The First Union Conference
Why is this section of materials important? It shows how General Conference President O. A. Olsen actively supported and promoted the concept of union conferences, and participated in the formation of the first union conference in 1894, the Australasian Union Conference. Olsen believed union conferences to be a way to promote “unity of effort” throughout the entire world field.
- W. C. White requests that union conferences be formed. (Dec. 21, 1892 letter to O. A. Olsen)
- The General Conference Committee in 1893 endorses that request. (Minutes for Jan. 25, 1893, 9:30 am)
- Olsen promotes the idea at the meetings that preceded the 1893 General Conference Session. (“Council Meeting—No. 2,” GCDB Jan. 29, 30, 1893, pp. 24, 25)
- Olsen promotes it again at the 1893 General Conference Session. (“The President’s Address,” GCDB Feb. 15-19, 1893, p. 285)
- The Committee on Resolutions proposes resolutions about union conferences. (“Seventeenth Meeting,” GCDB Mar. 5, 1893, p. 478)
- The 1893 General Conference Session passes those resolutions. (“Nineteenth Meeting,” GCDB Mar. 6, 1893, p. 486)
- W. C. White invites Olsen to be present when they organize the union conference. (July 9, 1893 letter to O. A. Olsen)
- Olsen chairs the 1894 meeting that organized the first union conference, the Australasian Union Conference. (“Proceedings of the Australasian Union Conference ...,” Bible Echo, Feb. 26, 1894, pp. 62, 63)
- The 1894 Adventist Year Book in describing the Australasian Union Conference shows how closely connected to the General Conference it was. (“Reports from General Conference Districts: Australasian Union Conference,” SDA Year Book for 1894, p. 61)
- A. G. Daniells reminisces in 1913 about how W. C. White and O. A. Olsen “fixed up a union conference organization.” (“Thirteenth Meeting,” GCB May 23, 1913, p. 108)