Thursday, October 13, 2022

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 13th of October 2022. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

A very Happy Birthday to the Church of the Nazarene on its 114th birthday- on the 13th of October 1908, the union of several denominations in the Holiness-Pentecostal movement formed to become a national body: the Church of the Nazarene. It capped off a year of smaller denominations forming unions, chief among them the independent Church of the Nazarene, which absorbed the Association of Pentecostal Churches in America and the Holiness Church of Christ. Until 1919 they were called the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene but dropped the “Pentecostal” when that term began to signify speaking in tongues, something the church of the Nazarene doesn’t do.

If it wasn’t obvious (not that it should be), the “Nazarene” refers to Jesus of Nazareth’s followers, who, in Acts 24, is referenced. Paul is called “a ringleader of the Nazarene sect.”

On this anniversary, let’s look at this denomination- it is fascinating in many respects- and not only for being an American denomination that united in the 20th century instead of the splintering as we see was endemic in so much of American Christianity at this time.

The man behind the union was Phineas Bresee- a colorful character from… wait for it… Western New York in the later 19th century, the famed “burned over district” that has given us so many colorful figures and movements. He was saved at a camp meeting and moved to Iowa, where he was an itinerant Methodist preacher. He claimed to have a second blessing- an experience of the whole sanctification that put him in the holiness tradition. As a reminder, the Holiness movement that teaches complete sanctification holds that Christians can reach a level of sanctification wherein they cease to sin consciously. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, taught this, but the doctrine became more associated with the Holiness churches.

Brisee broke his association with the Methodists and came to California, where he formed the initial and independent Church of the Nazarene- with the merger of the church in 1908, he would serve as General Superintendent until he died in 1916. (Note: often when you see Superintendent and General Superintendent, that’s how people say Bishop and Archbishop, who might not like that language).

The church has always emphasized education- today; they run 51 colleges, universities, and seminaries across the globe. They are mission-oriented and have seen their church grow internationally. They report that 65 percent of Nazarenes live outside of the United States today.

Doctrinally they have a few interesting distinctions from general American Evangelicalism. They teach that the Lord’s Supper is not a symbol or remembrance but a means of Grace in which Christ is present by the Spirit. This is not common in evangelical traditions. So too, their doctrine of Baptism is outside the norm for modern evangelical traditions. They teach adult baptism but will also allow babies and young children to be baptized if the parents wish and promise to give the child Christian instruction. Unlike many more spirited denominations that grew initially in the Pentecostal tradition, they permit baptism to occur by sprinkling, pouring, or total immersion.

Unlike some evangelicals, but not uncommon amongst pentecostal churches, they allow women to become ordained, preach, and teach. As a church in the holiness tradition, they do not permit their members to partake of alcoholic beverages or smoke. Their Covenant of Christian Conduct does not give exact rules for cultural engagement and entertainment but does forbid “Entertainments that are subversive of the Christian ethic.” While he does not advertise his involvement with the church of the Nazarene, Dr. James Dobson is a member of the church, and his “Focus on the Family” can be seen as reasonably indicative of the approach to culture in the larger church body.

They are members of the National Association of Evangelicals and the World Methodist Council. They appear to be the largest church body in the Wesleyan Holiness tradition, with roughly 1.5 million members worldwide.

Today we remember this church body, the Church of the Nazarene, on the anniversary of its 114th birthday as a remarkably thriving church body with a global reach with churches, schools, and mission.

The Last Word for today comes from the lectionary for today from Acts 17:

22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way, you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 13th of October 2022, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose favorite Fineas’ (Fineai?) include Brisee, Phineas Taylor (or P.T.) Barnum and Phineas Black from Harry Potter. He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by the Phineas to Christopher’s Ferb- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.