The exact quote you are looking for is found in **Testimonies for the Church,
Volume 5**.
### The Quote
> "It is not the Lord's plan that a family should have the control of our institutions."
— *Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5*,
5T 37.2
### Context
This passage was written in the early 1880s (specifically around 1882) regarding the management of the publishing house and other institutions in Battle Creek. Ellen White was expressing concern over "family influence" and nepotism. She argued that when a single family holds too much power within a denominational institution, it leads to a lack of accountability, discourages other talented workers, and treats God’s cause as a private enterprise rather than a sacred, public work.
***
**Search Results Summary:**
Found thousands of passages containing these keywords.
For the complete list with filters, try the [Full-Text Search](/advanced-search?q=It+is+not+the+Lord%E2%80%99s+plan+that+a+family+should+have+the+control+of+our+institutions.)
**Book breakdown:**
1T (1755), 2SM (946), 5T (768), Ev (672), 2T (644)
Ellen Chat