Conferences should educate ministers, and together they should educate the churches—The president of a State Conference is, by his manner of dealing, educating the ministers under him, and together they can so educate the churches that it will not be necessary to call the ministers of the conference from the field to settle difficulties and dissensions in the church. If the officers in the conference will, as faithful servants, perform their Heaven-appointed duties, the work in our conferences will not be left to become entangled in such perplexities as heretofore. And in laboring thus, the workers will become solid, responsible men, who will not fail nor be discouraged in a hard place.—Gospel Workers, 419.
(PaM 255.1)
Conference and Department Leaders
Respect treasurers, accountants, and bookkeepers—I was shown the great deficiency there is in keeping the accounts in the various departments of the cause. Bookkeeping is and ever will be an important part of our work, and those who have become intelligent in it are greatly needed in all our institutions.... This branch of the work has been neglected shamefully, and altogether too long. It is a shame to allow work of such magnitude to be done in a defective, bungling manner. God wants as perfect work as it is possible for human beings to do.... Bookkeeping is a subject that needs to be studied in order that it may be done with correctness and dispatch and without worry and taxation.—Letter 63, 1886. (Quoted in Ellen G. White in Europe 249).
(PaM 255.2)
All departments of the cause should be conducted by those with the qualifications for the position—It is necessary that the same order and system should be maintained in the church now as in the days of the apostles. The prosperity of the cause depends very largely upon its various departments being conducted by men of ability, who are qualified for their positions.—The Spirit of Prophecy 3:293.
(PaM 255.3)
We should improve our ways of training departmental leaders—As a people who claim to have advanced light, we are to devise ways and means by which to bring forth a corps of educated workmen for the various departments of the work of God. We need a well-disciplined, cultivated class of young men and women in our sanitariums, in the medical missionary work, in the offices of publication, in the conferences of different states, and in the field at large. We need young men and women who have a high intellectual culture, in order that they may do the best work for the Lord. We have done something toward reaching this standard, but still we are far behind where we should be.—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 42.
(PaM 255.4)
Cooperation Between Departments
Do not work independently of the various departments of the work—One point will have to be guarded, and that is individual independence. As soldiers in Christ’s army, there should be concert of action in the various departments of the work.... Each laborer should act with reference to the others. Followers of Jesus Christ will not act independently one of another. Our strength must be in God, and it must be husbanded, to be put forth in noble, concentrated action. It must not be wasted in meaningless movements.—Testimonies for the Church 5:534.
(PaM 256.1)
Come into close relationship with those in the departments—You have been too reserved. You have not come into close relation with men engaged in the different departments of the work; you have not consulted with them as familiarly as you should to move understandingly. Had you done this you might have been a more efficient helper. You have moved too much according to your own judgment and carried out your own ideas and plans. There has been a lack of harmonious connection between the workers. Those who might have helped you have been reluctant to impart their knowledge to you on account of this lack of familiarity on your part, and also because you move so much from impulse and feeling that they have dreaded to approach you.—Testimonies for the Church 4:219.
(PaM 256.2)
Be interested in all departments, rather than concentrating on just one area—Ministers should be guarded, lest they thwart the purposes of God by plans of their own. They are in danger of narrowing down the work of God, and confining their labor to certain localities, and not cultivating a special interest for the work of God in all its various departments. There are some who concentrate their minds upon one subject, to the exclusion of others which may be of equal importance.—Testimonies for the Church 3:34.
(PaM 256.3)
Too often ministers have given poor support to health and medical missionary departments—The work of educating in medical missionary lines is an advance step of great importance in awakening man to his moral responsibilities. Had the ministers taken hold of this work in its various departments in accordance with the light which God has given, there would have been a most decided reformation in eating, drinking, and dressing. But some have stood directly in the way of the advance of health reform. They have held the people back by their indifference or condemnatory remarks, or by pleasantries and jokes. They themselves and a large number of others have been sufferers unto death, but all have not yet learned wisdom.—Testimonies for the Church 6:377.
(PaM 256.4)
Ministers should not take all the work of the various departments upon themselves—God’s cause has not advanced as it should have done, for the very reason that ministers and leading men have felt that they must do everything themselves. They have tugged and toiled to keep the wheel rolling, and are weighed down with responsibilities and burdens in the various departments of church-work, in the Sabbath-school, and in every other branch of the cause. They think they must do all this or it will not be done; and truly it would not be done, because they have failed to take others into their counsel and to train them to work.—The Review and Herald, July 24, 1883.
(PaM 257.1)