The Executive Committee (EXCOM) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church voted Wednesday, February 17, 2021, to move the 2022 General Conference (GC) Session, the quinquennial business meeting of the denomination, from Indianapolis, Indiana to St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The vote comes after GC Management was unexpectedly informed by the city of Indianapolis that the space in Indianapolis was no longer available for the June 6-11, 2022 dates. The dates voted by the General Conference Executive Committee will remain the same.
“The announcement to us that the dates in Indianapolis were not available came as a complete surprise, since we had taken this information to the GC Executive Committee,” Adventist Church president Ted N. C. Wilson said. “The officials in Indianapolis have been gracious but found they were unable to provide the verbally confirmed dates. We felt bad about not continuing the wonderful collaboration with the Lake Union Conference, Lake Region Conference, and the Indiana Conference.
“However, God had already foreseen the problem, and through helpful contacts with the St. Louis Convention Center, the exact same dates of June 6-11, 2022, were provided. God always is going before us to open the way,” he said.
The Adventist Church Executive Committee had originally voted during the 2016 Annual Council to return to St. Louis for the 2025 GC Session.
This new development comes after a January 12 vote from EXCOM members to postpone the GC Session originally scheduled for late June of 2020 for a second time due to continued challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although the GC Session will now be held in St. Louis, which is within the Mid-America Union, instead of the Lake Union Conference, the two unions will join together to collaborate in evangelism and mission ahead of the meetings.
