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The year was 1959.  On one sunny summer afternoon, a church layman named Lyle left his house and drove his green 1952 Ford to East 6th Street in Pueblo, Colorado, walked up to the front porch, knocked on the screen door, and invited an 11-year-old boy named Norman to ride the Sunday school bus to…

Q: What is the Church of the Nazarene currently doing for Spanish-speaking readers? A: In the last few years, we have provided a wide range of materials in Spanish through Casa Nazareno Publicaciones (CNP), the Spanish-language publishing arm of the Church of the Nazarene.  We also produce an e-…

Dr. Carla Sunberg (CS), recently elected General Superintendent, sat down with Holiness Today for Ten Questions.  This new HT column will allow us to briefly have conversations with leaders in our denomination.  The format consists of ten questions:  five that focus on more serious subjects and…

We had just emerged from the snowiest, stormiest, altogether craziest winter ever in southeastern Idaho. It was beautiful, right up until it turned to muddy slush. Like any normal kid, my daughter wanted to go out and play in the fluffy white stuff.  So, as good mothers do, I bundled her up within…

A while back while waiting in a doctor’s office, a person next to me struck up a conversation and asked what I did for a living. I replied that I was a prison chaplain and this person replied, “Oh—that must be interesting. What does a prison chaplain do?” I thought for a moment:  How do I explain…

Ministry comes in many forms. I grew up in a small Nazarene church in Florida.  The only form of ministry that I experienced in those days was the ministry of the senior pastor. Through my education, my eyes were opened to a multiplicity of ministries. I left for college in the fall of 1970 to…

As a Christian people formed in the mold of the Wesley brothers and the American Holiness Movement, we as the Church of the Nazarene feel the inherent tension of a binary heritage.  This polarity pulls us toward two different contexts.  One is firmly planted in 18th century England.  The other…

“We can hardly stand the wait! / Please Christmas, don’t be late.” Most of you can hear the song in your head immediately, can’t you? Those squeaky, aggravating chipmunk voices singing the Christmas song we all love to hate. The song is a trite (and annoyingly persistent!) example of secular…

The essence of Christian worship is captured in these two excerpts written 260 years apart—one now considered a classic hymn of the Church and the other an often—played contemporary chorus, respectively. They both capture the interplay between who God is and our response to God’s work.  In worship…

Q: What is the relationship between the word ekklesia (“church”) in the New Testament, and the worship settings of the Jewish people in the Old Testament? A: The ancient Greek word ekklesia simply means assembly. In the early Church, this word referred to local “churches” or assemblies of…