| National Association of Wesleyan Evangelicals | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Methodist |
| Orientation | Holiness movement |
| Theology | Wesleyan |
| Polity | Congregational |
| Region | United States (mostly theSouth) |
| Origin | 2011 |
| Separated from | Evangelical Methodist Church |
| Congregations | 7 |
TheNational Association of Wesleyan Evangelicals is aMethodist network of churches and ministers aligned with theWesleyan-Holiness movement.[1][2] It is based in theSouthern United States and was organized by W. Laurens Hudson, a Methodist preacher who was educated atAsbury Theological Seminary.[1]
The association claims seven member congregations and a handful of individual members, affiliated house churches, and ministries—most of which were formerly part of theEvangelical Methodist Church's now-dissolved Southern District. (It is not an association of denominations like the similarly namedNational Association of Evangelicals.) It has been headquartered inCarrollton, Georgia, since 2010,[3] and officially formed in 2011 at its first annual meeting.
The National Association of Wesleyan Evangelicals (NAWE) was formed in the wake of longstanding disagreements regardingcongregationalism in its parent body, theEvangelical Methodist Church (EMC).
Evangelical Methodism began in 1946 as "a double protest against what were considered autocratic and undemocraticgovernment on the one hand and a tendency towardmodernism on the other in theMethodist Church."[4] The predominant body which grew out of this movement was the EMC denomination, founded in 1946 and led by Dr.J. H. Hamblen, who had previously faced mainline Methodist church-law charges after forming an independent house-based congregation during a sabbatical.
The EMC was founded as a "congregational-connectional" association of churches with a goal of restoring American Methodism to itsWesleyan andHoliness roots, as well as subsequentrevivalist practices.
Disagreements over congregational power and denominational control have led to many disputes and fractures, starting with the exodus of the congregationalistEvangelical Methodist Church of America in 1952. This disagreement reached a fever pitch in 2007 when plans were announced to centralize the U.S. districts of the EMC into a single entity, and expand the powers of the General Superintendent into abishop-like role, complete with introducing this title as an alternative term for superintendent. The Southern District of the EMC disapproved of the changes at a 2008 conference.
The EMC's General Conference entered into legal action, and then court-orderedarbitration, with dissenting churches who wished to disaffiliate with the EMC because of these changes.[5][6] Most of the Southern District churches which formed the NAWE simply dropped "Evangelical Methodist" from their name while retaining their property following the conclusion of the arbitration.
NAWE advertises itself as "an association, not a denomination" to "come alongside pastors and their congregations to help them better serve their communities." The small network has developed a six-step course of study forlay certification and ordination, youth missions outings, and an annual pastors and wives retreat.[7]
The association maintains a standard evangelical Methodist theological stance, with theWesleyan-Holiness teaching onsanctification: "We believe that there is a sanctifying experience available to all believers that is received by grace through faith on the condition of the believer’s total surrender to God and His will."[2][8]
TheAssociation of Independent Methodists shares a close working relationship with the NAWE.
Reverend W. Laurens Hudson, MDiv '65, aged 82, of Kennesaw, died Tuesday, March 2, at home, surrounded by his wife and children, just two days before his eighty-second birthday, of liver cancer. A graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary, he was a Methodist preacher and co-founder of the National Association of Wesleyan Evangelicals.
the NAWE offers an alternative for churches that: ... Wish to keep their Methodist and Wesleyan heritage (perhaps even keep "Methodist" in their church name, which we fully allow) but are ready for a new connectional direction. The National Association of Wesleyan Evangelicals upholds the Bible as the standard for Christian living and belief, standing on the shoulders of its Wesleyan, Methodist, Holiness, and Evangelical forerunners.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)