The Value of APR and District Assembly
It’s the most wonderful time of the year
With the APR looming
And staff members assuring you, “Yes, it’s been quite a year!”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
It’s the hap-happiest season of all
With those annual meetings
And reports you’re completing
Till the District Secretary calls
It’s the hap-happiest season of all.
I could go on, but I’ll spare you the pain. I’m also guessing most of you don’t see this as the most wonderful time of the year. For some of you, administration and collecting reports seems further from the Gospel than anything else you do in the whole year. For some, it’s a painful reminder of just how difficult of a year it has been. Others of you wonder if anyone even cares, does anyone even look at these Annual Pastor’s Reports.
There are a handful of you who genuinely enjoy gathering the data, comparing it to previous years, and celebrating what you’ve seen God accomplish over the past year—while casting vision for the days ahead. I’ve been in each of those points of view at one point or another in my tenure as a pastor in the Church of the Nazarene.
Why? Why do we keep these statistics? Why do we need to have an APR? How does any of this matter and what impact does it make in my life as a pastor or in the life of our local church? There are a couple, maybe a few things I would suggest.
First, pastor, you are not alone. You are a part of a global church, who serves locally. You are connected to every pastor in the Church of the Nazarene, and more specifically on the SCO District. That means we have support and even accountability built into our roles. Every lead pastor around the globe is filling out an APR and representing their local fellowship at a District Assembly.
I would also mention this time of year needs to be put into perspective. If you see it as a chore and an obligation, you are losing sight of being a part of the collective of story tellers across the globe celebrating the goodness of God. If you realize, even in a year that might not have been the best, that God is building His Kingdom, you rejoice with our brothers and sisters whose stories give us hope.
The year end reports and then our gathering for assembly is a time to gather, be inspired, strengthen relationships and even begin new ones. It’s a time to both reflect on what has been, while we look forward to where God may be calling us as a district, a local church, and kingdom people. New initiatives, new ministries, and new churches, while finding ways to strength churches who’ve come through a pandemic, a changing culture, and aging communities. Assembly is that gathering that reminds us that God is still God, still calling men and women, and ready to infill our local churches to further the kingdom.
So, you’ll have to excuse me if I think it is, the most wonderful time of the year.
Kevin Angel
SCO District Secretary
districtsecretary@sconaz.org
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