Church of the Nazarene

Introduction: Shame in the church has long been a pronounced interest to me. We want the church to be a place of hope and inspiration, but some of us have experienced a tremendous amount of shame, also. Growing up within a very conservative Holiness church taught me some life-giving valuable faith lessons. Yet, some of these lessons include, what not to do as a pastor or church member. Shame stops a person and/or the organization from growing into the person/group God has called him/her/them to be. I have named shame in the church as a huge part of my faith development. Though, I love the church and have dedicated my life to serving within the church, I also hate parts of the church. Shame is something I hate, and shame became something…

John Wesley was a mighty pillar in the Christian church following the Reformation. Though there were many things in which Wesley agreed with other reformers, there were also areas in which Wesley saw a need for change. He saw a need for grace to be expounded upon. One of the things in which John Wesley is probably most known for, and Methodists across the globe would be “Grace”. Wesley believed there to be three components of “Grace” at work in ones life. Those components were: Prevenient Grace,…

Being a Nazarene: Why I Am One The Nazarene denomination is not always the most well known denomination, but it is one I have known my entire life. I was born and raised in Fairlawn Church of the Nazarene. It is my home. Yet, there was a point in my life in which I needed to determine if this was the denomination in which I belong. Testing what Nazarenes believe was a step I needed to take to determine if it lined up with the Bible and whether or not I my conscience agreed with their doctrine. …

Currently in the Church of the Nazarene, individuals are being discriminated against for being involved in homosexual activity. As a Church, we have developed a mission statement that expresses our goal to go into the World and make Christlike disciples. We, as the Church of the Nazarene, should be open to changing our views of homosexuality and be concerned with the intent of making disciples, even if we do not agree with their lifestyle.. This paper will argue from the view of a rule…

grew up in the Church of the Nazarene and received his B.A. in Theology at Southern Nazarene University in 1990. Shortly thereafter, as a result of his encounters with the Orthodox Faith during his time at school, he converted to the Orthodox Faith. • This article was originally published in the now-defunct journal, The Christian Activist, which was a publication put out by the Orthodox Church. It now exists as a monograph published by Conciliar Press (now Ancient Faith Publishing), a…

Theology is a study that all should endure throughout everyone’s life. Theology is the study of God. At a Christian level arts university such as Northwest Nazarene University, a student might find the study of Theology to become handy in a problematic situation. For example one that might encounter evil in their life wouldn’t know why evil came their way. Whereas one who even has the slightest idea of what theology is, would be calmer and wiser in their situation. Not only does Northwest…

Folk Art. Tisdale suggest that every pastor needs to become an amateur ethnographer and decode the complex mix of subcultures of a congregation to develop an understanding of how best to present the Gospel within the native culture of the congregation. Tisdale lays out a two tier approach for this congregational exegesis: symbolic and cultural analysis. It is this second approach for which the congregational exegesis for Lansing Woodview Church of the Nazarene will examine worldview, values and…

“Obsessive apocalypticism ran contrary to her traditions respect for the limits of human knowledge.” This supports the idea of the mystery that many fundamentalists do not wish to address. Similarly, “Historically, the Nazarene church has carefully avoided any official position regarding the ‘Second coming.’” Again, this uses mystery as well as some tongue and cheek humor. (Worthen, 93) One push back, when she writes about all the PhD’s earned by evangelicals in the 1940’s and 50’s from…

Theology, regardless of our awareness or attention, is being taught throughout our worship. As such careful consideration should be given to how particular doctrines are functioning throughout our worship gatherings and the extents to which these doctrines are theologically consistent throughout the service. To that end the following will examine the Sunday March 13th, 2016 worship service at Woodview Church of the Nazarene specifically looking at the doctrine of soteriology and its function…

Cecil Robeck’s The Azusa Street Mission and Revival offers the response of on African American church to the social and religious segregation we learned from last weeks reading of Methodists and the Crucible of Race. As a licensed Nazarene pastor, I enjoyed that we were also given a reading that revealed the Holiness movement’s response to the dark times of segregation in our country. In The Azusa Street Mission and Revival Cecil Robeck’s explains that the worship practices of the black church…