What Is the General Conference Corporation?

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

“All our energies, all our meetings, all our finances, all the best of our talents are focused on the mission that the Lord entrusted to us,” said Erton C. Köhler, General Conference (GC) president, as he opened the short GC Corporation Members Meeting Tuesday afternoon. He continued, “But while we’re living in this world, while we are established in the United States of America, we need to organize a legal corporation with all the legal aspects of our church, and because of that, today we need to have our annual session of the General Conference Corporation.”

Incorporated April 15, 1904 in the U.S. as the legal entity to serve the GC, the GC Corporation serves the GC to help carry out its work, explained Karnik Doukmetzian, general counsel of the GC. A. G. Daniels was the first president of the GC Corporation when he served as the GC president from 1901–1922. Köhler is the 12th president to serve in this role.

This corporation is the legal persona of the unincorporated GC and holds title to the GC properties and other properties around the world. “Nothing has changed in 120 years that the corporation has been in existence,” added Köhler.

In the meeting, members elected the GC Session Nominating Committee that will serve as the corporation’s nominating committee for its board of directors. This group will serve until the next General Conference session in 2030.

Each level of the church has similar corporations or associations, adds Lisa Burrow, vice president and general counsel of the Columbia Union Conference, who previously worked for the General Conference Office of Legal Counsel. “This is definitely the business of the church; it's just a different part of the church,” she says.