Who We Are

The Church of the Nazarene is a global denomination, about 2 & a half million members strong.  It started over 100 years ago, with a group of people who believed in loving God with all of their heart, and allowing His love to make them holy as they committed their lives to Him completely.  They also believed strongly in meeting the needs of the world around them.  All of those traits are still part of what it means to be a 'Nazarene' today.  The Church of the Nazarene is the largest of the 'Wesleyan-Holiness' denominations.  For a ton more info & other great stuff, visit the denominational website at www.nazarene.org.

 

In order to get more of a taste of who we are, maybe it's easier to see who we're NOT...

 

 

  • We are not Baptists, but like the Baptists, we believe in calling people to repentance and to witnessing to their new life in Christ through public baptism. 
     
  • We are not Presbyterians, but like the Presbyterians we believe in the power of the preaching of the Word of God to bring about change in people’s lives. 

  • We are not Lutherans, but like the Lutherans we believe in salvation through Jesus Christ on the authority of Scripture alone, in salvation by faith alone and in salvation as a gift of God’s grace alone. 

  • We are not Charismatics – no, we do not "speak in tongues" in our services – but like the Charismatics we believe in the gifts of the Spirit, who gives people the power to live a Christ-like life and to make a real difference in their world. 

  • We are not Episcopalians – although John Wesley was a lifelong Anglican – but like the Episcopalians we take worship seriously (we just choose to be a little less "formal" in our services). 

  • We are not Quakers or Moravians, but like these pietistic groups, we believe in living a careful life that testifies to the watching world that we belong to the Family of God.

  • And we are not United Methodists, although we have our roots in the Methodist tradition that grew out of John Wesley’s revival movement in the 1700’s. We have good fellowship with our United Methodist "cousins", but we are organizationally separate for historical reasons.

 

We ARE...

 

...a warm and friendly group of people who desire, with God’s help, to live holy lives that bring honor and glory to Him. In three words our theology is: "JESUS IS LORD!"  

  •  We look to the Bible as our primary source for direction in our worship and our lifestyles.

  •  We are life-centered in our teaching and sensitive to the needs and concerns of others.

  •  We give people opportunities to put their faith into action through various avenues of service.

  •  We are honored to take our place among the many who are called Christians.

  •  We laugh and cry together, rejoice and grieve together, grow together and walk in faith together. 

  •  We aim to be a family for all who love Jesus, the Nazarene.