General Assembly Resolution: General Superintendency / Ordination

 

In June of 2027, the Church of the Nazarene will be conducting its General Assembly.  The General Assembly is the supreme doctrine-formulating, lawmaking, and elective authority of the Church of the Nazarene. During past quadrenniums, I have presented to my district delegation, and through them to the General Assembly, a number of resolutions.  Some of them have passed and impacted the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene.  Some were amended.  Others were rejected. 

This year I have presented nine resolutions to my district delegation.  -  If you are a district superintendent or a delegate from another district, I would draw your attention to these and hope you might consider supporting them.  If you are not a ds or delegate, but you know a ds or delegate from a district other than SWID, please consider sharing these resolutions with your superintendent and/or delegates.

Note: Strikedthrough words are to be deleted from the current Manual. Underlined words are to be added to the current Manual. 

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307.4. Have discretionary power to ordain, or appoint others elders (preferably another general superintendent, general superintendent emeriti or retired) to ordain, those who have been properly elected to be elders or deacons. (314.1, 320, 530.5-530.6)  

 530.5. The candidate elected to the order of elder or order of deacon shall be ordained by the laying on of the hands of the general superintendent and ordained ministers elders with appropriate religious exercises, under the direction of the presiding general superintendent. (307.4)

  

FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

 1.  We, along with Wesley and the larger Wesleyan/Methodist tradition, have understood that “Bishops and Presbyters are the same order, and consequently have the same right to ordain” (Wesley’s Sept. 10, 1784 letter “To Dr. Coke, Mr. Asbury, and our Brethren in North-America”).  That is to say, the power to ordain is found within the order of elders.  There is not a separate “order of bishop” or “general superintendent.”  Nevertheless, we, along with others in the larger Wesleyan/Methodist tradition, have reserved the authority to ordain, within our denominations, to those elders who have been elected to the episcopal office/role of general superintendent. 

 2.  For the Church of the Nazarene, the episcopal aspect of our government is expressed through the general superintendency (cf., the “Foreword,” and par. 22.2, 306.f, 314.f, and 315.f).

 3.  It would be highly desirable that ordinations, if not being performed by the general superintendent in jurisdiction, be performed by another general superintendent (active, emeriti, or retired), in as much as they represent the whole (or general) church.

 4.  In the unfortunate situation when the general superintendent in jurisdiction is not able to ordain, and when no other general superintendent is able to ordain, it would be highly desirable that one vested with the authority to oversee the district (i.e., the district superintendent) be the person appointed to ordain.

 5.  In no case should anyone other than an ordained elder be appointed to ordain, for the power to ordain is found within the order of elders. This is seen in 2 Timothy 1:6, which, referring to Timothy’s ordination, says, “For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands;” (NRSV), and most especially in the parallel passage of 1 Timothy 4:14, which says, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders” (NRSV, emphasis mine). 

This is also why it has historically been the presbytery (i.e., elders, rather than deacons) who have joined the bishop (i.e., the elder serving in the office of general superintendent) in the laying on of hands.

6.  As the paragraph currently reads, it would be possible (even if unlikely) that a general superintendent could appoint someone outside of holy orders to ordain.  Such would be completely and wholly inconsistent with the historic Christian and Wesleyan and Nazarene understanding of ordination.