Q: In a culture where many churches seem to be preaching and teaching a similar message, where is the value in a denomination? Denominations come into existence when an organized group of Christians perceive the Christian faith in some distinct way, become convicted about its truth, and feel compelled to propagate it with intentionality. The unique perspective of a particular group may derive from such issues as theology, lifestyle, worship forms, polity, or even ethnicity. Doctrinal beliefs and practices are the most common reasons given for birthing new denominations. Such is true of the Church of the Nazarene. Like John Wesley before him, Phineas Bresee did not set out to create a new and distinctive biblical doctrine that would justify bringing another denomination into existence. He believed that God called him to give renewed emphasis to an all-important biblical truth which was taught clearly by the early Church fathers, but sadly, had been compromised over time. Bresee and other like-minded leaders became God's catalysts for raising up the Church of the Nazarene "to advance God's kingdom by the preservation and propagation of Christian holiness as set forth in the Scriptures" (Manual 2005-9, 7) This staunch conviction of the founders has been our guiding light for a century—and remains so today! Absent this, we have little justification for being. Our value as a denomination within the Church lies in our distinctive understanding and proclamation of God's call to be holy (1 Peter 1:16). Most theological traditions acknowledge that we are called to be holy, and further, that this holiness is best expressed in Christlikeness. They readily concede that Jesus is our model, but deny the possibility of living like Him. For us, He is our model and much more—He is our Enabler. He is the sanctifying presence who can cleanse the believer from that which opposes His reign within, fuse all the soul's forces into a loving unity, and enable us through His Spirit to love God supremely and enflesh the qualities of compassionate love seen in Jesus Himself. Yes—we believe it is possible to live holy, Christlike lives in the present world. The teaching, preaching, and living of this truth justifies our existence as a denomination. This is a message that needs to be heard by the entire Church. If we sacrifice its proclamation on the altars of a more generic message, we are in danger of forfeiting our reason for being. Ultimately, the Church of Jesus Christ would be the loser. The Church—and the world—need to hear the message which God has entrusted to us. It is incumbent on us to maximize our impact. To do so, I suggest the following actions:

• Elevate appreciation for the Wesleyan doctrine of holiness within the Church by providing a thorough understanding of its place within the broad context of historic Church traditions and sources.
• Engage our biblical scholars to judiciously review our historic understanding of entire sanctification (Article of Faith X) and position it on the most solid exegetical foundation possible.
• Seek to make biblical holiness positive, practical, and livable with sufficient flexibility to be contextualized in the various cultures in which our church is operative globally. —jlb Holiness Today, September/October 2007

 

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