The history of the Church of the Nazarene has been divided into seven overlapping periods by the staff of the Nazarene archives in Lenexa, Kansas: (1) Parent Denominations (1887–1907); (2) Consolidation (1896–1915); (3) Search for Solid Foundations (1911–1928); (4) Persistence Amid Adversity (1928–1945); (5) Mid-Century Crusade for Souls (1945–1960); (6) Toward the Post-War Evangelical Mainstream (1960–1980); and (7) Internationalization (1976-2003).Nazarene Archives, "Periods in Nazarene History" (2003), https://www.usacanadaregion.org/sites/usacanadaregion.org/files/Roots/Resources/Nazarene%20History%20Outlines62009.pdf
History The Church of the Nazarene is the product of a series of mergers that occurred between various holiness churches, associations and denominations throughout the 20th century.Bryan Merrill, "The Rise of the Church of the Nazarene" (1992), http://www.nazarene.org/files/docs/schematic.pdf 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,List of Church of the Nazarene conventions respectively. The primary architect of these early mergers was C. W. Ruth."Historical Statement", Manual of the Church of the Nazarene 2005-2009 (Kansas City, MO: Nazarene Publishing House, 2005):21.
Denominational name The denomination inherited its current name from one of its primary antecedent groups, the Los Angeles based Church of the Nazarene founded in October 1895 by Dr. Phineas F. Bresee and Dr. Joseph Pomeroy Widney. The name of the denomination comes from the biblical description of Jesus Christ, who had been raised in the village of Nazareth, Israel (and was regarded consequently as "a Nazarene"). Jesus is called a Nazarene in , and in , Paul's accuser Tertullus calls him "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes". In the NASB Bible and a few other Bible versions, Jesus is also called a Nazarene in many parts of the New Testament,; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; whereas most versions simply say "Jesus of Nazareth" in these verses.
Consequently, the denominational name focuses on Jesus as "The Nazarene". Additionally, the followers of Jesus were initially called "Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5), a term perhaps used by Jesus himself. According to Church of the Nazarene archivist Dr. Stan Ingersol:
The Hebrew name for "Jesus," derived from "Joshua," was common in first-century Palestinian Judaism, so "Jesus of Nazareth" specified which Jesus, and Acts references the early Palestinian Christians as followers "of the Nazarene" and "the sect of the Nazarenes." The term "Christian" developed outside Palestine, in Syria according to Acts, in conjunction with the mission to the Gentiles. It is derived from "Christos," a Greek translation of the Hebrew "messiah" or "anointed one." As Gentile Christianity spread through the Mediterranean basin, Jesus became known as Christ and references to "the Nazarene" diminished. Nineteenth and early 20th century European writers produced numerous biographies of Jesus, re-popularizing the term "Nazarene" and setting the stage for how the Church of the Nazarene received its name.
In 1895 the name of the denomination was first recommended by Dr. Joseph Pomeroy Widney, a former president of the University of Southern California and an influential figure in the early days of the Church of the Nazarene on the West Coast, where with Bresee, he was elected as a general superintendent for life. Ingersol indicates: "Other proposed names included various uses of 'Methodist'". Widney explained that the name had come to him one morning after spending the whole night in prayer. He said that the word "Nazarene" symbolized
the toiling, lowly mission of Christ. It was the name that Christ used of Himself, the name which was used in derision of Him by His enemies, the name which above all others linked Him to the great toiling, struggling, sorrowing heart of the world. It is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth to whom the world in its misery and despair turns, that it may have hopeSmith, Called Unto Holiness, Volume I.
The denomination started as a church that ministered to the homeless and poor, and wanted to keep that attitude of ministering to "lower classes" of society.
At the First General Assembly that united Bresee's denomination with the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America in October 1907, the denominational name that emerged was the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene, reflecting the ancestry of both denominational tributaries. A General Assembly was held in October 1908 in Pilot Point. During the assembly the church merged with the Holiness Church of Christ. October 1908 is seen as the natal month of the denomination, upheld the 1907 decision.
The term "Pentecostal" in the church's original name soon proved to be increasingly problematic. In the Wesleyan-holiness movement, the word was used widely as a synonym simply for "holiness". However, from the rise of 20th century Pentecostalism, especially after 1906, new meanings and associations attached themselves to the term – meanings that the Pentecostal Nazarenes rejected. Ingersol indicates: "[T]he word was increasingly understood in reference to charismatic gifts like speaking in tongues, which Nazarenes never practiced or approved." At the fifth General Assembly (held in Nashville in 1919), in response to resolutions from thirty-five district assemblies, the General Assembly voted to remove the word "Pentecostal" from the church name, leaving it simply as "Church of the Nazarene". Consequently, since 1919 "the denominational name has been identical to that of its western parent-body—a name that originated because J. P. Widney read 'lives of Jesus' books, and his imagination had been captured by a strong personal vision of 'the Nazarene'."
First General Assembly
The First General Assembly held in Chicago, Illinois from 10–17 October 1907 brought together the Eastern and the Western streams. The Western group was the Church of the Nazarene founded in October 1895 in Los Angeles, California by Dr. Phineas F. Bresee, a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Dr Joseph Pomeroy Widney, a Methodist physician, and the second president of the University of Southern California. The Eastern group was the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America, a denomination formed on 13 April 1897 through the merger of two older bodies: The Central Evangelical Holiness Association (organised 13–14 March 1890) and led by Fred A. Hillery and C. Howard Davis; and three churches organised by William Howard Hoople since January 1894, and formed into the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America. On 12 November 1896, these two groups met in Brooklyn, agreed upon a plan of union, which included retaining the name and Manual of Hoople's group.Watchword, 62. Prominent leaders included Hiram F. Reynolds, Davis, and Hoople."Historical Statement", Manual of the Church of the Nazarene 2005-2009 (Kansas City, MO: Nazarene Publishing House, 2005):19. At the time of its merger with the Church of the Nazarene in 1907, the APCA existed principally from Nova Scotia to Iowa and the northeastern United States. The name of the united body adopted at the First General Assembly was Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene, and Bresee and Reynolds were elected the first general superintendents.
Interim accessions In April 1908 Bresee accepted Edgar P. Ellyson, president of the Holiness University of Texas of Peniel, Texas, his wife, Mary Emily Ellyson (1869–1943), and many leaders and members of the Holiness Association of Texas into the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene, with Emily Ellyson elected pastor of the new congregation at Peniel.Watchword, 157. In September 1908 the Pennsylvania Conference of the Holiness Christian Church under the leadership of Horace G. Trumbauer merged with the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene.Manual 2005-2009, 22.
Second General Assembly 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 itself was the merger of the New Testament Church of Christ founded in July 1894 at Milan, Tennessee by R.L. Harris, but soon led by his widow Mary Lee Cagle,Manual, 19. and a group (also called the Holiness Church of Christ), that resulted in November 1904 at Rising Star, Texas from the prior merger of The Holiness Church (founded in 1888 in Texas) and the Independent Holiness Church (formed at Van Alstyne, Texas in 1901, and led by Charles B. Jernigan and J.B. Chapman).Manual, 19-20. The merger of the Holiness Church of Christ in the south and the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene took place on Tuesday, October 13, 1908, at 10:40 a.m., "amid great shouts of joy and holy enthusiasm."Historical Reflections of God at Work The newly merged Church of the Nazarene began with 10,034 members, 228 congregations, 11 districts, and 19 missionaries, according to historical records.Early Church of the Nazarene Stats The latter date marks the "official" founding date. Bresee, Reynolds and Ellyson were elected general superintendents.
Later accessions Other independent bodies joined at later dates, including the Pentecostal Church of Scotland (founded in 1909 by Rev. George Sharpe) and the Pentecostal Mission (founded in 1898 by J.O. McClurkan), both in 1915. At this point, the Church of the Nazarene now embraced seven 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 accessions and mergers. In the 1922, more than one thousand members and most of the workers led by Joseph G. Morrison, from the Laymen's Holiness Association (founded in 1917) located in the Dakotas, joined the Church of the Nazarene. In the 1950s, there were mergers with the Hephzibah Faith Missionary Association (founded in 1893 in Tabor, Iowa) in 1950; the International Holiness Mission (founded in London in 1907 by David Thomas) merged on 29 October 1952; the Calvary Holiness Church (founded in Britain 1934 by Maynard James and Jack Ford), united on 11 June 1955; and the Gospel Workers Church of Canada (founded in Ontario in 1918) became part of the Church of the Nazarene on 7 September 1958. On 3 April 1988, an indigenous Church of the Nazarene in Nigeria, established in the 1940s, merged with the denomination.Manual, 22-24.
The 2009 General Assembly authorized a committee with "the responsibility to approach "like-minded churches in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition in order to pursue closer relations, with a goal of exploring the possibility of a merger or a collaborative relationship.""Legislative Actions and G.S. Ballots", Nazarene News (29 June 2009), http://www.nph.com/nphweb/html/ncn/article.jsp?id=10007296
Separations
People's Mission (1912)