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The Church of the Nazarene is a Protestant denomination within the broad traditional teachings of John Wesley. It was founded in 1908 from a merging of Pentecostal and holiness movement churches in Chicago, Illinois and central Texas.

History

The spiritual vision of early Nazarenes was derived from the doctrinal core of John Wesley's preaching and the holiness movement. The affirmations of the church include justification by grace through faith, sanctification by grace through faith, entire sanctification as an inheritance available to every Christian, and the witness of the Spirit to God's work in human lives. The holiness movement arose in the 1830s to promote these doctrines, especially entire sanctification, but had splintered by 1900.

The Church of the Nazarene was founded in 1895 in Los Angeles, California by Phineas Bresee. Bresee, himself, a former Methodist minister, sought to return to Wesley's original goals of preaching to reach the poor and needy in the population.

Bresee's Los Angeles, California independent Church of the Nazarene, C. B. Jernigan, C. W. Ruth, and other leaders of independent churches strove to unite holiness factions. In October 1907, Hiram Reynolds's New York Association of Pentecostal Churches of America and the Los Angeles Church of the Nazarene merged in Chicago, Illinois, at the First General Assembly. This merger was followed by the April 1908 incorporation of the Holiness Association of Texas from Peniel, Texas (now part of Greenville) and the 1908 incorporation of the Pennsylvania Conference of the Holiness Christian Church.

In October 1908, the Second General Assembly was held at Pilot Point, Texas, the headquarters of the Holiness Church of Christ. The "year of uniting" ended with the merger of this southern denomination with the larger, mostly northern counterpart, and the Church of the Nazarene was formally founded at this assembly as the "Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene" (dropping the term "Pentecostal" in 1919.)

Other independent Pentecostal churches would later join, including the Pentecostal Church of Scotland and Pentecostal Mission in 1915. At this point, the Church of the Nazarene united seven previous denominations and significant parts of two other groups. The Church of the Nazarene and the Wesleyan Church emerged from this restructuring as the two major denominations proceeding from the original holiness movement.

The church now exists in over 151 areas of the world with an estimated membership of 1.5 million in 14,000 churches; it also supports 56 educational institutions of various types around the world. * The church also participates in revivals and missionary work.

International growth

By 1908 there were churches in Canada and organized work in India, Cape Verde, and Japan, soon followed by work in central Africa, Mexico, and China. The 1915 mergers added congregations in the British Isles and work in Cuba, Central America, and South America. There were congregations in Syria and Palestine by 1922. General Superintendent Reynolds advocated "a mission to the world," and support for world evangelization became a distinguishing characteristic of Nazarene life. Taking advantage of new technologies, the church began producing the "Showers of Blessing" radio program in the 1940s, followed by the Spanish broadcast "La Hora Nazarena" and later by broadcasts in other languages. From the 1940s-1980s, other indigenous holiness churches in other countries continued to join the church. Current missionary work is both evangelical and takes place in areas of crisis.

As the church grew culturally and linguistically diverse, it committed itself in 1980 to internationalization -- a deliberate policy of being one church of congregations and districts worldwide, rather than splitting into national churches like earlier Protestant denominations. By the 2001 General Assembly, 42 percent of delegates were not native English speakers. Today over 60 percent of Nazarenes and 80 percent of the church's 425 districts are outside the United States. An early system of colleges in North America and the British Isles has become a global network of institutions with 3 graduate seminaries, 11 liberal arts colleges, and 37 theological schools worldwide.

Doctrines

The Church of the Nazarene remains committed to Christian holiness, although a deeper understanding of John Wesley and their own biblical scholarly research has refined their beliefs without much internal opposition. Nazarene beliefs include the following: one eternal self-existent God manifest in a three-fold nature; the divinity of Jesus; baptism by immersion, sprinkling, or pouring; the Lord's Supper for all believers; entire sanctification; and the return of Jesus Christ to raise the dead.

The Church of the Nazarene stands in the Arminian tradition of free grace for all and human freedom to choose that grace. The Church distinguishes itself from many other Protestant churches because of its belief that God's Holy Spirit empowers Christians to be constantly obedient to Him. The Church does not believe that a Christian must sin every day. Rather, the Church does teach that sin should be the rare exception in the life of a Christian. The Church also believes in the doctrine of entire sanctification, which states that a person can come into a state of entire devotion to God in which they are no longer under the influence of original sin. This means that through the power of the Holy Spirit, people can be changed so as to be able to live a holy life for the glory of God.

In recent days, some in the denomination have understood the movement's distinctive theological doctrine -- entire sanctification -- as best understood in terms of love. Love is the core notion of the various understandings of holiness and sanctification found in the Bible. Christians are called to love when in relation to God and others (Oord and Lodahl, 2005).

The denomination's official creedal statement is in the form of sixteen "Articles of Faith" found in the edition of The Manual: Church of the Nazarene (ISBN 0834119447; 1995-2005 edition).

A comparatively recent work explaining Holiness doctrine from the Nazarene perspective is J. Kenneth Grider's 1994 book A Wesleyan-Holiness Theology (ISBN 0834115123).

Activities

Their other interests include higher education and missions. As of 2003, they have eight universities in the United States and many more internationally and are ministering in 150 world areas. In 2003, the church had 1,435,780 members worldwide in 13,259 churches. Membership of 621,048 in the United States constitutes the largest for one country, although there are more total members outside the U.S. than in it. Headquarters are in Kansas City, Missouri, where the Nazarene Publishing House is also located. This publishing house is the largest world publisher of "holiness" literature.

Contemporary denominational theologians and Biblical Scholars of note include Paul Bassett, H. Ray Dunning, Andy Johnson, Michael Lodahl, K. Steve McCormick, T. A. Noble, Thomas Jay Oord, Samuel Powell, Al Truesdale and John Wright.

Origin of the name

The name of the denomination comes from the biblical description of the followers of Jesus as "Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5), a term perhaps used by Jesus himself.

Dr. J.P. Widney was one of the two most influential men in the early days of the Church of the Nazarene. He explained the choice of the name had come to him one morning after spending the whole night in prayer. He said that the word "Nazarene" symbolized "the toiling, lowly mission of Christ. It was the name that Christ used of Himself, the name which was used in derision of Him by His enemies, the name which above all others linked Him to the great toiling, struggling, sorrowing heart of the world. It is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth to whom the world in it's misery and despair turns, that it may have hope" (Called Unto Holiness, Volume I).

The denomination started in a mission that ministered to the homeless and poor, and wanted to keep that attitude of ministering to "lower classes" of society.

The denomination embodies the orthodox Christian notion of Jesus Christ, that is, the Holy Trinity and particularly the theology of scriptural holiness propagated by John Wesley.

Worship style and rituals

Worship services at the Church of the Nazarene are usually attended by most on Wednesday evenings, Sunday mornings, and Sunday evenings. Services typically contain these elements - singing of hymns or praise choruses, prayer, special music, reading of Scripture, sermon, ("altar call"), and offering. Styles can vary widely from more traditional services to more contemporary services. Over the last ten years, some Nazarene churches have utilized contemporary services as its predominant worship style which includes the use of songs and choruses usually projected on a video screen and sung in unison. More traditional churches have a song leader who directs congregational hymns from the pulpit or platform.

During worship services, some members may also provide "testimony" wherein they describe a particularly personal encounter with the Holy Spirit or speak to such an account before the entire congregation. Prayer can be communal and led by a single person, or individuals may simultaneously pray individual prayers. The Church of the Nazarene has often been described as a "holy roller" church for its use of more charismatic worship elements --- these include hand raising, shouts of joy, emotional reactions, or even what is known as "running the aisles." The use of prayer tongues does not usually occur, unlike more Pentecostal denominations, and speaking in tongues would be an atypical feature at a Nazarene worship services. Nazarenes also believe in divine healing through the use of communal prayer wherein members of the pastorate or congregation perform "laying on of hands" upon the ill. In some instances, pastors will anoint certain members of the congregation with oil as a blessing for call to duty (Sunday School teachers, missionaries, etc.)

At certain times of years, Nazarenes participate in a series of worship services known as revival meetings. At such a service, a special evangelist is usually hired to perform the services. The Church of the Nazarene ordains and recognizes evangelists and song evangelists. Large revival meetings, known as meeting, are often an annual occurance within the US Church of the Nazarene.

Most Nazarene churches perform communion at least once every three months. The Nazarene theological position on Communion is known as memorialism.

Nazarenes also have rituals for believers baptism, baptism of infants and young children, dedication of infants and young children, reception of church members, marriage, funeral, installation of officers, and church dedications.

Recognized Officers

The Church of the Nazarene official recognizes an ordained elder, ordained deacon, and licensed minister. Ministers can hold a local license, license, or ordination credentials. In addition, the Church of the Nazarene also recognizes these specialized forms of Christian service and ministry:*

  • The Administrator - Most typically a General Superintendant or District Superintendant
  • The Chaplain - Specializes in ministry to the military
  • The Deaconess - A female deacon who was licensed prior to the 1985 expansion of ordaination to women
  • The Educator - Can consist of an elder, deacon, licensed minister, or layperson who serves as an educator in some form of the church
  • The Evangelist - Elder or licensed minister who is "devoted to traveling and preaching the gospel." Can be registered, commissioned, or tenured.
  • The Lay Minister - A lay member who completes Level I courses as assigned by the denomination's minsterial study and is recognized by a local church board
  • The Minister of Christian Education - A person who represents a ministerial capacity in a Christian education program of a local church
  • The Minister of Music - A layperson commissioned by the District Assembly to act in such a capacity for a one-year term; not necessarily a licensed or assigned minister
  • The Missionary - Anyone appointed by the General Board to work a ministerial position through the World Mission Department or Church Growth Department
  • The Pastor - A minister who holds oversight of a local church and is an assigned minister
  • The Song Evangelist - Church member who emphasizes evangelism through music; if he/she obtains ministerial credentials, he/she can served as an assigned minister

Legal corner

See also

References

  • Encyclopedia of Religion in the South, Samuel S. Hill, editor
  • Handbook of Denominations, by Frank S. Mead, Samuel S. Hill, & Craig D. Atwood
  • Relational Holiness: Responding to the Call of Love. Thomas Jay Oord and Michael Lodahl. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2005.
  • Religious Congregations & Membership in the United States, Glenmary Research Center

External links

General denomination sites

Regional websites

Other

Church of the Nazarene | Methodism

Kirche des Nazareners | Kerk van de Nazarener | Igreja do Nazareno

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Church of the Nazarene".

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