The Church of the Nazarene traces its anniversary date to 1908.
Its organization was a marriage that, like every marriage,
linked existing families and created a new one. As an expression
of the holiness movement and its emphasis on the sanctified
life, our founders came together to form one people. Utilizing
evangelism, compassionate ministries, and education, their
church went forth to become a people of many cultures and
tongues.
Two central themes illuminate the Nazarene story.
The first is "unity in holiness."
The spiritual vision of early Nazarenes was derived from the
doctrinal core of John Wesley's preaching. These affirmations
include justification by grace through faith, sanctification
likewise 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. By 1900, however, the movement had splintered.
P. F. Bresee, C. B. Jernigan, C. W. Ruth, and other committed
leaders strove to unite holiness factions. The First and Second
General Assemblies were like two bookends:
In October 1907, the Association of Pentecostal Churches of
America and the Church of the Nazarene merged in Chicago,
Illinois, at the First General Assembly.
In April 1908, a congregation organized in Peniel, Texas, drew
into the Nazarene movement the key officers of the Holiness
Association of Texas.
The Pennsylvania Conference of the Holiness Christian Church
united in September 1908.
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 its northern counterpart.
With the Pentecostal Church of Scotland and Pentecostal Mission
unions in 1915, the Church of the Nazarene embraced seven
previous denominations and parts of two other groups.1 The
Nazarenes and the Wesleyan Church emerged as the two
denominations that eventually drew together a majority of the
holiness movement's independent strands.
"A mission to the world" is the second primary theme in the
Nazarene story.
In 1908 there were churches in Canada and organized work in
India, Cape Verde, and Japan, soon followed by work in 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. As General Superintendent H. F. Reynolds advocated "a
mission to the world," support for world evangelization became a
distinguishing characteristic of Nazarene life. New technologies
were utilized. 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. Indigenous holiness churches in Australia and Italy
united in the 1940s, others in Canada and Great Britain in the
1950s, and one in Nigeria in 1988.
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 spoke English as their second language
or did not speak it at all. Today 65 percent of Nazarenes and
over 80 percent of the church's 433 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 in North America, Central America,
and the Asia-Pacific region; 11 liberal arts colleges in Africa,
Canada, Korea, and the United States; 3
nursing colleges in Africa, India, and Papua New Guinea; 1
junior college in Japan; 1 education college in Africa;
and 38 theological schools worldwide.
For more information on the history of the Church of the
Nazarene,
visit Nazarene Archives.
01/09
1The seven denominations were: the Central Evangelical Holiness
Association (New England), the Association of Pentecostal
Churches of America (Middle Atlantic States), New Testament
Church of Christ (South), Independent Holiness Church
(Southwest), the Church of the Nazarene (West Coast), the
Pentecostal Church of Scotland, and the Pentecostal Mission
(Southeast). Several mergers occurred regionally before regional
churches, in turn, united together in 1907 and 1908.
