Quotations from the writings of Ellen G. White with the phrase . . .
p r e s i d e n t o f a c o n f e r e n c e ( 2 RELATED PHRASES ) |
The phrase 'president of a conference' appears 46 times in the published writings of EGW See page on Original site Related Phrase: Conference president ( 128 ) - - presidents of conferences ( 109 )
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“My brethren, if you have thus placed a stumbling-stone in the path of others, your first duty is to remove it, by doing justice to your brother. You have thought evil of him, you have said things untrue, because you have gathered up hearsay; you worked in blindness of mind, and now, if you would cure the wound, confess your mistake, and seek to be in complete harmony with your brother. This is the only way to correct your errors. Confess to your brother, and bind him close to your heart, so that you can labor together in love and unity. The rules are plainly laid down in God’s word. Whether you have been a minister, the president of a Conference, the superintendent of a Sabbath-school, or a teacher in the Sabbath-school, or have held important positions in any branch of the work, there is but one right course for you to pursue.”
Review & Herald, December 16, 1890 (paragraph 9) Read entire article
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If you are made president of a conference, you must not mistake your work. You do not altogether comprehend what is included in the work of the president of a conference. You seek to embrace too much. You must not think that your position gives you liberty to rule over God’s heritage. When you attempt to rule, your labors are a positive injury. { 9MR 148.1 }
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| That man is unfit to be the president of a conference or a leader among God’s people who has not broad ideas and views. It is the privilege and duty of those who bear responsibilities in the cause to become learners in Christ’s school. The professed follower of Christ must not follow the dictates of his own will; his mind must be trained to think Christ’s thoughts, and enlightened to comprehend the will and way of God. Such a believer will be a learner of Christ’s methods of work.—Letter 276, 1907, pp. 1, 2 (September 5, 1907 to J. A. Burden). { ChL 25.3}
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| But a greater danger than this has been revealed to me in the feeling that has been growing among our workers that ministers and other laborers in the cause should depend upon the mind of certain leading workers to define their duties. One man’s mind and judgment are not to be considered capable of controlling and molding a conference. The individual and the church have responsibilities of their own. God has given to every man some talent or talents to use and improve. In using these talents he increases his capability to serve. God has given to each individual judgment, and this gift He wants His workers to use and improve. The president of a conference must not consider that his individual judgment is to control the judgment of all. { 9T 277.3} also { 3TT 424.3} |
| In no conference should propositions be rushed through without time being taken by the brethren to weigh carefully all sides of the question. Because the president of a conference suggested certain plans, it has sometimes been considered unnecessary to consult the Lord about them. Thus propositions have been accepted that were not for the spiritual benefit of the believers and that involved far more than was apparent at the first casual consideration. Such movements are not in the order of God. Many, very many matters have been taken up and carried by vote, that have involved far more than was anticipated and far more than those who voted would have been willing to assent to had they taken time to consider the question from all sides. { 9T 278.1}
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| If it is possible, I would free your mind from the deceptions that have taken hold of you. In your work, you have embraced too much responsibility. I must say to you that you should not fill the office of president of a conference, so long as you feel that you must mold and fashion the experience of others to conform to your own ideas. Your course has revealed that you lack wise perception. The fashioning of your character is such as needs reforming. { ChL 24.1 }
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| The man who because he is president of a conference dares to take the responsibility of telling his fellow-workers what their duty is, is working out a wrong experience. The influence will be to destroy the God-given personality of men, and place them under human jurisdiction. Such management is laying a foundation for unbelief. The men who instruct their fellowmen to look to men for guidance, are really teaching them that when they go to the Lord for counsel and the direction of His Spirit regarding their duty, they must not follow that counsel without first going to certain men to know if this is what they must do. Thus a species of slavery is developed that will bring only weakness and inefficiency to the church of God. { ChL 28.3}
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The Conference President — Again and again I repeat the warning: Never place as president of a conference a man who supposes that such a position gives him the power to dictate and control the consciences of others. It is natural for man to have a large estimate of self; old habits wrestle for the supremacy; but the man who occupies a position of trust should not glorify himself. { ChL 34.4 }
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| The one who is in trust of sacred responsibilities should ever show forth the meekness and wisdom of Christ; for it is thus that he becomes a representative of Christ’s character and methods. Never should he usurp authority, or command or threaten, saying, “Unless you do as I say, you will receive no pay from the conference.” A man who would speak such words is out of his place as president of a conference. He would make men slaves to his judgment. — Letter 416, 1907, pp. 5, 6 (December 30, 1907 to A. G. Daniells and W. C. White). { ChL 35.2 }
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| In 1903, I wrote to the President of a Conference: “By means of one agency, Christ Jesus, God has mysteriously linked all men together. To every man He has assigned some special line of service; and we should be quick to comprehend that we are to guard against leaving the work given us in order that we may interfere with other human agencies who are doing a work not precisely the same as our own. To no man has been assigned the work of interfering with the work of one of his fellow-laborers, trying to take it in hand himself; for he would so handle it that he would spoil it. To one, God gives a work different from the work that He gives another.”—Manuscript 29, 1907, pp. 9, 10 (January 1907, Individual Responsibility and Christian Unity). { ChL 39.1} also { TM 494.5}
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God has given to each individual judgment, and this gift He wants His workers to use and improve. The president of a conference must not consider that his individual judgment is to be the judgment of all. { ChL 50.5}
In no conference should propositions be rushed through without time being taken by the brethren to carefully weigh all sides of the question. Because the president of a conference suggested certain plans, it has sometimes been considered unnecessary to consult the Lord about them. Thus propositions have been accepted that were l not for the spiritual benefit of believers, and which involved far more than was apparent at the first casual consideration. Such movements are not in the order of God. { ChL 50.6}
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| The president may not feel the importance of sanctifying himself, that others may be sanctified. He may be an unfaithful watchman, preaching to please the people. Many are strong in some points of character, while they are weak and deficient in others. As the result, a want of efficiency is manifest in some parts of the work. Should the same man continue as president of a conference year after year, his defects would be reproduced in the churches under his labors. But one laborer may be strong where his brother is weak, and so by exchanging fields of labor, one may, to some extent, supply the deficiencies of another. { GW 421.1}
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| The church militant is not the church triumphant, but is composed of erring men and women. As in an army soldiers must be trained and disciplined for active service, so must the soldiers of Christ be educated for usefulness in His cause. It may be far easier for the president of a Conference to labor himself than to direct the work of others; but it is his duty to take an oversight of the field, and see that all are working to the best advantage. The younger men should be developing their talents, and preparing for future usefulness; and the older and more experienced ministers should not be left to expend their energies on work that others could do as well as not, and would be willing to do if they were only told how.— Review and Herald, April 22, 1884. { PaM 104.3}
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| You need to drink deep of the streams of grace and salvation before you can lead others to the Fountain of living waters. Holding the office of president of a conference, with the experience and influence that this office gives, instead of discouraging the people you should have urged them to new exertion, to bear weightier responsibilities. There are special duties devolving upon men in responsible positions; there are laborious efforts to be made which it would be convenient to neglect. But when the shepherds are negligent of duty, may the Lord pity the poor sheep. { 5T 371.1}
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| He who is placed as a president of a conference must learn that the human heart is wayward, and that it needs to be strictly sentineled by watchfulness and prayer. As he seeks the Lord conscientiously and constantly, he is taught of God to grow into a representative man, and can be trusted as God trusted Abraham. He needs the whole armor of God; for he has to fight the good fight of faith, and having done all that the Spirit of God has taught him to do, to stand. His enemies may be those of his own household, his wife and children, or they may be his own hereditary and cultivated tendencies, which continually seek for the mastery. Man is human and defective in character, and must battle for the victory. Everyone who begins aright must begin at his own heart. Let the fervent prayer go forth from unfeigned lips, “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” and it will bring the response, “A new heart also will I give you.” { TM 327.2}
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| “In our several callings there is to be a mutual dependence on one another for assistance. A spirit of authority is not to be exercised, even by the president of a conference; for position does not change a man into a creature that cannot err. Every laborer entrusted with the management of a conference is to work as Christ worked, wearing His yoke and learning of Him His meekness and lowliness. A conference president’s spirit and demeanor in word and in deed reveal whether he realizes his weakness and places his dependence on God, or whether he thinks that his position of influence has given him superior wisdom. If he loves and fears God, if he realizes the value of souls, if he appreciates every jot of the help that the Lord has qualified a brother worker to render, he will be able to bind heart to heart by the love that Christ revealed during His ministry. He will speak words of comfort to the sick and the sorrowing. { TM 496.1}
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| He who is placed as a president of a conference must learn that the human heart is wayward, and that it needs to be strictly sentinelled by watchfulness and prayer. As he seeks the Lord conscientiously and constantly, he is taught of God to grow into a representative man, and can be trusted as God trusted Abraham. He needs the whole armor of God; for he has to fight the good fight of faith, and having done all that the Spirit of God has taught him to do, to stand. His enemies may be those of his own household, his wife and children, or they may be his own hereditary and cultivated tendencies, which continually seek for the mastery. Man is human and defective in character, and must battle for the victory. Everyone who begins aright must begin at his own heart. Let the fervent prayer go forth from unfeigned lips, “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” and it will bring the response, “A new heart will I give thee.” { SpTA08 12.1 }
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| “In our several callings there is to be a mutual dependence on one another for assistance. A spirit of authority is not to be exercised, even by the president of a conference; for position does not change a man into a creature that can not err. Every laborer entrusted with the management of a conference is to work as Christ worked, wearing His yoke and learning of Him His meekness and lowliness. A conference president’s spirit and demeanor, in word and in deed, reveal whether he realizes his weakness and places his dependence on God, or whether he thinks that his position of influence has given him superior wisdom. If he loves and fears God, if he realizes the value of souls, if he appreciates every jot of the help that the Lord has qualified a brother worker to render, he will be able to bind heart to heart by the love that Christ revealed during His ministry. He will speak words of comfort to the sick and the sorrowing. If he does not cultivate a masterly manner, but bears in mind always that One is his Master, even Christ, he can counsel the inexperienced, encouraging them to be God’s helping hand. { SpTB09 26.1 }
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| The president may not feel the importance of sanctifying himself, that others may be sanctified. He may be an unfaithful watchman, preaching to please the people. Many are strong in some points of character, while they are weak and deficient in others. As the result, a want of efficiency is manifest in some parts of the work. Should the same man continue as president of a conference year after year, his defects would be reproduced in the churches under his labors. But one laborer may be strong where his brother is weak, and so by exchanging fields of labor, one may, to some extent, supply the deficiencies of another. { 9MR 144.1 }
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p r e s i d e n t o f a c o n f e r e n c e s h o u l d . . . |
| While the president of a Conference should faithfully perform the duties of his office, it is in his power, through the grace of Christ, to be a kindhearted man. He is not to lord it over God’s heritage. But it is a sad fact that our brethren in the ministry are not all humble men. They want praise from the people; they enjoy the sense of authority which their position gives them; they like to dictate, to rule. They seem to feel that office, position, confers greatness; but it is character alone, true goodness, that is true greatness. { GW92 258.1 }
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| For the last forty years the Lord has been revealing to me the necessity of harmony of action on the part of ministers and the presidents of Conferences. The president of a Conference should be careful to give respect to all who are laborers together with God. One man’s mind and judgment is not to control. The ministers who are connected with him in the work are to be respected and loved; criticism should have no room to work. Let envy and evil-surmising be expelled from the soul. Nothing can grieve the Spirit of God more than dissension and depreciation of brethren. In order to have prosperity in labor, there must be confidence in and union with our brethren, who are laboring just as earnestly and disinterestedly as we are. There are those who do not possess a harmonious character in all respects, yet God has accepted them as laborers together with Christ. Then, how out of place it is for one to stand apart from another because their ideas and judgment do not in all things agree.— General Conference Bulletin, February 11, 1895. par. 1. { PaM 104.1}
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