Latest reports have shed light on the reason for the World Evangelical Alliance's (WEA) Secretary General decision to resign. Rev Gary Edmonds, who has headed the organisation since 2002, has stated that he will step down from his position by the end of February 2005, which is one whole year before his scheduled exit.
Latest reports have indicated that Edmonds had two major factors that led to his decision to resign – financial instability, and a weakness in the organisational advocacy of the WEA.
Edmonds reported to The Christian Post newspaper, "I think one of the reasons for my resignation is the inability of the national alliances and WEA to figure out a sustainable funding base. The second part of it is regarding the strategic planning process for the WEA. The WEA must work to develop a stronger way of presenting the Alliance’s voice, advocacy and public policy."
However, he also said that these insufficiencies were in place long before he stepped into the leading position on the WEA three years ago.
"It’s been a long-term issue and matter of concern. The WEA has often gone through these kinds of struggles for a while, specifically related to the funding size and sustainability of the organisation. In large bodies, such as the WEA and the NAE (National Association of Evangelical), where there are associative and affiliated bodies, people come representing their own church, organisation or denomination. Many times, these people see their first loyalty to those bodies rather than the larger associations," he said.
He continued, "In a sense, when you’re in a networking and bridge-building organisation, you don’t have a product or service that people attach a lot of value to, since you can’t have a large evangelistic event or outreach mission that draws too much attention. I would say on this regard, almost all the organisations I could think of that have this purpose of peacemaking, bridge-building and aligning partnerships, are struggling to figure out the financial side of it."
Edmonds also spoke about the future leadership of the WEA, and stated that he believes that the evangelical church had now grown sufficiently large enough in the international arena that it could now possibly take a “confederation approach” to governance.
He said, "I think it’s the right time, as the evangelical church has grown internationally and with great strength evidenced in Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia, that the WEA can take a confederate approach to leadership. The confederate leadership council model may be a healthy way to move forward."
