Representative Conference Polity

Representative conference polity is the governance form recorded in this atlas for religious bodies in which delegates from congregations send authority upward through a series of conferences to a general conference. Wikipedia's article on the Seventh-day Adventist Church gives a clear example, stating that the world church is governed by a General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, with smaller regions administered by divisions, unions, local conferences, and local missions. In this atlas the entity stands for the governance form itself, so denominations, religious orders and societies governed this way can be grouped and compared under it, while each member entry keeps its own governance facts and sources.