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The Publishing Ministry
The building you are planning to erect in Battle Creek is not nec-
essary. To invest money in this way would set a wrong example. Our
people in Battle Creek have continually been tempted to find some ex-
cuse for investing more money in building. Thus other parts of the field
have been robbed of buildings which they should have had.—
Letter
73, 1901
.
God’s Call to Decentralize—Enlarge ye; spread ye; yes, but not
in one place only. Go out and establish centers of influence in places
where nothing, or next to nothing, has been done. Break up your
consolidated mass; diffuse the saving beams of light into the darkened
corners of the earth. A work similar to that of an eagle stirring up her
nest needs to be done....
The arms of power in Battle Creek are being extended more and
more widely, seeking to control the work far and near, and to crush
that which they cannot control. I lift my voice in protest. The spirit
that now controls is not the Spirit of the Lord.—
Testimonies for the
Church 8:150
.
One Publishing House in One Place?—I was in a room where
a number were assembled in council. Brother D was presenting the
idea that small, local presses were not needful, and were run at great
expense. He said that he thought that all our book making should be
done by one publishing house, at one place, and thus save expense.
There was present One of authority, and after making some in-
quiries, He said, “These smaller printing offices can be managed in
a way that will make them a help to the work of God if sufficient
attention is given to them. In the past, great lack of principle has
been brought into the management of our book work, and this experi-
ence will be repeated unless men’s hearts are thoroughly converted,
thoroughly changed.”—
Letter 162, 1902
.
Printing of Publications Should Be Divided—The division of
the General Conference into district union conferences was God’s ar-
rangement. In the work of the Lord in these last days there should be no
[146]
Jerusalem centers, [
The original Union Conferences developed from
the six General Conference districts into which the United States and
Canada had been divided at the 1889 General Conference and the two
overseas districts, Europe and Australasia. In 1894 the Australasian
Union Conference was formed, becoming something of a model for
the reorganizing of districts into unions in North America in 1901 in