Wesleyan Church - Organizations and Relations

Organizations and Relations

Local churches are organized into a network of districts with equal representation of clergy and laity at their annual conferences. Each has an elected administrator known as the district superintendent and has a district board of administration with both lay and clergy serving. National and multi-national networks are called general conferences with very strong national leadership and meet every four years. The North American General Conference has three general superintendents and each of them have about a third of the church under their administrative oversight. (Recently went to ONE General Superintendent - Dr. Lyon - By an overwhelming majority, Dr. Jo Anne Lyon was elected the sole General Superintendent of The Wesleyan Church. An ordained Wesleyan minister, Dr. Lyon is the founder of World Hope International, the official relief and development partner of The Wesleyan Church.)

Currently, general conferences exist in the Philippines, the Caribbean, and North America, though the Wesleyan Church has recently begun a process of "internationalization" in which areas and regions of the world have the opportunity to form their own general conferences. Though it is too early to predict which general conferences will be formed in the coming years, the eventual shift is inevitable. The overarching goal of the internationalization process is to create a global network of partnership and not a "top-down" leadership structure within the worldwide church.