Classification Protestant (Methodist) Polity Congregational | Orientation Evangelical, Holiness Origin 2010 | |
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Region United States (mostly the South) Separated from Evangelical Methodist Church | ||
The National Association of Wesleyan Evangelicals is a Wesleyan-Holiness Christian network of churches and ministers concentrated mostly in the Southern United States.
The small organization claims five member congregations and a handful of individual members and ministries -- most of which were formerly part of the Evangelical Methodist Church's now-dissolved Southern District. (It is not an association of denominations like the similarly named National Association of Evangelicals.) It has been headquartered in Carrollton, Georgia, since 2010.
Background
The National Association of Wesleyan Evangelicals (NAWE) was formed in the wake of longstanding disagreements regarding congregationalism in its parent body, the Evangelical Methodist Church (EMC). 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 an office of bishop. The Southern District disapproved of the changes at a 2008 conference.
The EMC's General Conference entered into legal action, and then court-ordered arbitration, with dissenting Southern District churches who wished to disaffiliate with the EMC because of these changes. Most of the churches that joined 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 fledgling network has developed a six-step course of study for ordination, youth missions outings, and an annual pastors and wives retreat.
It maintains a standard Evangelical and Wesleyan theological stance, with a modest Wesleyan-Holiness statement on sanctification: "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."