Page "Church of the Nazarene" Paragraph 74

The highest elected office in the Church of the Nazarene is that of General Superintendent.

Every four years six ordained elders, who are at least 35 years old and are not over 68 years old, are elected by the General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene for a four-year term.

Both ordained females and males are eligible to be elected to the office of General Superintendent.

However of the thirty-nine persons who have served in this office, Dr. Nina G. Gunter ( born 1940 ), who served for four years from 2005, is the only female who has been elected.

The youngest person elected General Superintendent was Roy T. Williams ( 1883 – 1946 ), who was only 32 when chosen to fill a vacancy caused by the deaths of Phineas F. Bresee ( 1837 – 1915 ) and William C. Wilson ( 1866 – 1915 ), both of whom died within weeks of the 1915 General Assembly.

Wilson is the shortest-serving General Superintendent, dying only 33 days after his election at the age of 47.

R. T. Williams was the longest-serving general superintendent, who served for just over 30 years from January 1916 to his death in March 1946.

Eight of the first eleven General Superintendents died in office, resulting in both the expansion in the number of general superintendents, and an upper age limit of 72.

Dr Hiram F. Reynolds ( 1854 – 1938 ), one of the original two General Superintendents elected in October 1907, holds the record as the oldest person to serve in this office, retiring in 1932, at the age of 78.