| 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 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 in North America, Central America, and
the Asia-Pacific region; 11 liberal arts colleges in Africa, Canada,
Korea, and the United States; and 37 theological schools worldwide. |
