THE ART OF SUPERINTENDENCY
Denny Wayman – October 2020
Forward
For over forty years I have supervised persons in ministry. From the more formal structure of the Free Methodist polity to the informal conversations of counseling and friendship, these relationships have taught me what is and is not effective in supervising local church and conference ministries. I learned most of these principles through direct experience as a lead pastor for 40 years, an Assistant Superintendent for 20 years and a Conference Superintendent for 10 years.[1] But I also learned other valuable insights through embarrassing and often debilitating failures. The Southern California Conference is an extremely complex multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-lingual ministry with varying sizes and styles of churches and with vast differences in pastoral training and experience.
I present these thoughts in service to God in fulfilling His call on my life and what I hope to be a gift to those who have similarly been called to superintend His church. The unnecessary pain in so many of our pastors, pastoral families, congregations and conferences grieves us all. It is my desire to help give the eyes to see the opportunities and dangers long before they come upon us. To do this we need each other’s insights and experiences. My thoughts are conversation starters. It is my hope that each of us will bring our own experiences and unique situations into this discussion as together we can develop a robust understanding of the art required in effective superintending.