Centennial Corner: July/August 2004

Initially it strikes some observers as odd: how can that Nazarene church (or district) celebrate a centennial when the denomination isn't 100 years old yet? But remember this: when we celebrate our centennial, we will not be celebrating a birthday but an anniversary. Behind our origins lie multiple birthdays, followed by multiple marriages (mergers). The marriage partners are always older than the marriage itself. Our founders regarded two of these marriages as seminal: that occurring at the First General Assembly (1907) at Chicago, and that occurring at the Second General Assembly at Pilot Point, Texas (1908). Our oldest church, Providence, Rhode Island, was organized in 1887. Other New England churches followed quickly, including Keene, New Hampshire and Lynn and Malden, Massachusetts. In 1890, ten New England holiness congregations created the Central Evangelical Holiness Association, the oldest parent denomination in our lineage. Thus, when we reach the centennial of the first General Assembly in October 1907, we will already have passed the 120th anniversary date of our oldest congregation and the 117th anniversary of our oldest parent denomination! Our oldest districts—Northwest, Chicago Central, Northern California, and Southern California—will have passed their centennial marks. Now that's something to think about! Stan Ingersol is manager of the Nazarene archives at the International Headquarters of the Church of the Nazarene. Holiness Today, July/August 2004

 

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