63rd Session of the South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Executive Secretary’s Report Douglas McCormac
was built by Pr John Surridge. However, we have been looking for a replacement for a number of years which would be able to keep pace with changes in technology and data protection provisions.
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his has been an extraordinary four years for our conference and the country in which we live. But by God’s grace the Church continues to grow and influence the communities in which we live for the Kingdom of God. Secretariat is a team effort. I have a great team that I work with and I am forever in their debt for all the hard work that they put in, to ensure the smooth running of our department. To Valerie, Jacqui and Tanya a very big Thank you for all that you have done. To the Church clerks in the local congregations, thank you.
Adventist Church Management System One of the biggest changes that occurred over this quadrennium was the introduction of the Adventist Church management system (ACMS). The Conference has for many years kept its membership records on Memtrack, a database that
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www.adventist.org.uk/sec // T: 01923 232728 // F: 01923 250582
ACMS was originally developed for use in the South American Division before it was picked up by the General Conference. It was first demonstrated in February 2016 to the Secretaries of the BUC at the Dutch Union office in Amsterdam. The system had to be rewritten for use in the EU to meet our strict data protection laws. It was not until March 2017 that we were finally able to transfer our records and move into a new era of membership management. ACMS gives us the ability to delegate the management of local church records to the local church clerk. Information can be updated immediately rather than making reports at the end of each quarter. And the accuracy of the membership lists now resides with the local congregation. That being said, rolling out the access has taken longer than anticipated.
Membership Statistics We are not in the numbers game; not everyone whose life we touch or reach, will be reflected in the numbers that follow. However, as a conference, every number listed here is a person. There are thousands of stories and testimonies of how Christ has made a difference in people’s lives. But there are also those whose story has taken a different path, who no longer see themselves as members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As of the 31 December 2018, the membership of the Conference stood at 25,295 that is an increase