MANDEVILLE, Manchester — The West Indies Union (WIU) Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is no more. The 104-year-old organisation headquartered here was yesterday dissolved in an official ceremony at Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in this central Jamaica town.

In its place is the Jamaica Union Conference — comprising the East, West, Central, North and North East Jamaica conferences — and the Atlantic Caribbean Union Mission (ACUM), which incorporates the Bahamas, North Bahamas, and Cayman Islands conferences, as well as and Turks and Caicos Islands Mission.

Moving the historic motion, secretary of the former union, Pastor Glen Samuels, outlined some elements of the new arrangement.

"I move that the West Indies Union be dissolved and that all its assets be transferred to the Jamaica Union. Further, that the West Indies Union gives power to the Jamaica Union to pursue and continue any transaction that had gone in the name of the West Indies Union or was voted by its executive committee. Further, that the WIU Memorial Church be established on the campus of Northern Caribbean University to preserve the name, heritage and history of West Indies Union," he said.

As part of the reorganisation also, NCU and Andrews Memorial Hospital, both formerly owned and operated by the West Indies Union, will change hands.

The university is to be jointly owned by Jamaica and ACUM, but is to be directly administered by the former. The hospital, meanwhile, is now solely owned by the Jamaica Union.

The Adventist Church in the northern Caribbean was founded in 1906 with approximately 3,000 members. In 1944, it added the territories of the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Today, Jamaica accounts for roughly 250,000 members, while the ACUM has about 2,500 of more than 16 million Adventists worldwide.

The new dispensation, according to president of the Inter-American Division Israel Leito, should be more effective in management, and is in keeping with trends in other regions.

"The world church has unions that are mostly country-based so that we deal with one government, one financial system, one set of laws," said Leito. "It is only when you have a country where the work is not as strong where we combine several countries to form a union. But when you have a place where the work is so strong as Jamaica, then it can become a union onto itself.

"As a matter of fact, in the Inter-American Division, most of our unions are country-based. After the re-organisation of the West Indies Union, we (have) only the Caribbean Union that has several countries, the Venezuela Union that has several countries and the Atlantic Caribbean Union that has three countries. Besides that, there are 21 unions in our division, all of them are based in one country or several unions in one country," he told the Observer.

The move, he said, has been in the making for several years and is not a result of effects of the economic recession on the church.

"Jamaica was ready many, many years ago, but the other territories were not. It has nothing to do with recession," Leito said.

Added NCU president Dr Herbert Thompson: "Northern Caribbean University pledges its unstinting continued support to the advancement of the peoples of the territories of the Jamaica Union and the Atlantic Caribbean Union Mission.

"Let it be known today that the university is jointly owned and jointly operated by the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and the Atlantic Caribbean Union Mission," he added.

"We are pleased to continue this powerful relationship we have with NCU and it is our pledge to support to do all we can to continue making this school an outstanding beacon of education."

Leaders of ACUM were selected in July, but directors were elected yesterday. Those of the Jamaica Union were also chosen.