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Phineas Bresee began his pastoral career as the minister of First Methodist Church in Los Angeles. He assumed responsibilities as the director of Penial Missions within the church.
With the arrival ofthe Holiness Movement, Bresee began to feel a sense of doubt and dissatisfaction while in the Methodist Church. He questioned whether Methodism had helped him to answer the questions of destiny and God. From this doubt, Bresee decided to build a system of beliefs based on Faith, Revelation, Atonement, New Birth, and Destiny that would answer his questions and develop his personal Christian beliefs. Bresee assured himself that these beliefs were true, and with this new system of beliefs, he sought a renewed religious experience with God. Soon he became Baptized in the Holy Spirit which "took away his tendencies to worldliness, anger, and pride" as well as doubt (Smith, 94).
Not long thereafter, Bresee became the director of the mission for Penial Church. In this role, he sought a plan that would allow him to minister to all people, regardless of their religious denomination. He wanted people to make the Penial Mission and the First Methodist Church their Christian home.
Many Methodist clergy did not agree with integration of their traditional Methodist Church. They objected to ministering to poor, and non-Methodists. Bresee did not want to deprive the poor of church membership because he believed that his purpose as a minister was to help sanctify all members of the community, including the poor.
Bresee refused to alter his integrationplans, which resulted in high tensions with the Methodist authorities.He soon found himself "frozen out" or excluded from the church missionary work (Smith, 109). At this point, Bresee realized that the only way he could pursue his calling from God and minister to the misfortunate was to create his own church.
Bresee created the Church of the Nazarene based strongly on Methodist fundamentals. The development of the Church of the Nazarene revealed "a trend away from interdenominational associations toward a more denominational understanding of the [Holiness] movement, and away from extreme congregationalism toward a connectional conception of the church that owed much to Methodism" (Ahlstrom, 819).The church became glorified in the fact that it was free to all men and in that the members received a "second blessing" after they became sanctified (Ahlstrom, 819).
The Church of the Nazarene has undergone a few changes since its beginning. In 1885 after being separated for the First Methodist Church and Penial Mission for a year, Bresee formed the First Church of the Nazarene in Los Angeles, California. In 1907, the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America and the Church of the Nazarene joined to form the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. On October 13, 1908, the Holiness Church of Christ united with the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene which signifies the official founding of the Church of the Nazarene. In 1919, the term "Pentecostal" was dropped from the church name to separate the church from those sects that accepted "speaking in tongues" (Melton, 345).
The Church of the Nazarene uses Wesleyan-Arminian theological doctrine and practices as
its basis. Nazarenes use doctrine, articles of religion, and general rules established
by Methodist founder John Wesley (Melton, 345, http://www.nazarene.org/who.html#Intro).
Nazarenes believe that "God calls Christians to a life of holy living that is marked by
an act of God, cleansing the heart from original sin and filling the individual with
love for God and humankind."(http://www.nazarene.org/who.html#Intro). The common
mission is: "to show that Jesus Christ is relevant in every aspect of one's life, to
demonstrate that God's Word, the Bible, will guide each person to answers they need
today, and to live as a reflection of Jesus Christ and God's holiness"
Mission of the Church of
the Nazarene
The Church of the Nazarene has sixteen Articles of Faith that are used to guide its
members. Those are as follows: "Triune God, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit, the Holy
Scriptures, Sin-Original and Personal, Atonement, Free Agency, Repentance,
Justification- Regeneration- Adoption, Entire Sanctification, the Church, Baptism, The
Lord's Supper, Divine Healing, the Second Coming of Christ, Resurrection- Judgment- and
Destiny." Their emphasis is on "justification, regeneration, and the personal salvation
or holiness of the believer." Consult
Who is the Church of the
Nazarene
Nazarenes also hold general and specific rules. The general rules are:doing the
enjoined in God's Word, avoiding every kind of evil, and abiding in fellowship with the
church. Specific rules pertain to living a Christian life, marriage and divorce,
abortion, human sexuality, and Christian stewardship. Consult
Articles of
Faith and Rules of the Church of the Nazarene
or
Articles of Faith with
Frames
The mission statement of the Nazarene World Mission Society(NWMS) is to "mirror character and purpose of God in proclaiming His gospel to all the peoples(sic) of the world- through prayer, educational involvement, and giving by the church." Missionary work includes 116 areas of the world including parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia with 665 missionaries.
NWMS has for main objectives:
The Church of the Nazarene sponsors two hospitals, thirty-eight clinics, and one teacher's college. The Church of the Nazarene sponsors many educational facilities in the world including secondary schools, nursing schools, undergraduate universities and colleges, and Theological Seminary schools. A few of these are: Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Nazarene Bible College in Colorado Springs, Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho, Point Loma Nazarene College in San Diego, and India Nazarene Nurses Training College in Washim, India. (Melton, 384)
A representative government is the governing body of the Church of the Nazarene. The General Assembly is composed of ministerial and lay elected officials and is the highest law-making body within the church. The General Assembly duties include administration of the worldwide work to the church and interpretation of the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene . The General Assembly elects the General Board which is responsible for corporate business and oversees the General Assembly in matters of missions, education, and evangelism. The General Board is comprised to officials elected from the denominational districts and hold final authority on all matters. The lowest level of government is the District Assembly. The District Assembly, comprised of district superintendents, supervises local churches and ministers (Melton, 345, (http://www.nazarene.org/who.html#Intro). Membership in the Church of the Nazarene includes 11,857 organized churches with 1,216,657 members worldwide.Membership in the Nazarene World Misssion Society includes 677,999 members. (http://www.nazarene.org/who.html#Intro)
Chaminade Community Service Homepage
Chaminade Community Service Homepage, includes links to Chaminade Church of the
Nazarene website which provides basic information on the church founding and services.
http://www.chaminade.org/chatswr/service/chrchnaz/Chrchnaz.htm
Wesley Center for Applied Theology
Includes major links to Wesley studies, sermons, Nazarene churches, and a CD ROM
Library
http://wesley.nnc.edu
Charlevoix Church of the Nazarene
Includes beliefs of the group, mission of the Nazarenes, links to various Nazarene
sites, and a sound bite ("What Nazarenes Believe").
http://www.nmdnaz.org/char/
Created by Shari R. McClinton
For Soc 257: New Religious Movements
Fall Term, 1997
University of Virginia
Last Modified: 04/17/01