General Superintendent Max Edwards: The Spirit is Moving among Evangelical Methodists

Max Edwards is helping to lead one group of Methodists toward mobilizing more young leaders and planting new churches through a fresh expression of holiness. As their paths cross with ours, Wesley Biblical Seminary is eager to support movements like this everywhere in the world.

A recent EMC ordination service

As the General Superintendent of the Evangelical Methodist Church for the past six years, Max leads a denomination with a deep commitment to the authority of Scripture and the power of the gospel. Formed out of a prayer meeting in 1946, the founders were concerned about the waves of liberal theology and supposedly “modern” biblical criticism they saw flooding in to undermine the foundations of the church, and they committed themselves to a classic Wesleyanism built on the inerrancy of Scripture. Today, the EMC includes over 75 local churches across the U.S. and hundreds more overseas.

Raised in a Pentecostal church, Max’s mother died in an automobile accident when he was just 16, sending him on a prodigal journey. “My life was spinning, and I ran from the Lord for years,” he recalls, “but I was radically saved and came to have a faith of my own, not just that of my family, in 1980.” Soon after, he experienced a call to preach and attended Bible college.

Max developed a hunger for biblical truth, and when he and his wife began attending an EMC church in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, they felt at home spiritually. Eventually, he would serve as the pastor there. (That church is also a link to WBS, as Professor Bill Ury followed Max as pastor, and today, the church is served by WBS alumnus Sean Scribner.) Max went on to serve as a regional Conference Superintendent before being elected as General Superintendent in 2018.

Like many conservative branches of the Wesleyan movement, the EMC has grown internationally while U.S. attendance numbers have seen decline and aging. At times, the group seemed hindered in its mission by internal divisions. However, God has been faithful. The church has stood strong on biblical truth while mainline denominations drifted away. Moreover, Max is seeing encouraging evidence of new movements of the Spirit today.

A global gathering of EMC General Superintendents

One praise report is how God is raising up new leaders and congregations. The denomination has seen about 14 new churches planted in the last 3-4 years. They also have an increased emphasis on creating a culture of calling among young people and identifying young leaders earlier. Their Youth Leadership Initiative is now investing in close to 20 students and looking to expand further. A new curriculum is also helping small local congregations revitalize by becoming spiritually healthy and learning to bloom where they are planted.

Max also reports that the Spirit is moving by calling the denomination back to focus on its core teachings, communicating anew that holiness is more than legalistic external behaviors that lead to quarrels, but a true, Scriptural heart-holiness that brings transformation from the inside out and unifies the church in mission. At the global scale, international partnerships are multiplying and strengthening the EMC from Mexico to Myanmar.

As a pastor, Max says he benefitted from conferences at WBS on exegesis and preaching. The EMC is now providing similar ongoing education to its pastors through regional gatherings. When we spoke, Max was traveling to one of four conference gatherings for the denomination across the U.S., with WBS Professor Matt Friedeman scheduled to speak at all of them. Knowing Dr. Friedeman, we are confident attendees will leave with a fresh vision of making disciples, rooted in Scriptural holiness, who don’t just sit and talk about Jesus but who run like Jesus to the sound of the pain in this world.

Throughout our 50 year history, WBS has responded to the call to serve many different expressions of the Wesleyan, Methodist, and Holiness denominations, and more importantly to be a voice for Scriptural holiness throughout the kingdom of God all around the world. We celebrate how God is at work in the EMC and pray for God’s blessings on Max Edwards and all the leaders carrying out the Great Commission in their congregations.