Maintaining Our Message and Mission

Four years before his death John Wesley, founder of Methodism, wrote in the Arminian Magazine: “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having a form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit and discipline with which they first set out.”

Wesley’s Methodist societies were scarcely 50 years old when he made this prophetic observation. Already they were the most potent spiritual force in Britain; yet Wesley knew that religious movements tend, with the passing years, to lapse into deadening formality.

Someone has said that “the only lesson we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” Although a salutary warning, perhaps this is too strong a statement. A spiritual movement may take into account the forces at work that would dilute its message and diffuse its power, and take measures to counter these.

We Nazarenes would do well to ponder Wesley’s words to the early Methodists.

Recently we celebrated our 75th anniversary as a denomination.* The groups which merged at Pilot Point, Texas, on October 13, 1908, however, were much older; as a movement the Church of the Nazarene is nearing its centennial year. That makes us twice the age of the Methodist societies when Wesley wrote his solemn warning.

Let us thank God for the degree of doctrinal purity, spiritual power, and holy discipline that still characterizes our church. The initial impulse that gave birth to the denomination—to spread scriptural holiness to the ends of the earth—remains vital and powerful, as evidenced by our entering five new world areas last year.

Wherever you find the Church of the Nazarene around the world, you will hear essentially the same message, feel the same spirit, and sense the same commitment to the holy life. Our pastors and people, college and seminary presidents and professors, district and general superintendents all share a common commitment to scriptural holiness.

Nevertheless, we must be constantly on guard against the encroachment of a form of holiness that denies its power.

Our denomination is not immune to the subtle but powerful forces that would stultify us as a holiness movement.

What is the secret of maintaining our message and mission? To quote Wesley, it is to “hold fast both the doctrine, spirit and discipline with which [we] first set out.”

1. Our distinctive doctrine from the beginning has been holiness of heart and life. Our fathers insisted that Jesus came to save us not just from hell but also from sin—from sin in practice in the new birth and from sin in principle in entire sanctification. They urged “the pure love of God filling a clean heart . . . which the Apostles and the Disciples received in the upper room at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. . . . Our preachers are to definitely preach it and urge it upon all believers” (Bresee’s 1898 Manual). This is the doctrine we must preserve.

2. The spirit that gave birth to our church was that of fervent love of God and man, a Christlike compassion that encompassed the total person. It was a spirit of joyous freedom in the Holy Spirit when they worshiped, resulting in powerful services of holiness evangelism; and a spirit of service to mankind when they scattered as members of Christ’s Body on earth.

3. The discipline with which we first set out was that of the holy life. To be holy was to “crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts” and “to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” Those early Nazarenes dared to be different. This difference, flowing from hearts filled with God’s pure love, gave them boldness and winsomeness, so that the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

I do not fear that the people called Nazarenes shall ever cease to exist either in the Americas or around the earth. But I do fear lest they exist only as a dead sect, having a form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.

General Superintendent William M. Greathouse

Note: The Herald of Holiness was the precursor to Holiness Today. William M. Greathouse served as general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene from 1976 to 1989.

*Please note: All facts, figures, and titles were accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of original publication but may have since changed.