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Our History!
When
most people hear the word Nazarene, they get a suspicious look on
they're face because most people haven't heard much about us. Well
maybe learning about our history can change this. Please note
that
there is a lot to our history and we are unable to mention
everyone
that was involved in the making of out amazing church; however, we are
able to give you the overall idea about how we came to be so please
enjoy!
The
following can be found at:
http://www.nazarene.org/ministries/administration/archives/history/wesleyan/display.aspx
A
Church in the
Wesleyan Tradition
Where We Came From
The Nazarene lineage runs through the
English Reformation, the international spread of Methodism, and the
Wesleyan-holiness movement in America.
The Church of the Nazarene emerged as a union of various
Wesleyan-holiness
denominations and by 1915 embraced seven previously separate North
American and
British bodies.
Phineas F. Bresee shaped the church’s form of governance.
Hiram F.
Reynolds nurtured its identity as a church committed to global
missions. Other
early leaders included C. W. Ruth, C. B. Jernigan, William Howard
Hoople, Mary
Lee Cagle, George Sharpe, J. O. McClurkan, Susan Fitkin, R. T.
Williams, J. B.
Chapman, and H. Orton Wiley.
The Church had an international dimension from its
beginning. Today it
is, by intention, an international church with over 380 districts
world-wide,
three-quarters of which are outside North America. There are nearly 1.4
million
Nazarenes. Over half live outside the United States and Canada.
What We
Believe and Teach
We believe that we
are only one part of
Christ’s universal Church
and share with believers in other communions one Lord, one faith, and
one
baptism.
With other Protestants we affirm the priority of salvation
by grace
alone through faith in Christ, the priesthood of all believers, and the
Bible
as the final rule of Christian faith and practice.
We believe that the Old and New Testaments reveal God’s
will for all
persons concerning sin, salvation, and new life in Christ.
We affirm that Christ’s death atoned for the sins of all
people, and
that this grace is effective for the salvation of each person who
accepts it.
We believe that Christians are justified and sanctified by
faith alone.
We believe that Christ’s sanctifying grace is received
initially in the
New Birth (regeneration) when the Holy Spirit plants a new principle of
spiritual life within, and that sanctifying grace increases as we live
life
through the Spirit. We affirm that entire sanctification is a gracious
provision
and possibility for all believers, in which the heart is cleansed of
all sin
and overflows with love for God and neighbor.
Our Mission
The Church of the Nazarene is a
“Great
Commission” church.
As such our members seek to witness faithfully and
attractively to all
people, so that the Christ life within would draw others to the love,
worship,
and service of God.
We are called, especially, to preach the Gospel to the
poor.
The basic vehicles through which we carry out our mission
are these:
corporate worship, evangelism, compassionate ministry, Christian
nurture, and
education.
Because the whole people of God constitute “the Church,”
and because
each Christian is called to ministry by virtue of his or her baptism,
every
believer in the Church of the Nazarene has a role in carrying out the
mission
to which we are called as a corporate body.
Stan Ingersol, 2001. Adapted from Wes Tracy and Stan Ingersol, Here We
Stand:
Where Nazarenes Fit in the Religious Marketplace (1999). Published in
Holiness
Today
Want Even More
Information?
Please
feel free to read our Historical Statement found in our Church Manual!
http://www.nazarene.org/files/docs/Manual2009-2013.pdf
For
more information on the history of our church specifically please feel
free to look at the slide show one of our church members put together!
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