org/article/2015/07/04/churchs-financial-picture-and-its-newly-appointed-treasurer

 

Lemon said that the cost of this 60th General Conference Session in San Antonio is just over $8 million, compared to a cost of $6.1 million for the Session in 2010. Lemon noted that even if we count about $30 million to pay for all the airline tickets, hotel rooms and so on, if we divide by our worldwide membership of $18 million, this is only a cost of about 40 cents per member per year.

NOTE: Over the five year period the per member cost would be just over $2.

 

In discussion about the cost of the GC Session-- some 38 million dollars, a comment was made as to the number of active members actually in the  denomination.

In discussions of this, one person has commented on the fact that we do not have 18 million active members.  One response, I found interesting.  The author of that response wished to remain nameless, and I have decided to respect his/her wishes.   NOTE:  My personal perspective is that the author of the following was not attempting to "put women in their place."  Rather, he/she was speaking to the ordination vote that he/she considered devauled women in the role that they should play in denominational affairs.

 

In any case, to spend 38 million dollars is appropriate for discussion.

 

That includes children.  We certainly do not consider them to be active members.  it also includes women.  In view of the vote and expressed feeling of some, we need to re-evaulate the extent to which we wish to count women as members.  Going back to the days when we had slaves, maybe we should count the women on a 1/3 basis.  That would reduce our membership to a bit more than 10 million equivalent members minus any factoring in for children--Than could easily get our effective, active membership down to a bit over one million effective active members. 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2015 by Gregory Matthews

[CoAspen]

38 million.......for a meeting. It matters not what the per/person cost, is this the best 'bang for the buck'? In this digital, world wide connected population, can not a better, less expensive method be found? How does the cost of this type of meeting compare to what other .orgs might be spending for an equal size meeting and is that common in this day and age? Has the .org become so big that tithes and offerings are being spent in a disproportionate amount on 'overhead'? I wonder if this was the vision that God had when talking about returning a portion of gains to God?

 

I know, a lot of questions but hopefully we can have some facts and discussion about this type of spending. I for one would like to hear others thought and ideas.

Edited July 11, 2015 by CoAspen

[Gregory Matthews]

It was both the largest and the longest convention that had ever occurred in the history of the SA Convention Center.  It appears that secular organizations are able to accomplish their missions in a shorter period of time.

 

Delegates and visitors came from 168 nations.  China sent 50 people, but had, I believe two (2) delegates.  I met one of their visitors, but had a very short conversation with him.

There were so many people on the streets that the police had to block of traffic lanes so people could walk in the street.

If my memory is correct, 385 organizations set up booths in the Exhibit Halls to advertise their services to people.  Some were massive and actually televised program from the Exhibit halls.  Larger ones included, Andrews university, Loma Linda, 3-ABN ( I even met Danny Shelton), Hope TV and others.  Some were quite small--Adventist Today.  

The airport was sometimes overwhelmed and the news papers advised people departing to arrive two hours early.  Flights were booked and some people had to fly in and out of the Austin airport.

[Stan]

China is interesting, and has some unique difficulties...  I believe the official membership is zero..  hard to have delegates if there are no official members.

[phkrause]

These GC sessions kind of remind me of Alumni gatherings, but obviously a lot larger gathering! It seems that even though they are for meetings and so forth they are also for getting together and seeing old acquaintances. So maybe like a really big reunion!! LOL

[Gregory Matthews]

The GC estimate for China is 400,000 members.

[Gerr]

I seem to have read somewhere that SDAs in China could be upwards to 1 million.

[Outta Here]

If this were the only costly meeting every 5 years, that would be one thing...but how many other costly meetings does SDA leadership have in the years in between? Surely the electronic voting will be working by 2020 and people can vote from their home countries!

[CoAspen]

So.....everyone is happy with spending 38 million from the tithes /offerings, I don't know which it came from, or is that number the estimate of what everyone collectively spent?

[Gregory Matthews]

The 38 million, I believe, is the estimate of what denominational organizations spent to rent the buildings (8 million) and to send delegates and others required to put the show on the road.

I do not believe that it includes any expenses for visitors that was not reimbursed by the denomination.  IOW, I believe it only consists of denominational expenses.

 

 

[Tom Wetmore]

Not to mention the soft costs...