No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24, NIV).
All around the world, Seventh-day Adventist institutions have gained a reputation for excellence. At the same time, many have drifted away from their original mission emphasis, concentrating on making profits. To get a sense of how institutional employees see the connection between their employer and the Adventist Church as a whole, the 2025 Institutional Workers’ Survey asked them: “Which word (or words) best sums up your perception of the relationship between the larger Seventh-day Adventist Church organization and the organization you work for? The Adventist church is …”.
Out of 5,813 responses from educational employees, 62.4% said that the Church was involved with their institution; 18.7% said the Church accepted their institution; 4% said they were tolerated; 7.4% said they were held at arm’s length; 2.6% said they were left completely on their own; and 4.3% did not know.
Education Employees
The highest percentage answering that the church organization was involved with their institution came from the Southern Asia-Pacific Division at 84.8%, and from the Inter-European Division at 83.9%. The Divisions with the lowest percentage responding “Involved” came from the Euro-Asia Division at 26.6%, and from the Southern Asia Division at 44.7%. These latter figures are concerning.
Non-Education Employees
When employees from non-educational institutions were asked the same question, only 252 answers were received, and the report notes that there were not enough responses from the Inter-European Division and the Southern Asia-Pacific Division to include separate reports. A total of 59.8% of respondents answered that the church organization was involved with their institution, 17.1% answered that the Church accepted their institution, 6.6% answered that they were tolerated, 10.3% answered that they were kept at arm’s length, 3.6% answered that they were left completely on their own, and 3.1% did not know.
The Divisions with the highest percentage answering that the church organization was involved in their institution came from the West-Central Africa Division at 81.3%, the East-Central Africa Division at 72.9%, and the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division at 70.7%. The Divisions with the lowest percentage responding that the Church was involved with their institution were the Euro-Asia Division at 38.9%, and the Inter-American Division at 40%.
For Ellen White, Adventist institutions were primarily established as tools to further our mission of spreading the word of salvation through Jesus: “Our institutions are to be regarded as God’s instrumentalities for the furtherance of His work in the earth. We must look to God for guidance and wisdom; we must plead with Him to teach us how to carry the work solidly. Let us recognize the Lord as our teacher and guide, and then we shall carry the work in correct lines. We need to stand as a united company who shall see eye to eye. Then we shall see the salvation of God revealed on the right hand and on the left. If we work in harmony, we give God a chance to work for us” (Ellen G. White, Fundamentals of Christian Education, 531, 532).
For our institutions to be truly the instruments of mission, we need the Church to be more involved and the institutions to rethink their primary functions so that salvation, not profits, is the end goal for everyone.
You can access the full report here.
Created in collaboration with the Institute of Church Ministry.
Published by ASTR on 05/05/2026.