Evangelical Protestantism really began with John Wesley, arguably one of the most charismatic, thoughtful and persuasive of the new brand of preacher appearing in America in the 18th century.\u00a0 The Methodist movement was built around an idea directly opposed to the Calvinist concept of pre-destination.\u00a0 What Methodism centered on was the idea that anyone could be \u2018saved\u2019.\u00a0 But, as that concept was Arminian, that salvation is possible only through Grace, and that grace could not be earned through acts of humanity.
\nJohn Wesley introduced and championed the idea that it was possible to elevate the human heart and mind, through communion, prayer\u00a0 and spiritual meditation, to a state of \u2018Christian Perfection\u2019.\u00a0 At the turn of the 20th century, in addition to all of the other fundamental changes in society including the industrial revolution, the rise of American power in the world, and the end of slavery and the pacification of the South, religion and religious belief had again become a central part of American life.
\nInto this flux, and in an effort to resolve the growing crisis of conflicting faiths and an increasing splintering of Methodism, a unifying theology appeared.\u00a0 Combining all of the Methodist Pentecostal denominations and the Holiness Church of Christ and five other denominations, the Church of the Nazarene emerged under the combined umbrella of Harding and the Holiness Movement \u2013 neither of which had been combined previously on such large scale.\u00a0\u00a0 The new Church of the Nazarene, which combined churches in Europe, North and South America began expanding while simultaneously absorbing other holiness churches and upon very active missionary that continues today.\u00a0 It is the purpose of this paper to present the state of the Church of the Nazarene and how its missionary history helped it to continue to grow and expand into the twenty-first century.<\/p>\n
The Nazarene Church missions have, historically, placed themselves directly in the center of crises.\u00a0 It is no coincidence that all of the denominations that came together to form the Church of the Nazarene were missionary churches.\u00a0 At the beginning, \u201cthe Nazarenes had 52 churches with 3,827 members, while the Pentecostals numbered 47\u00a0churches with 2,371 members. The union made a combined list of 99 churches and 6,198 members,\u201d[1].Harding\u2019s message was that while God had chosen to give every human being a certain quality of pure grace that could not be removed or augmented by human action, it was within our grasp to become closer to God through the rituals of faith.
\nThe Church of the Nazarene took up the Great Commission, that \u201call peoples on earth will be blessed through you\u201d (Genesis 12:3) and, in the final chapter of Matthew, \u201cGo and make disciples of all the nations of the world, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded to you,\u201d (Matthew 28:18-20).\u00a0 It then began to spread itself vigorously to every corner of the world seeking to fulfill that very mission[2].\u00a0 Indeed, it would later become the requirement that all senior members of the church and, in particular, all ministers, complete missionary work.
\nNazarene Church missions have taken several different forms over the course of the past century.\u00a0\u00a0 The first, clearly, was the outreach missionary work that followed the traditional lines of church work.\u00a0 The second, was the establishment of Nazarene Church colleges throughout the world.\u00a0 The third, was the combined efforts of all Nazarene churches and associations throughout the world under one charter and mission, to keep the Great Commission.
\nThe first Nazarene Church missions began taking place shortly after the creation of the institution. As the main centers of the church, at the time of inception, were on the East and West coasts of the United States.\u00a0 From the Eastern churches emerged Susan Fitkin and her partner Harrison F. Reynolds.\u00a0 Fitkin and Reynolds based their missions upon a divine revelation of Fitkin\u2019s \u2013 that she had been selected by God to spread His word throughout the world and that missionary work was the most powerful and significant of the works that any human could perform for God.
\nFitkin then stirred up the passions of the church for missions and, in particular, missions to traditionally non-Christian nations.\u00a0 Fitkin\u2019s work directly influenced the direction of Nazarene missions then and today.\u00a0 It was because of Fitkin that the Nazarene Church made missionary work the centerpiece of the expression of their faith.
\nFollowing upon Fitkin\u2019s example, Dorothy Fay Davis took up the leadership reins at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital and Nazarene Nursing School in Bremersdorp, Swaziland in the 1950\u2019s[3].\u00a0 Her missionary work, like Fitkins, began with a \u201ccalling\u201d from God.\u00a0 Davis built churches, preached her sermon, and brought the Nazarene form of faith to Swaziland and to the whole of South Africa and, following also in the footsteps of Florence Nightingale, she began a movement of teaching Swazi women how to be Christian nurses[4].
\nDavis lived and worked in Swaziland as a spiritual leader, the college headmaster, and as a minister in her many churches until the mid 1980\u2019s- a career that pned four decades and her works continue to be influential in terms of the Nazarene missions.
\nMissionaries were not the only Nazarene members making missions. One of the most influential Nazarene members was C. Warren Jones.\u00a0 Jones had become one of the executives managing foreign missions in the mid 1940\u2019s.\u00a0 Under his leadership, the Nazarene Church raised more than one-million dollars to support their missions.\u00a0 His influence was felt throughout the world as the money raised became the foundation of countless churches, the travel and living expenses of missionaries, and the foundation of the Nazarene schools and colleges[5].
\nThese people, and countless others, worked together over the past one-hundred years of the Nazarene church have built a legacy of missionary work.\u00a0 What began with a small number of missions has become a sweeping program of ministry, education, health-care, social services, and all forms of community involvement both domestically and abroad.\u00a0 As a true world-wide organization, the Nazarene Church succeeds in bringing together Christians from nearly every nation into a singular network that has no national anchor.
\nThe missionary work now centers on exactly the same mission as when the church started, \u201cTo make (form and bring into being through transforming grace) Christlike (holy, righteous) disciples (continual, reproductive followers of Christ) in the nations (a sent, international church). A Church whose primary motive is to glorify God,[6]\u201d.\u00a0 To that end, the Nazarene Church also maintains radio and television programs, supports Christian film productions, operates publishing houses throughout the world, manages youth-ministries, and health clinics[7].
\nThe Nazarene Church began with a very clear intent \u2013 to spread the Word of God throughout the world in following the Great Commission.\u00a0 In this, the Nazarenes have been exceptionally successful.\u00a0 Their work and their missionaries have demonstrated a true zeal for their pursuit and have demonstrated an unwavering conviction.
\nTheir Wesleyan \/ Holiness foundation made the Nazarene church uniquely ideologically and scripturally suited to the kind of missionary work they do now.\u00a0 By placing themselves in the places of greatest need in the world, they have also succeeded in walking the walk of the true spiritual guide to those in need.\u00a0 Each member has been tasked with one primary goal \u2013 not to raise money, not to falsely inflate their sense of purpose, but to guide others to embrace God and Christ.
\nBibliography
\nCorbett, C.T. Our Pioneeer Nazarenes. Kansas City, MO: Holiness Data Ministry, August 1997 Edition.
\nCowles, C.S. A Woman\u2019s Place? Kansas City, KS: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 2002
\nElliott, Susan. \u201cThe Legacy of Dorothy Davis Cook\u201d. International Bulletin of Missionary Research, (2004), 13:2.
\nMiller, Basil. Twelve Early Nazarenes, Kansas City, MO: Holiness Data Ministry, April 1998 Edition.
\nNazarene World Mission, Go\u2026Into All the World; available from http:\/\/www.nazareneworldmission.org\/regions.aspx.; Internet, accessed 30 April 2007.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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