Superintending, Restructuring, & Empowering

At the 26th Romania District Assembly in 2021, I was appointed as the 13th person to serve in the role of district superintendent. That sentence alone speaks volumes about the Romania District of the Church of the Nazarene. It doesn’t take a math whiz to realize that the average tenure of a district superintendent in Romania has been only 2 years. Amazing and capable men and women have served as district superintendents before me, but for one reason or another (often due to circumstances beyond their control), their time of service was limited. Unfortunately, several of my predecessors served in the role of DS for less than one year. The tenure of the longest-serving DS was only 4 ½ years, meaning that at the present moment, I’m the 2nd-longest serving DS in Romania, at just over 3 years!

Long-Term Effects of So Many Transitions

All of these transitions in leadership brought instability to the development of the district. Or, perhaps a more accurate way to put it is that since the Romania District has always been in a leadership transition, it has never been allowed to develop as it should have.

What often occurred is that a new missionary would arrive in Romania to assume the role of district superintendent, but before they could really get to form relationships with the people, before they could learn the culture and language, before they could unpack the short-but-complicated history of the district, and before they could develop and implement a district strategy for moving forward, it was time for them to leave. There are a handful of notable exceptions to this trend, but with each changeover, practices that were originally meant to be temporary, stopgap measures during times of transition became permanent fixtures.

Shared History & Relationships of Trust

When I became DS in 2021, I had an advantage that I shared with only a few previous district superintendents: prior experience in Romania. I had first come to Romania over 20 years before being appointed DS, and I had been serving in Romania for almost 14 of those years. I knew Romanian culture and spoke the language. But more importantly, I stepped into the role of DS with well-established relationships with all of the district leaders. I knew the history of the Romania District, from the successes and challenges of the past to the realities of the present. In fact, I had served under 7 different district superintendents and observed what approaches had been effective and which ones weren’t.

Within the first months of my superintendency, I was able to initiate a major overhaul to our organizational and financial structures – with the full support of Romanian church leaders. That degree of trust isn’t given out automatically, especially after so many transitions in the past. But since they already knew me, they trusted me to lead the district to the next level.

Restructuring the District 

During my first year as DS, we completely restructured the Romania District and the official Nazarene organization registered in Romania (OCEAD Nazarineanul). The former structure was a hodge-podge of makeshift measures, outdated policies, and financial dependencies. The restructuring wouldn’t fix everything, but it was the first step: identifying what we have to work with and creating a framework to improve things. The organizational restructuring took place in 2022, but that was really just the first phase of several district transitions which continue into 2025.

Local Church Sustainability Project 

At the end of 2021, we launched the “Local Church Sustainability Project.” At that time, all 3 of the local churches were financially dependent on outside funds to cover at least part of the local church’s regular expenses (pastor’s salary, utilities, ministry resources, etc.). This approved missions project is designed to incrementally decrease the amount of outside funds the local churches receive over a period of 5 years, thus giving each local church time to take necessary steps towards its long-term sustainability.

The Local Church Sustainability Project is not just about church finances. That is a symptom of the root issue: a dependency on missionary leadership. Therefore, the other aspect of this project is focusing on leadership development in the local church. This includes equipping and empowering local church boards to make financial decisions concerning the local church, training the local church treasurers to keep accurate financial records that can be used to create a realistic budget for the next church year, and teaching church members about stewardship and generosity, while providing them with opportunities to give and to serve throughout the year.

Ordination at the 2022 District Assembly

Clarifying the Role of District Superintendent 

I realized early on that many church members had unrealistically high expectations of what the district superintendent does. Since missionaries have always filled the role of DS while also filling multiple other roles, the DS became the go-to person for everything from providing finances to overseeing administrative issues to leading local church ministries. One day, I actually made a list on a piece of paper of about 30 misplaced expectations for a DS as communicated to me from various church leaders. According to the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene, not a single item on that list is included in the responsibilities of the district superintendent. Next to each expectation, I wrote the position that is supposed to be responsible for it: local church board, local church treasurer, District Advisory Board, district treasurer, district secretary, etc.

From that moment on, I began saying that I’m strategically lowering the expectations of what a district superintendent does. That’s not to say that I’m trying to do less than the role requires. Quite the opposite, in fact. I realized that during my first 2 years as DS, I was focusing much of my time on tasks outside the job description of DS, and that led me to feel frustrated that I wasn’t able to actually do the job of DS. I’m strategically lowering the expectations partially for my own sanity, but more importantly, I want the next DS to enter this role with the appropriate expectations in place.

I sincerely hope that I am the last missionary district superintendent in Romania and that the next DS is a Romanian. Although there are now Romanian elders who qualify to be DS, I also recognize that if any of them were placed in this position prematurely, we would be setting them up for failure because we’re not yet ready for a Romanian DS. First of all, the district structures are not yet ready for a Romanian DS; there are several aspects of restructuring that are still in transition that need to be finalized over the coming months. Second, the church members are not ready for a Romanian DS; there are still expectations that need to be adjusted. And third, we don’t have a Romanian minister who is ready to take on this role at this point in time, so I am working to prepare one of them to assume this role sometime in the future.

I want the next DS to succeed. So, over the next couple years, we will be intentional about making these changes.

Equipping District Leaders 

With that in mind, I am focusing on creating the structures that lead to a healthy functioning district. From the beginning, I’ve been inviting the District Advisory Board into the decision-making process with me rather than making decisions on my own. I’ve been training the district secretary and district treasurer to fulfill their responsibilities. We’ve recently established a District Auditing Committee to ensure financial transparency and accuracy (and will provide training opportunities for local church treasurers). We now have the minimum number of ordained Romanian ministers to form a District Board of Ministry, so I will be training them on how this board guides the development of ministerial candidates. The newly-formed District Church Properties Board will focus on the administrative and practical issues related to owning and maintaining local church and district properties.

The goal of creating these district structures is to equip and empower more people in the various positions of district leadership in order to cultivate a sense of shared responsibility.

District leaders present at the 2024 District Assembly

Preparing Local Churches for Healthy Ministry 

During these past few years, I’ve not written as many newsletters or blog updates as in previous years. It’s hard to make district administration sound exciting. (It’s much more thrilling to write about evangelism and church planting and children’s ministries!) Don’t mistakenly assume, though, that we are prioritizing administration at the expense of mission. Rather, we are strategically laying the foundation upon which sustainable long-term ministry will happen – led by Romanians and no longer financed from the outside. Unless that foundation is laid, we will continue to revert to the old ways of doing things, relying on missionaries and funds from the outside to lead and finance these initiatives. And as long as that’s the case, the Church of the Nazarene in Romania will never become a Romanian church.

We’re currently in a period of growing pains. It might not look like much is happening at the moment. In fact, all that might be noticeable to the untrained eye is that certain things that used to be happening aren’t happening now – but better things are growing under the surface. In time, that growth will become visible, and it will be healthier than what came before.

We want our churches to grow and develop in healthy ways. Just like a trellis provides the structure for directing healthy plant growth, the introduction of district and local structures is designed to provide direction so that local church ministries will flourish.

Looking Ahead

There's still a lot to do, but this is an exciting time for the Romania District. Thank you for your continued prayers as we continue in this process of restructuring.