# What Nazarenes believe, and how they worship The Church of the Nazarene is a Wesleyan-holiness denomination, formed in the United States in 1908 out of several holiness missions and churches, which teaches that a believer may be entirely sanctified by a second work of grace after conversion. Source: https://owensound.church/denominations/nazarene/ ## What Nazarenes believe Nazarenes hold the historic Christian faith: the Trinity, the full deity and humanity of Christ, his atoning death and bodily resurrection, the inspiration of Scripture and the final judgment. Their Articles of Faith describe the Bible as inerrant in all things necessary to salvation, a careful wording that leaves room for disagreement about matters it does not touch. The article that gives the church its character is entire sanctification. Nazarenes teach that after a believer is justified and born again there is a further work of grace, received by faith, in which the heart is cleansed from original sin and filled with the Holy Spirit, so that the Christian may love God with a whole heart. They call it Christian perfection, and are careful to say what they do not mean by it: not freedom from ignorance, mistake, temptation or infirmity, and not a state that can be kept without continuing faith. It is Wesley's doctrine held as a denominational distinctive rather than an option. With that goes the rest of the Arminian account of salvation: grace given to everyone, an atonement made for all, a call that can be refused, and the real possibility of falling away. ## Worship: what a service is like A Nazarene service is evangelical and plain. There is singing, led by a band or a piano and drawn from both the older holiness hymnody and contemporary worship songs; prayer, often including requests from the congregation; Scripture; and a sermon that ends by inviting a response, sometimes at an altar rail at the front. Sunday school for adults and children is a normal part of the morning rather than an extra, and many congregations keep a midweek Bible study. Baptism is administered to believers, and by any mode the candidate asks for; infants may be baptized or dedicated as their parents choose. The Lord's Supper is celebrated as a memorial and a means of grace, and the table is open to all who are in Christ. ## How Nazarene churches are organized The Church of the Nazarene is governed representatively, between congregational independence and episcopal rule. Local churches call their own pastors, with the district's agreement, and send delegates to a district assembly led by a district superintendent; districts send delegates to a General Assembly that meets every four years and elects the general superintendents. Canadian congregations belong to Canadian districts within the same international structure, with the denomination's headquarters in Lenexa, Kansas. Membership is entered by professing the Articles of Faith and accepting a covenant of Christian conduct, which has historically included abstaining from alcohol and from what the church calls entertainments subversive of the Christian ethic. ## Compared with Reformed churches Nazarenes and Reformed churches agree on the Trinity, the person and work of Christ, the authority of Scripture, and justification by faith alone. They divide over the same questions that separate Wesleyans from Calvinists everywhere. Reformed confessions teach unconditional election, an atonement that actually secures the salvation of those for whom it was made, and the perseverance of the saints; Nazarenes teach that Christ died for everyone, that grace can be resisted, and that a believer may finally fall away. The sharper difference is sanctification. Reformed churches expect a lifelong mortification of sin in which the believer never arrives, and read Romans 7 as the ordinary Christian experience; Nazarenes expect a definite second work of grace that cleanses the heart, and read the same chapter as describing what the Spirit means to bring a Christian out of. On baptism, Reformed churches baptize the children of believers as members of the covenant, while Nazarene practice leaves the mode and the timing to the family. ## Further reading - [The Church of the Nazarene](https://nazarene.org/) - [Church of the Nazarene Canada](https://nazarene.ca/) - [Articles of Faith](https://nazarene.org/who-we-are/beliefs/articles-faith) --- Part of OwenSound.church.