The Seventh-day Adventist Church is organized with a representative form of church government. Authority in the church comes from the membership of local churches. Executive responsibility is given to representative bodies and officers to govern the church.

The local church is the structural foundation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. It is the first of four levels of organization that exist within the church. All baptized members of a local church have voting powers within that church. At local churches, decisions are made by elected committees through the votes of members. The day-to-day running of churches is governed by the congregation’s pastor and a church board formed by members of that church. For example, each congregation elects its own elders, deacons, deaconesses, clerks, treasurers, and department leaders.

Each organization, starting at the local level, is governed by general business sessions that occur at certain intervals. This is usually when administrative decisions are made—for local churches this is typically every two or three years.