Welcome
Welcome to the Lake Union Headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for the states surrounding Lake Michigan. We serve huge metropolitan centers like Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis and Milwaukee, but we also feel close to home in small cities and villages scattered throughout our mostly farmland territory. We serve more than 80,000 members in nearly 550 churches and companies in five local conferences.
We are home to the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary on the campus of Andrews University, Adventist Midwest Health facilities in Illinois and Wisconsin, as well as approximately 100 academies and elementary schools.
Mission Statement
The Lake Union Headquarters is an integral part of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. Its primary objective is to share the "good news" of Christ's saving grace to every individual within its territory.
The Lake Union Headquarters is committed to the task of helping a people prepare for the soon return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. It heartily endorses the caring church concept as a means of involving every member in ministering to the needs of God's children.
The Lake Union Headquarters accepts the vital role that it must play in coordinating the efforts of individual members, churches, and institutions within its territory. In its role, it pledges the support of personnel and means to the World Church in the fulfillment of this task.
Objectives
1. To develop a strong spiritual lifestyle emphasis through stewardship.
2. To foster an increase in personal and public evangelism on all levels of the
church and to provide church-growth funds for key city evangelism.
3. To increase Sabbath school and church attendance by meeting the spiritual
needs of our members.
4. To emphasize the spiritual and developmental needs of our youth.
Quinquennium Goals
| Sabbath school and Church Attendance | 10% | Increase |
| Membership | 5% | Increase |
| Mission Giving | 5% | Increase |
| School Enrollment | 10% | Increase |
| Tithe | 10% | Increase |
Statistics
| Churches | 500 |
| Companies | 46 |
| Members | 79,525 |
| Population (as of July 2005) | 34,692,405 |
| Elementary Schools and Junior Academies | 95 |
| Academies | 8 |
| Students (2006-2007) | 3,774 |
| Territory | Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and a portion of Minnesota |
| Comprising | Illinois, Indiana, Lake Region, Michigan and Wisconsin Conferences |
Lake Union Conference History
Denominational experiences in South Africa, Australia, and the Southland, gave impetus to a concept long maturing in the Lake States, that is, that regionalism was a societal force with which to reckon. As early as 1889, the General Conference (GC) of Seventh-day Adventists (formed in 1863) arranged clusters of state conference into districts (six, then eight). Thus Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Ontario, comprised district three with an advisory superintendent.
This arrangement further congealed in 1901. At that time, the GC hardened the districts into union conferences with necessary officers and departmental heads. A cluster of union conference officers became advisors, promoters, and shock absorbers, so that GC officers above them might not wear down with local problems. That overwork might still occur, however, was shown when Arthur G. Daniells was elected head of both the GC and the Lake Union Conference in 1901. ... He it was who first organized, firmed, and staffed the Lake Union....
Except for a short stay in South Bend, the Lake Union Headquarters have been housed near the campus of Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan.
Excerpts from "The Heart of Lake Union," by Emmett K. Vande Vere, originally published in the January 1976 issue of The Lake Union Herald, the official magazine of the Lake Union Headquarters.
