The Seventh-day Adventist Church uses a representative form of church governance. This simply means members of local churches elect representative bodies and officers to carry out the day-to-day work of the church.
There are five levels of governance. These are
- The local church - The local church is a body of individual believers.
- Conference, mission or region - The conference, mission or field is a body of churches in a particular state, province or territory.
- Union conference or Union mission - The union conference or union mission is a body of conferences or missions or fields within a larger territory.
- Division - The division is the adminsitrative arm of the General Conference within a particular area of the world.
- General Conference - The General Conference is the worldwide headquarters of the church.
Each level is formed and elected democratically and manages the various institutions of the church within these five levels. The institutions cover a range of services such as, education, health care, publishing, media (radio, print, television, web and satellite), aid and development and family relations