The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists strongly encourages all church entities to follow the example of the General Conference, in making arrangements for the appropriate organization, storage, and preservation of records produced throughout an institution or an organisational unit headquarters. It is the policy (GC Working Policy BA 70) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that all denominational organizations and institutions implement a records management program.
The key foundational step is to develop a records retention schedule that identifies each of the types of records or files, the time they will be retained as active records in the office as well as their time in the Records Center, and what their eventual disposition will be. This varies from permanent preservation in the original form to digitization and/or destruction.
The GC Archives and Records Center staff are available to consult and advise all denominational organizations and institutions on questions related to records management. Depending on time and availability, this may be done remotely using digital conferencing, or in an on-site visit.
In addition, below you will find information on "Getting Started," the GC Archives model Retention Schedule, the relevant church policies (from GC Working Policy), and examples of GC Archives guidelines, policies, and forms for records centers and archives around the world to use and to adapt.