The Church Manual affirms that speakers in Seventh-day Adventist churches must be approved in harmony with conference guidelines. This gives local conferences and pastors the authority to restrict access to the pulpit for individuals deemed not “worthy of confidence.” However, this authority must be exercised with extreme care, especially when the person in question is a member in good standing of a local church within the same conference.
While the Conference Executive Committee assigns pastors and provides guidance, the local church is a body of believers under Christ. The pastor and board – appointed to serve the spiritual needs of the local congregation – are accountable not only to the Conference Executive Committee but also to their local membership and to God. If a member who has wrong ideas is not dealt with according to the proper disciplinary procedures set forth in Matthew 18 and the church manual, but simply banned, the people of God are not given the warning of sin that is required in 1 Timothy 5:20. A ban from the Conference Executive Committee can short-circuit this God-ordained process if applied without due process and extreme care.
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