Testimony Treasures, Volume 3 - Ellen G. White

Chapter 45
Leadership
In the daily papers of various cities there have appeared articles which
represent that there is a strife between Dr. Kellogg and Mrs. Ellen G. White
as to which of them shall be leader of the Seventh-day Adventist people. As I
read these articles I felt distressed beyond measure that anyone should so
misunderstand my work and the work of Dr. Kellogg as to publish such
misrepresentations. There has been no controversy between Dr. Kellogg and
myself as to the question of leadership. No one has ever heard me claim the
position of leader of the denomination.
I have a work of great responsibility to do--to impart by pen and voice
the instruction given me, not alone to Seventh-day Adventists, but to the
world. I have published many books, large and small, and some of these have
been translated into several languages. This is my work--to open the
Scriptures to others as God has opened them to me.
God has not set any kingly power in the Seventh-day Adventist Church
to control the whole body or to control any branch of the work. He has not
provided that the burden of leadership shall rest upon a few men.
Responsibilities are distributed among a large number of competent men.
Every member of the church has a voice in choosing officers of the
church. The church chooses the officers of the state conferences. Delegates
chosen by the state conferences choose the officers of the union conferences,
and delegates chosen by the union conferences choose the officers of the
General Conference. By this arrangement every conference, every
institution, every church, and every individual, either directly or through
representatives, has a voice in the election of the men who bear the chief
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