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Church of the Nazarene

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Origin 1895 to 1908

A Wesleyan-Holiness denomination, the largest to come out of the nineteenth-century holiness revival within Methodism. Its distinctive teaching is entire sanctification: that after conversion a believer may receive a second definite work of grace, wrought by the Holy Spirit, which cleanses from original sin and brings the heart to entire devotion to God. This is understood as the recovery of what John Wesley called Christian perfection, and as perfection in love rather than in knowledge or conduct, so that a sanctified believer still errs and still needs grace. The church holds to free will and universal atonement against predestination, requires abstinence from alcohol, and has historically expected a plainness of life. Government is a representative mixture of congregational, presbyterian and episcopal elements, with general superintendents but no bishops in the Catholic sense. It reported about 2.76 million members in some 29,400 congregations in 2025.

Facts
Belief
Defining Doctrinal Position
Trinitarian: one God in three persons 1Tradition: Christianity
Position on Sexuality
Same-sex sexual relationships are held contrary to teaching; LGBT individuals are welcomed as members but not ordained, and same-sex unions are not blessed 2
Sourced to the subject's own accountThe church's own Board of General Superintendents states, restating Manual paragraph 31 as adopted by the 2017 General Assembly, that because it is God's intention for sexuality to be lived out in the covenantal union between one woman and one man, the practice of same-sex sexual intimacy is contrary to God's will for human sexuality. The statement calls the church to be a welcoming, forgiving and loving community offering hospitality, encouragement, transformation and accountability to all, without stating a separate rule barring ordinary church membership to a person experiencing same-sex attraction, and it does not address ordination eligibility directly.
Sexuality Position DetailSourced to the subject's own account
The Board of General Superintendents' statement of 14 November 2019 states: because we believe that it is God's intention for our sexuality to be lived out in the covenantal union between one woman and one man, we believe the practice of same-sex sexual intimacy is contrary to God's will for human sexuality. The marriage covenant, a reflection of the covenant between God and the people of God, is one of exclusive sexual fidelity, unselfish service and social witness. We recognize the shared responsibility of the body of Christ to be a welcoming, forgiving and loving community where hospitality, encouragement, transformation and accountability are available to all. The statement restates Manual paragraph 31 as adopted by the 2017 General Assembly. 2
Origins
Origin Period
1895 to 1908 1
Place of Origin
Pilot Point, Texas, from bodies in California, New England and the South 1
Founder
Phineas F. Bresee (1838-1915), with the leaders of the bodies that united in 1907-1908. 1
History
Separation or Divergence
Several Holiness bodies united between 1907 and 1908 1
Separation or Divergence
The Methodist Episcopal Church, by way of the Holiness movement 1
Date of Separation
1895 to 1908 1
Giving
Standing Giving ExpectationSourced to the subject's own account
The Church of the Nazarene's own Manual makes storehouse tithing the denomination's official financing plan: its paragraph on financing the local church urges all Nazarenes to contribute faithfully one tenth of their income as a minimum financial obligation, with freewill offerings expected in addition, and names the local church itself, not any wider cause, as the storehouse. This differs from most tithing-preaching Christian bodies in being written into the denomination's own constitution and government section rather than left to the pulpit alone, though the Manual does not itself tie an individual member's standing to whether they in fact pay it. 3
Standard Rate ExpectedSourced to the subject's own account
Ten percent. 3
How the Expectation Is EnforcedSourced to the subject's own account
Preached Expectation, Not Enforced 3
Organisation
Governance
Delegated representation from congregations up to a general conference 1
District assemblies sending delegates to a quadrennial General Assembly, with elected general superintendents.
Ordination
Open to women and men 1
The Church of the Nazarene has ordained women since its formation, out of the Holiness movement's practice of women's preaching.
Practice
Liturgical Language
The vernacular 1
Status
Status Today
Living tradition, practised today 1
Trajectory
Membership Over Time
Ten years later, the church's own General Secretary reported 2,764,205 worldwide members for 2025, across 29,424 churches, a 13.22 percent increase over the decade since 2015 despite a 0.62 percent net decrease from 2024 alone. 4
Membership Over Time
The Church of the Nazarene's own General Secretary reported 2,441,372 worldwide members for 2015, across 29,945 churches, a net increase of 146,266 members from the prior year. 5
Membership Figure As Of
2015-01-01 5
Membership Figure As Of
2025-01-01 4
Basis of the Membership Figure
Church-Reported Rolls 4
Learn More
Holiness, and Entire Sanctification

The Church of the Nazarene is a Protestant denomination in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition, formed in the United States in the early twentieth century from the union of several regional holiness groups; its organising assemblies of 1907-1908, culminating at Pilot Point, Texas, in 1908, are taken as its founding. It grew out of the Holiness movement within nineteenth-century Methodism, whose adherents felt that the mainline Methodist churches had cooled toward John Wesley's emphasis on Christian perfection. The denomination's distinctive doctrine is entire sanctification, understood as a definite work of grace, subsequent to conversion, in which the Holy Spirit cleanses the believer's heart and empowers a holy life, a "second blessing" that the tradition holds out as available to every Christian.

In theology it is Arminian rather than Calvinist, stressing free grace and the possibility of falling away, and Wesleyan in its confidence that the believer may grow toward a love of God and neighbour that is complete in intention. It practises believer's baptism and infant baptism alike, ordains women, and has historically expected of its members abstinence from alcohol, in keeping with its holiness ethic.

Mission, Structure and Reach

From its beginnings the denomination combined a warm-hearted revivalism with a strong commitment to education, missions and social ministry among the poor, the very name "Nazarene" was chosen to evoke the lowly associations of Jesus of Nazareth and a ministry to the marginalised. It built a network of colleges, universities and seminaries, and an energetic overseas mission programme that made it, over the twentieth century, a genuinely global church. Governed by a representative polity that blends episcopal, presbyterian and congregational elements, with general superintendents, district assemblies and local congregations, it holds a quadrennial General Assembly that sets doctrine and discipline.

Today the Church of the Nazarene reports a worldwide membership in the low millions across more than 160 world areas, with much of its growth now outside the United States, in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific. Scholars place it among the principal denominations of the Holiness movement, alongside bodies such as the Wesleyan Church and the Salvation Army, and note its close historical and theological kinship with Methodism on one side and with Pentecostalism, which drew heavily on Holiness teaching about the Spirit, on the other, even as the Nazarenes declined to adopt tongues-speaking as evidence of Spirit baptism.

Cross-Tradition Connections

Belongs to Tradition

Branch Of

Critiqued

Seven Sacraments, Practices

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The Articles of Religion hold that there are two sacraments ordained of Christ, and that the other five are not to be counted for sacraments of the Gospel.

Veneration of icons, Practices

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The Articles name the worshipping and adoration of images and of relics as a fond thing vainly invented.

Veneration of saints and Mary, Practices

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The Articles name the invocation of saints in the same place, and Methodist prayer is addressed to God alone.

Derived From

A Holiness body, formed out of the Methodist revival of entire sanctification.

Source The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editionF. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.)

Holds Element

A Wesleyan holiness body that takes its doctrine of entire sanctification from this stream and sings Wesley texts, without holding the 1780 collection as its own book.

Held Differently

Temperance, Virtues

The Church of the Nazarene requires abstinence from alcohol of its members, reading temperance as a complete rather than a moderate restraint.

Source The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editionF. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.)

Rejected Here

The Synod of Dort, Councils and Synods

The holiness churches refuse the canons of Dort, and their teaching on entire sanctification rests on the Arminian account of grace that Dort condemned.

Source The Sermons of John WesleyJohn Wesley

Objects and Practices of This Tradition

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. Works of mercy stand beside works of piety in the Methodist account of the Christian life, and neither is optional.

Source Manual of the Church of the NazareneChurch of the Nazarenethe holders' own account
Baptism, Rituals

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. Baptism is administered by sprinkling, pouring or immersion, the mode being left to the person receiving it, which is unusual among the churches that baptise infants.

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. Baptism is understood as the sign of the new covenant and the beginning of a life of grace to be grown into, not a moment complete in itself.

Source Manual of the Church of the NazareneChurch of the Nazarenethe holders' own account

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line.

Confirmation, Rituals

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. Confirmation is the profession of faith by which a baptised person is received into full membership, and it is not held to be a sacrament.

Fasting, Practices

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. Fasting is one of the means of grace, and Wesley kept the Friday fast himself and pressed it on the societies.

Funeral Rites, Rituals

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The Service of Death and Resurrection is the modern form of the burial office and takes its name from what it is meant to proclaim.

Gloria Patri, Prayers

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line.

Holy Orders, Rituals

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. Ordination is to the orders of deacon and elder. The episcopacy is an office to which an elder is elected and consecrated, not a third order, which is the settled Methodist difference from Anglican practice.

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. Infants are baptised, and the service places the congregation under a vow to nurture the child.

Intinction, Practices

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. Intinction is the ordinary manner of receiving in many congregations, and it follows from the use of unfermented grape juice in a common cup.

Source Manual of the Church of the NazareneChurch of the Nazarenethe holders' own account

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The liturgical colours were retained from the Anglican inheritance and are set out in the modern service books.

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The marriage service descends from the Prayer Book by way of Wesley's abridgement of it for the American societies.

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. Sunday is kept for public worship, and the General Rules bind members to attend upon the ordinances of God.

Source Manual of the Church of the NazareneChurch of the Nazarenethe holders' own account
Source The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised editionF. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.)
Prayer, Practices

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. Prayer stands among the means of grace Wesley called the works of piety, alongside searching the scriptures, the Lord's Supper and fasting.

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line.

Source Manual of the Church of the NazareneChurch of the Nazarenethe holders' own account
The Anaphora, Rituals

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The Great Thanksgiving is a full anaphora, restored to Methodist worship in the twentieth century after two hundred years in which the Supper was celebrated from a much shorter form.

The Epiclesis, Rituals

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The Great Thanksgiving carries an explicit invocation of the Holy Spirit on the gifts and on the people, which the sixteenth-century English rite did not.

The Fraction, Rituals

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The breaking of the bread is a distinct action with its own words.

The Grace, Prayers

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line.

Source Manual of the Church of the NazareneChurch of the Nazarenethe holders' own account

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line.

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The Lord's Supper is celebrated as a means of grace and Wesley pressed constant communion on the societies, though quarterly celebration became the practice for most of Methodist history for want of ordained ministers.

Source Manual of the Church of the NazareneChurch of the Nazarenethe holders' own account
Source Manual of the Church of the NazareneChurch of the Nazarenethe holders' own account

The Church of the Nazarene's Manual, Article of Faith X, states entire sanctification is wrought instantaneously by grace through faith, formalizing the Holiness movement's second-blessing doctrine as denominational article.

Source Manual of the Church of the NazareneChurch of the Nazarenethe holders' own account

Kept in the Church of the Nazarene, which stands in the Wesleyan holiness line. The words of institution stand within the Great Thanksgiving.

Sources
1. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised edition
F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005s.v. Nazarene, Church of theView the Source
2. Board of General Superintendents Statement on Human Sexuality (nazarene.org)
Church of the Nazarene, 2019the stated position on sexuality and its supporting detailthe holders' own accountView the Source
3. Manual of the Church of the Nazarene
Church of the Nazarene, Church of the NazareneArticles of faith on entire sanctificationthe holders' own accountView the Source
4. General Secretary Releases 2025 Statistics (Church of the Nazarene)
Church of the Nazarene, Office of the General Secretary, Church of the Nazarene, 2025View the Source
5. General Secretary Releases 2015 Stats (Church of the Nazarene)
Church of the Nazarene, Office of the General Secretary, Church of the Nazarene, 2015View the Source
The English Hymn: A Critical and Historical Study
J. R. Watson, Oxford University Press, 1997
The Sermons of John Wesley
John Wesley, Abingdon Press, 2013View the Source
Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005s.v. Holiness MovementView the Source
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