Young Delegates Challenge Church to Listen, Adapt and Advance Mission

Story by Royston Philbert

While veteran delegates at the 2025 General Conference Session of the Seventh-day Adventist Church brought decades of institutional knowledge to the floor, it was the voices of youth delegates that offered a fresh cadence to the global dialogue on mission, policy, and generational transition.

Their contributions, though often quiet in volume, carried weight in content—signaling a church increasingly open to intentional inclusion, even as it navigates longstanding theological and structural complexities.

“This isn’t just symbolic participation,” said 29-year-old delegate Leena Moses of the North American Division (NAD). “We are not here to fill quotas. We’re here because our generation is ready to serve, to lead, and to be taken seriously as co-builders of the mission. It is about having a seat at the table. The opportunity to be engaged in meaningful ways.”

Moses is among more than 150 youth and young adult delegates from across the globe—many attending their first session—who brought to the table perspectives shaped by digital fluency, community activism, and a deep desire for spiritual authenticity. For them, relevance is not a departure from doctrine but a catalyst for evangelism, to complement the ministry that the church is already using. 

This is Moses’ first session as a delegate. Her father came to the US from India in 1976. His family had been converted to Adventism in 1903 by missionaries Judson and Mini James, and the family was part of the first Adventist church in India, built in 1906. 

Moses’ grandfather on her mother’s side, D. P. Thomas, was an Adventist pastor. “How thrilled [he] would be to see me represented here as a delegate,” she said. He rode around to district churches in India on a bicycle, but “the mission is still the same” now, she said. Moses is attending the GC Session with her husband.

The inclusion of youth in deliberative bodies has been a strategic goal of multiple world divisions, but their presence at this Session represented a more deliberate shift. Throughout the plenary sessions, young delegates posed pointed questions about the church manual and other important agenda issues.

“There is an urgency we feel that the gospel must intersect with real-life concerns,” Moses said. “We are not suggesting the message change—only that the methods must. There are communities struggling. We have to be involved in helping communities and the lives of people.”

Generational Dialogue, Not Divide

Rather than framing youth engagement as a generational divide, several seasoned delegates praised the presence and contributions of younger voices.

“We are witnessing a sacred continuity,” said George Philip, a delegate from the Grenada Conference representing the Inter-American Division (IAD) and an elder in his local church. “These young adults are not asking for the church to lower its standards—they are asking for a chance to carry them forward with conviction and creativity.”

Indeed, many youth delegates emphasized their respect for the church’s doctrinal heritage. “We are not coming with rebellion—we are coming with responsibility,” said youth delegate Jordanne Brown, 26, of the Jamaica Union Conference. “We stand on the shoulders of pioneers, and we intend to honor that legacy by keeping the mission central.”

That’s the commitment embraced by first-time delegate Marinella George, a 24-year-old from the Victoria and Agricola Seventh-day Adventist churches in the Guyana Conference. Representing the IAD, she is likely the youngest participant at the 2025 GC Session. While many stand on the shoulders of pioneers, George says attending the session has solidified her decision to remain firmly rooted in the church. “This is God’s church,” she said. “Seeing the many cultures and styles of worship has opened my eyes to the mission that can be accomplished when we work together.”

Church Leaders Respond

In his Sabbath morning devotional, Erton Köhler, as the new president of the General Conference, acknowledged the vitality that youth bring to the movement. “The mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church must be multigenerational,” he said. “God’s final message will go forward through every willing heart, young and old alike.”

At the IAD exhibit booth’s mini auditorium, several fields reported engagement among delegates under 35. “They’re not waiting for permission,” said Marvyn Smith, youth ministries director of the Caribbean Union Conference. “They’re stepping into mission right now—and the church must walk beside them, not behind them.”

Looking Forward

As the Session draws to a close, many youth delegates are returning to their home fields not just as observers but as catalysts. They carry with them not only policy updates but a renewed commitment to bold about the mission—online, on campus, and on the streets.

“The church has heard us,” Smith said. “Now, it’s time to build. And we’re ready.”

For more coverage of the 2025 General Conference Session, including live updates, interviews, and delegate stories, visit adventist.news and follow ANN on social media.