International and Local Structure of the Adventist Church

Abstract

Globally, the Seventh-day Adventist church is organized along several hierarchically related levels from, at the top, the General Conference, with headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland (USA), to, at the bottom, any local church anywhere in the world.¹ Sahameloka and Silver Spring, for example, are linked by a string of ever larger geographical and organizational units. So we have (1) the local church in Sahameloka, which is part of (2) the Adventist community of Antakotako (which includes Sahameloka as well as a handful of other nearby villages), which in turn is part of (3) the Adventist district of Maroantsetra, which forms part of (4) the Fédération du Centre of Madagascar which, together with two other federations in the north and south of the country, form (5) the Adventist church of Madagascar, which beyond the boundaries of Madagascar is part of (6) the Southern Africa Indian Ocean Division, which is finally part of (7) the World Church.