June will be a very busy month for a few of us around here because it is packed with assemblies. June 10-12 Nazarenes from around the Los Angeles District will be gathering at PazNaz for District Assembly. During those three days the seventy-or-so churches that make up this district will be celebrating what God has been doing in the areas of missions, discipleship, and worship this last year as well as voting on representatives for the various district leadership teams.
June 24-July 3 Nazarenes from around the world will be gathering in Orlando, Florida for General Assembly. Every four years delegates representing the denomination from every part of the world gather to celebrate but also to vote on leadership, issues of polity, and sometimes even issues of theology. This will be my fourth time to attend General Assembly and my second time as a delegate. Being a delegate is an honor but it is also a tremendous amount of work. There is always a sense of excitement when the global church gets together but here are the issues that I think will be the most interesting.
Election of General Superintendents The Church of the Nazarene has six General Superintendents who serve as the primary overseers of the denomination. They travel separately during much of the year officiating at District Assemblies around the world and ordaining ministers into the denomination. Three of the current General Superintendents will be retiring at Assembly and so delegates will be responsible for electing at least three new leaders. It is not unusual for an assembly to have to replace one or two retiring Superintendents, but after this assembly at least half the board of Generals will be new. At the last General Assembly in 2005 delegates elected the first woman GS – Nina Gunter. This was a very significant boundary broken and an important leadership statement for the church. There is a very good chance that a couple of other barriers might be broken in this year’s assembly. Many assume that at least one non-American will be elected. This would be the first time that someone from outside the States would serve in the church’s highest office. There is also a chance that a non-Anglo could be elected. Either or both occurring would make powerful statements about the multi-cultural nature of the Church of the Nazarene. The International Delegates Each time the Nazarenes gather for General Assembly the number of delegates from outside the United States increases. There are more members of the denomination outside of North America than inside. Although many of the international districts are not self-supporting yet and therefore are not granted delegates to assembly, and although it is sometimes very difficult to get international delegates into the States for assembly, the perspective and power of Nazarenes outside of America continues to grow.
The perspective of Nazarenes from around the world is vital to the church’s future and it is always fascinating to hear various global voices during debates in committee and on the floor of the assembly. But there are also unique challenges for every different world region. There has been some talk about creating different Manuals (books of order) for each world region. The idea is that the first section of the Manual which covers our theology would remain the same but that each world area would be allowed some latitude in how they form their congregations and what polity they use. I don’t know if that will happen this year or not. But the unique challenge of being one church in over 150 different countries is a fascinating one. The Financial Crisis Every time General Assembly rolls around there are resolutions that come to the floor that have to do with financial resources. For example, for the sake of saving money, there are always resolutions to move General Assembly from every four years to every six, eight, or even ten years. There are also resolutions regarding reorganization at the district level in order to save resources. Most of those resolutions have to do with merging districts in order to make them larger and decrease overhead costs for local congregations. Usually these kind of proposed structure changes are discussed for a bit on the floor but gain little traction. However, in the light of the global financial crisis some of the resolutions for major structural change may gain steam. People around the world are extremely sensitive right now about how resources should be spent and so it will be interesting to see if major cost-cutting resolutions will be popular with delegates this time around. Denominational Budgets For many years local Nazarene churches have given back to the denomination based upon a formula derived from the amount of money spent on ministry. This has meant that money spent on land or facilities serves as a deduction from a local church’s denominational budgets. The formula has always been a little complicated and has often not been equitable because it favors large churches paying on buildings while hurting small churches carrying little or no debt. A new formula has been proposed that would move denominational responsibilities away from a tax on ministry money spent to become a tithe of all money raised by the local church. There are various formulas for how that tithe would be divided between the four areas denominational budgets cover, but the basic idea is to shift from taxation on expenses to a tithe on what is raised. This has the potential to be a very lively debate. The change would greatly benefit small churches. For example a small church that owns their building and raises $200,000 a year probably pays about $43,000 in denominational budgets currently because nearly all their resources are put back into ministry. Under the new system they would pay $20,000 to $23,000. On the other hand, if a large church raises $6,000,000 a year and has a debt on their building of $8,000,000 they probably pay about $400,000 in denominational budgets under the current system because they are able to deduct their facility expenses. Under an income system their budgets would become $600,000 to $720,000 a year. I think everyone agrees that a new system needs to be put in place that is easier and more equitable. But as you can see in the examples I gave above, it also has the potential to be quite an explosive issue. Generational and Theological Shifts The church is also dealing with changing demographics and an increasingly post-denominational culture. It seems that as each General Assembly goes by fewer people in the local church are concerned with what takes place at the denominational level. What will General Assemblies look like in 20 years? Who will attend? It is always the case that there are theological conversations going on in the church. But the rise of the internet has given some Nazarenes, who I believe exist at the fringe theologically, an accessible voice. Blogs and websites have allowed attacks on various individuals to take place in very visible ways before Assembly. It will be interesting to see if coalitions have been created on-line that will try to have influence on the Assembly.
It should be a very interesting time in Orlando. I will confess that my favorite part of Assembly is not in committee or on the floor but drinking coffee in the hallway and being part of the worship service on Sunday morning with 40,000 to 60,000 folk. It should be an eventful and fascinating gathering of Nazarenes in Orlando. I promise to represent PazNaz well and to give those who care about it a full run down when I get home.
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