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Church of the Nazarene? by Harold E. Raser When asked about the Church of the Nazarene, I often reply that it is a Christian church that is Protestant, Wesleyan, and part of the Holiness tradition. This calls attention to several key elements in the identity of the church. First, the Church of the Nazarene is a Christian church. That may seem obvious, but it is the place to begin in the sense that the Church of the Nazarene thinks of itself as an integral part of the Church Universal before it thinks of itself as having a unique or distinctive mission or calling. The first words of our Manual declare that the Church of the Nazarene, from its beginnings, has confessed itself to be a branch of the "one, holy, universal, and apostolic" Church and has sought to be faithful to the witness of this great company of the people of God across the centuries and throughout the world. This means that the Church of the Nazarene embraces as its own the story of those redeemed by grace through Jesus Christ - wherever they may be, and at whatever point in history they have lived. Thus, Nazarene history really begins with the history of God's people recorded in the Old and New Testaments and continues through the centuries in the story of Christian believers everywhere. This also means that the Church of the Nazarene accepts the great ecumenical creeds of the first five centuries of Christian history (e.g., the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed) as expressions of its faith and as foundational to its identity. The Church of the Nazarene believes that it has a special, God-given mission, but in carrying out this mission, the church seeks to root its witness firmly within the broad stream of historic Christian teaching and practice. The Church of the Nazarene is also a Protestant church. This means that its character is strongly shaped by the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. In that movement for reform and renewal of the Christian Church, several themes were loudly sounded. The major one was that Scripture is the final authority for Christian belief and practice. Another theme was that salvation is a gift given to us by divine grace, not something human beings earn by their good works. Nazarenes are among those who believe that God offers His grace to all persons. All are candidates for redemption. Finally, the Reformers taught that all Christian believers are given the privilege and responsibility of acting as "priests" (the doctrine of the "priesthood of all believers"), approaching God directly through Christ, and exercising ministry among fellow believers in the Body of Christ. The Church of the Nazarene embraces each of these Protestant principles along with other Protestant churches. This is reflected in the Articles of Faith in the Nazarene Manual and in the life of local congregations of believers. Another important part of Nazarene identity is our heritage in the Wesleyan Revival of the 18th century. This revival, led by John and Charles Wesley, was part of a larger movement for the spiritual renewal of English Christianity. It drew on many sources, including German Pietism and English Puritanism, as well as the vital currents of faith and practice within the Church of England (Anglican Church) itself. The Evangelical Revival as a whole was characterized by a concern for a decisive personal appropriation (experience) of God's grace in the lives of believers. Evangelical Christians offered to the world the grace of God as a personal, life-transforming reality that would motivate and equip them for active Christian discipleship in the Church and the world. Among John Wesley's distinctive contributions to this revival movement was his emphasis on entire sanctification (also referred to as Christian perfection or perfect love). Many of the English Evangelicals emphasized the importance of the sanctification of believers, teaching that after their conversion, believers needed to enter a lifelong process of gradual spiritual growth toward Christlikeness. Wesley strongly agreed, but he also believed that Scripture, Christian experience, and the teaching of thoughtful Christians through the centuries revealed that sanctification could be "entire" or completed in one very important sense. He held that, by God's grace, Christians could and should decisively experience a "perfecting" that would enable them to love God without reservation. This fullness of love would expel the desire to sin from the believer's heart and would flow out in constant acts of selfless, Christlike service to one's neighbor. Entire sanctification opens the door for lifelong growth in grace in all dimensions of human life. Wesley made the doctrine of Christian perfection or entire sanctification a central feature of the network of small renewal groups that he organized throughout the British Isles. Later on, these groups developed into the Methodist Church, which spread to various parts of the world, including North America. The Church of the Nazarene has grown from this Wesleyan - Methodist heritage. It embraces Wesley's doctrine of Christian perfection. In fact, it understands that its distinctive calling is to live out and bear clear witness to Christian perfection, or entire sanctification. Finally, the Church of the Nazarene is a "holiness" church. This refers to the fact that the present-day Church of the Nazarene grew directly out of the "holiness revival" that occurred in the United States in the 19th century. During roughly the second half of the century, a widespread interest in the Wesleyan doctrine of Christian perfection (or "Christian holiness" as it was most often called) swept through many American churches. This movement drew together Methodists and others in special camp meetings and in evangelistic and missionary work. They thought it essential to engage in ministries aimed at economically and socially marginal persons. This included establishing non-English-speaking congregations, downtown urban missions, and "rescue homes" for unwed mothers. The energy that fueled the holiness revival eventually spilled outside the bounds of Methodism and other existing churches. This resulted in the formation of numerous independent "holiness churches." The members of these churches came from across the religious spectrum - Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Quakers, and many other groups, as well as Methodists. The foundation for the present-day Church of the Nazarene was formed through the union of a half dozen or so of these independent holiness groups. These unions occurred periodically from the middle 1890's up to the early 1920's, the two most significant taking place in 1907 and 1908 (the latter date since designated as the official founding date of the church). Other additions to the church by merger have occurred as recently as the 1980's. Also, the church has spread throughout the world by means of a vigorous missionary program. This has resulted in a global church that today ministers in 119 world areas. The Church of the Nazarene, like all denominations, has it own particular "branches" on the great "family tree" of the Christian Church. These special "branches" are holiness, Wesleyan, and Protestant. Nazarenes value this heritage and seek to be faithful to it. However, Nazarenes are most conscious of the fact that they are part of the Christian tree. Their fundamental identity is in the whole tree - more specifically, in the unifying central trunk of the tree, Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church Universal. -----Harold E. Raser is professor of the history of Christianity at Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City. |
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