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."

However, despite many evangelical leaders saying that they were "enthusiastic" about this, there still has not been any firm creativeness on creating the model for this governance.

Humbly, Edmonds went on to say that he would be available to aid coordinative efforts and to provide counsellor support for the larger WEA organisation until a successor is found.

"The successor is yet to be decided, and we don’t have anyone in mind. But there is obviously a flurry of emails and phone calls about this, and we are still in the process of determining what to do."

The International Council (IC) chairman for the WEA, Ndaba Mazabane gave thanks for Edmonds’ dedication to his work and "tireless efforts" to unify the alliances during his appointment.

Mazabane said, "Gary has been instrumental in helping WEA reflect and draw on its rich history in order to build a strong and viable global movement that is relevant to the 21st Century. We are all indebted to his tireless efforts of connecting and working closely with regional alliances and also for his contribution in giving financial stability to the WEA."

Rev Edmonds reported, "I think that first, the members of the WEA must be intentional about bringing together the different regional and recognised leaders who are actively engaged in each of the regions, so they can form partnership alliances and have opportunities to dialogue and relate to each other as they need.

"Secondly, they should put together a team or process to identify what the critical needs facing the world today are, so that evangelicals form diverse denominations and nationalities can actually come to a level of agreement on the evangelical voice regarding the issue."

Emphasising his continuing commitment to church mission and unity, Edmonds said that he would go on to continue to co-work with churches and to aid their efforts to work together.

He concluded, "God has given me international experience and certain skills and passions to see local churches work together and to rise to their fullest calling to disciple nations and take the gospel to all the spheres of societal life. But I will still be interacting with the WEA, and I will be available to council and consult as a resource to the vast network of evangelicals."