The Role of the District Superintendent

1. The Role of the District Superintendent Mark Louw DS Retreat 06 September 2010

2. The Church of the Nazarene 25. The Church of the Nazarene is composed of those persons who have voluntarily associated themselves together according to the doctrines and polity of said church, and who seek holy Christian fellowship, the conversion of sinners, the entire sanctification of believers, their upbuilding in holiness, and the simplicity and spiritual power manifest in the primitive New Testament Church, together with the preaching of the gospel to every creature.

3. Article I. Form of Government 28.1. We are agreed on the necessity of a superintendency that shall complement and assist the local church in the fulfilling of its mission and objectives. The superintendency shall build morale, provide motivation, supply management and method assistance, and organize and encourage organization of new churches and missions everywhere.

4. Article I. Form of Government • 28.2. We are agreed that authority given to superintendents shall not interfere with the independent action of a fully organized church. Each church shall enjoy the right to select its own pastor, subject to such approval as the General Assembly shall find wise to institute. Each church shall also elect delegates to the various assemblies, manage its own finances, and have charge of all other matters pertaining to its local life and work.

5. Article III. District Assemblies • 30. The General Assembly shall organize the membership of the church into district assemblies, giving such lay and ministerial representation therein as the General Assembly may deem fair and just, and shall determine qualifications of such representatives, provided, however, that all assigned ordained ministers shall be members thereof. The General Assembly shall also fix the boundaries of assembly districts, and define the powers and duties of district assemblies. (200-5.6)

6. DENOMINATIONAL STRUCTURE

7. Fields, Regions, and Global Ministry Center in relationship to the government of the Church of the Nazarene GMC Regions General Government Fields District Government Local Church

8. Fields, Regions, and Global Ministry Center in relationship to the government of the Church of the Nazarene GMC Regions General Government Regions, Fields, and GMC are the scaffolding that supports the structure of the Global Church Fields District Government Local Church

9. THE REGION • 345. Origin and Purpose. In the growth of the church worldwide, there has developed a grouping of several organized districts into geographical areas identified as regions. A cluster of districts amenable to the general government of the Church of the Nazarene and having a sense of area and cultural identification may be formed into an administrative region by action of the General Board and approval of the Board of General Superintendents.

10. The Region: Reason for its existence A region exists to facilitate the development of the Church of the Nazarene in all its levels in all world areas so that those levels of organization of the Church of the Nazarene (local churches and districts) can effectively relate to the general government of the Church of the Nazarene. (A mission development role).

11. Roles of the Region • Missionary: To implement the mission of the Church through and with the existing backbone of the church • Strategic: To develop strategies that will help the church fulfill the Great Commission • Administrative: To assist in the administration of the missionary enterprise of the Church of the Nazarene • Developmental: To develop and empower the indigenous Church of the Nazarene to be part of the global Nazarene family • Jurisdictional: To facilitate the jurisdictional role of the BGS as requested by the JGS

12. The Field as a Strategic Hub • The field is a facilitating entity of the global and regional missionary strategy • The field is not another layer of authority in the structure of the church and, as such, it is not location-bound but it acts primarily as a service hub for a specific geographical area

13. Roles of the field • To facilitate the global, regional, and field missionary strategy of the church • To facilitate the development of districts helping them become self-sufficient • To serve the church development needs of the various mission areas of coverage

14. Fields, Regions, and Global Ministry Center in relationship to the government of the Church of the Nazarene GMC Regions General Government Regions, Fields, and GMC are the scaffolding that supports the structure of the Global Church Fields District Government Local Church

15. Relationships between Mission Leaders (RD/FSCs) and Districts

16. The District Superintendent • Everything rises and falls on leadership • Everything rises and falls on the DS* • The successful implementation of the Global and Regional Strategy will depend on you • Are you a bottleneck or a conduit?

17. The District Superintendent Duties Categorized as follows: • Pastoral • Leadership • Vision Casting • Apostolic • Administrative What do you spend most of your time on?

18. A Word of Caution Leaders are not managers • Leaders perform some management functions • Managers perform some leadership functions • But true leaders know the difference and are not managers

19. Lunch Break

20. What now? • You are the Key! • You are the key facilitator of the vision, mission, objectives and strategy of the Region • You are the key to its implementation, embodiment and embracing by all Nazarene leaders on the Region • You can help move the Region forward or you will result in its status quo.

21. Strategic Questions • What was? • Don’t dwell there • What is? • Don’t be satisfied • What can be? • Don’t be deceived by what appears to be important • How should things be? • God’s blueprint as seen in the Acts

22. What now? So what?

23. Embrace what is in your hand Exodus 2: 23-25 3: 4 3: 7-8 3: 10 Moses’ Excuses: 3: 11 (12) 3: 13 (14) 4: 1 (2, 6) 4: 10 (11) 4: 13 (14)

24. Embrace what is in your hand “You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth. I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it.” Ex 4: 15-17

25. What now? • Put into action that which the Region has embraced. • Embrace what you have in your hand • How you do this is what we are about this session. Each of you needs to develop tactics or action plans. It’s here where I’d like to help you with tools to succeed in the implementation of the Regions goals.

26. What is in your hand? Small Groups

27. What is in my hand? 1 Spiritual resources 2 Nazarene identity 3 Human resources 4 Evangelism 5 Discipleship 6 Education

28. How do you use what’s in your hand? Small Groups

29. How do I use what’s in my hand? 5 A flexible and technological system of communication at all levels 2 Continual system of leadership training 1 Personal profound revival 3 Decentralized and continual strategies of evangelism 4 A holistic plan of holiness discipleship

30. Implementation Chart

31. Implementation Chart

32. Through Him, we can do it! Successful leaders don’t start out asking, “What do I want to do?” They ask, “What needs to be done?” Then they ask, “Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?” They don’t tackle things they aren’t good at. They make sure other necessities get done, but not by them; they appoint someone else. Successful leaders make sure that they are effective. They are not afraid of strength in others.

33. Conclusion Andrew Carnegie wanted put on his gravestone, “Here lies a man who knew how to put into his service men more able than he was himself.”