Church of the Nazarene History
First founded in 1895 in Los Angeles, California, by Dr. Phineas F. Bresee, a Methodist Episcopal Church minister, and Dr. Joseph Pomeroy Widney, a Methodist layman and former President of the University of Southern California; the Church of the Nazarene today is the product of many mergers that occurred between various holiness churches and denominations throughout the course of the early 20th century.
The most prominent of these mergers took place at the First and Second General Assemblies, held at Chicago, Illinois, and Pilot Point, Texas in 1907 and 1908, respectively. The latter date marks the “official” founding date. The newly-merged “Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene” began with 10,034 members, 228 congregations, 11 districts, and 19 missionaries; according to historical records, on Tuesday, October 13, 1908, at 10:40 a.m., “amid great shouts of joy and holy enthusiasm.”
The First General Assembly brought together the East and the West: the “Association of Pentecostal Churches of America,” a denomination formed in 1896 through the merger of two older bodies that existed principally from Nova Scotia to Iowa and the northeastern United States, and the primarily West Coast “Church of the Nazarene,” formed in 1895. The name of the united body adopted at the First General Assembly was “Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene.”
Also at the Second General Assembly held at Pilot Point, Texas, the “Holiness Church of Christ,” located in the southern United States, merged with the Pentecostal Nazarenes.
The “Holiness Church of Christ” in the South, like the “Association of Pentecostal Churches of America” in the East, was also the result of an earlier merger between two older denominations. Between the First and Second General Assemblies, there also occurred major accessions of members from the “Holiness Association of Texas,” and the merger in September 1908 of the “Pennsylvania Conference of the Holiness Christian Church.”
Other independent bodies joined at later dates, including the “Pentecostal Church of Scotland” and “Pentecostal Mission,” both in 1915. At this point, the Church of the Nazarene now embraced 7 previous denominations and significant parts of two other groups. In time, the Church of the Nazarene and the Wesleyan Church would emerge as the two major denominations to gather in the smaller bodies of the 19th century Wesleyan-holiness movement.
In subsequent decades, there were new accretions and merges. In the 1920s, there were major accessions from the “Laymen’s Holiness Association” located in the Dakotas. In the 1950s, there were mergers with the “International Holiness Mission” and the “Calvary Holiness Church,” both located primarily in the United Kingdom; the “Hephzibah Faith Missionary Association” in Iowa; the “Gospel Workers Church of Canada,” and an indigenous Church of the Nazarene in Nigeria.
Amen.
P.S. Pastor Gray likes the idea of being called a “Pentecostal Nazarene”! We welcome the Holy Spirit of God to help us, to lead us, to teach us, to convict us, and to comfort us. God is good...all the time! |
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SUBJECT: Father God
BIBLE VERSE: God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son; that whosoever should believe in Him shall have life everlasting. (John 3:16)
COMMENT: God gave us Son, we call Him, "Jesus."
PRAYER: Father, thank YOU for sending Jesus to save us, to give us life! Amen.
AMEN
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