Role of U

Role of U.S.
district superintendents

By Dan Rogers
Superintendent of U.S. Ministers

PASADENA—The Worldwide Church of God has 11 district superintendents in the United States—10 serving geographic regions and one serving Spanish-speaking churches scattered throughout the country.

The district superintendents are integral members of the Church Administration team, but rather than working out of our Pasadena office, they work out of offices in their homes located within the districts they serve. In this way, district superintendents are a localized point of contact between our congregations and the denomination.

In the WCG, our leaders provide vision, guidance, equipping, encouragement and other forms of support as we all work together to live and share the gospel—pursuing Jesus’ Great Commission to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). In this article I detail the responsibilities of the U.S. district superintendents, an important part of our disciplemaking leadership team.

As noted in our new Church Administration Manual (available in your church library or online at http://www.wcg.org/lit/church/manual/), we have two titled leadership offices in the WCG—elders and ministry leaders (referred to in some congregations as deacons). Most elders serve in congregations where some are licensed to serve as the senior (lead) pastor, while others are licensed as associate or assistant pastors. Together, these pastors form a pastoral council that is responsible for the spiritual oversight of the congregation.

A few elders are licensed to serve at the denominational level, where they work to support all of our congregations in advancing the church’s disciplemaking mission. One of the offices at the denominational level is the Church Administration Department, where I am licensed to serve as superintendent of U.S. ministers.

Working with me are elders licensed to serve as district superintendents.

The principle responsibilities of district superintendents are to provide training (equipping) and oversight (accountability) for the senior pastors of the congregations in their districts.

On the accountability side, senior pastors report directly to their district superintendent. The administration of this accountability involves ongoing communication and performance reviews. The primary criteria for this accountability are the expectations for senior pastors and the code of ethics for elders, which address such concerns as personal ethics, doctrinal integrity and appropriate pastoral service to church members (see the Church Administration Manual for details).

If any grievances lodged against senior pastors are not resolved within the congregation, the district superintendent is involved in the administration of the grievance and disciplinary processes outlined in the eighth chapter of the Church Administration Manual.

On the equipping side, district superintendents provide training for the senior pastors in their districts through regular equipping meetings conducted with pastors and other shepherd-leaders. In addition, district superintendents maintain personal contact with senior pastors through phone calls, e-mail correspondence and personal visits.

In these ways, the district superintendent serves as a coach of senior pastors and other shepherd leaders in the district, providing encouragement, instruction and oversight.

A key focus of the instruction provided by district superintendents is assisting the senior pastor and his leadership team in developing and implementing long-range plans for advancing the congregation’s disciplemaking mission.

That mission has five critical strategic parts:

Preparing: Establishing an environment conducive to disciplemaking (we refer to this environment as the foundations of team-based disciplemaking ministry).

Building believers: Helping existing members grow in their faith with a particular focus on expressing Jesus’ love for God and for people (the Great Commandment).

Equipping workers: Equipping members to be effective workers in building believers and winning the lost.

Winning the lost: Reaching out to unbelievers and unchurched believers in order to connect them to Christ and to his church.

Multiplying leaders: Equipping some workers to be shepherd-leaders within their congregation and to provide leadership for denominational offices and new church plants.

District superintendents offer training in strategic planning and consultations with senior pastors and their leadership teams in writing and implementing a strategic plan and vision document. District superintendents also offer instruction and resources to assist senior pastors and other shepherd leaders in expository preaching, discipleship training, governance and financial administration systems, and other areas of pastoral administration.

Individual district superintendents supervise as many as 60 congregations, and they occasionally visit individual congregations in their district. Such visits are usually made in conjunction with a trip to conduct training meetings for leaders of congregations in the area.

When such visits occur, the district superintendent will often meet with the whole congregation or with the congregation’s leadership team to discuss progress in the congregation and to answer questions about denominational policies and programs.

In addition to these responsibilities, district superintendents are involved in the selection of new elders and the recruiting, training and appointing of new senior pastors in their districts (note that, in some circumstances, the role of senior pastor is filled by a pastoral leadership team as explained in chapter six of the Church Administration Manual).

District superintendents are also involved in the planting of new congregations and the consolidating, restructuring or disbanding of existing congregations and church circuits in the district as needed. In addition, district superintendents provide general oversight of any district or regional worship events and training conferences conducted within district boundaries. They also provide assistance and counsel for congregations considering purchasing or constructing church buildings.

Several district superintendents also serve in other denominational programs, including national youth ministry development, racial reconciliation and various policy and procedural development task forces. In these and many other ways, district superintendents are an important part of the way the denomination works to serve the congregations and members of the WCG so that together we are active in advancing the church’s disciplemaking mission.

I encourage all our members to pray for their district superintendent and to feel free to be in contact with him if you have questions or concerns related to his area of responsibility. Please note the names, geographic assignments and e-mail addresses of all the district superintendents in the box and map on this page. You can also get the address and phone number of your district superintendent from your pastor.

Northwest district Ken Williams Ken.Williams@gci.org

Southwest district Curtis May Curtis.May@gci.org

North Central district Dave Fiedler David.Fiedler@wcg.org

Central district Randy Bloom Randy.Bloom@gci.org

South Central district Carn Catherwood Carn.Catherwood@wcg.org

Northeast district Ted Johnston Ted.Johnston@gci.org

Mid-South district Robert Taylor Robert.Taylor@wcg.org

Mid-Atlantic district Keith Brittain Keith.Brittain@wcg.org

Southeast district Al Barr Allan.Barr@wcg.org

Florida district Bob Persky Robert.Persky@wcg.org

Spanish speaking Lorenzo Arroyo Lorenzo.Arroyo@gci.org

Hit Counter