Serving as Missionary District Superintendent

Last year during my home assignment, I noticed a subtle difference in how I was introduced at churches in the US. I was less frequently introduced as “Jonathan Phillips, missionary to Romania,” and was more often being introduced as “Jonathan Phillips, district superintendent of Romania.” I didn’t really think much of it at the time.

Then, as my home assignment began this spring and I began talking with various individuals about my responsibilities as DS, I realized that they understood my appointment as DS to be a fundamental change in my ministry identity. We were approaching the conversation from completely different perspectives. The more I listened to what they were saying, the more I realized that the norms and expectations for a DS of an established district in the US don’t match those for a missionary DS in a new district in Central Europe. I want to share with you some of these distinctions.

Here are 5 things to know about what I do as district superintendent… and how being a missionary DS is different from a DS in an established district in the US:

1. Phase 1 District. In the Church of the Nazarene, local churches are organized into districts, and those districts are designated from Phase 1 (for new mission work, relying on outside leadership and finances) to Phase 3 (“100% self-supporting in regard to district administration”). Whereas most districts in the U.S. are large, well-established Phase 3 districts, in Central Europe, all the districts (including Romania) are Phase 1 districts, each with just a handful of local churches. These districts do not elect their DS. Instead, the General Superintendent in Jurisdiction (JGS) appoints or reappoints the DS for a 2-year term. The DS works closely with the [Central Europe] Field Strategy Coordinator (FSC) and [Eurasia] Regional Director (RD) to ensure that the district is moving forward in its development. Major decisions are made at the regional level, not the district level. Superintendents of Phase-1 districts are often bi-vocational, serving in another role (such as pastor of a local church).

2. “Missionary” Role of Ministry. In the Church of the Nazarene, every clergy member is assigned a role of ministry. These include Pastor, Chaplain, Evangelist, Educator, Administrator, Missionary, and others. The role of a full-time DS in the US would be “Administrator.” I serve primarily as a Nazarene missionary, so whether I would teach for European Nazarene College, pastor a church, or serve as DS, my role of ministry would always be Missionary (not Educator, Pastor, or Administrator). In other words: DS is one of the jobs that I have as a missionary, but it’s not my primary role of ministry.

3. Sponsored Deployment. As a missionary, I am employed through the Global Missions department of the Church of the Nazarene, Inc., not by the Romania District. Nazarene Global Missions has two deployment types: “Global” (i.e. missionaries who are supported primarily from the World Evangelism Fund) and “Sponsored” (i.e. missionaries who raise their own support). I serve on sponsored deployment. My deployment type, pay scale, and benefits are not dependent on the specific responsibilities I fulfill as a missionary.

4. Church Membership. As a missionary, my church membership remains at my home church, Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarene in York, PA, meaning that I can vote in my local church’s elections. As an assigned ordained elder, my ministerial membership is held on the Mid-Atlantic District, and I report to the Mid-Atlantic District Assembly each year. This means that I am an ex-officio delegate to the Mid-Atlantic District Assembly and NMI Convention. Even though I serve as Romania District Superintendent, I am not a member of the Romania District, so I cannot vote at the Romania District Assembly. I also cannot represent the Romania District at the upcoming 2027 General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene (although I theoretically could be elected as General Assembly  or convention delegate from the Mid-Atlantic District).

5. DS Responsibilities. As a missionary district superintendent in the Phase 1 Romania District, my primary responsibility is to move the district ahead towards Romanian leadership. That means spending a lot of time setting up healthy and sustainable systems and structures, as well as investing in developing church leaders at the local and district levels. About a year ago, I wrote a blog post that explains what I do as DS. Click here to read that post. 

To summarize all that I’ve written above: as a missionary, I am sent and supported by my home church and district to work for Global Missions Department of the Church of the Nazarene. Global Missions “loans me out” to the Romania District to serve as DS until the Romania District has a Romanian to serve as DS. My job is to work myself out of a job.