| Every church has its distinctive practices or beliefs that
set it apart from other groups. Sometimes this is confusing to people.
They say, "If the Bible is true and Jesus was who He claimed to be,
why are there so many different beliefs?" We are optimistic enough to
believe that with all the differences in beliefs and practices, most
Christian congregations still agree on 90-95% of Christian teaching, and
that the other 5-10% we do not agree on falls in this category of "distinctives."
While we get our name from Jesus of Nazareth, you might be asking what
in the world is a modern-day Nazarene? Well…
- We are not Baptist, 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 Presbyterian, but like the Presbyterians we believe in
the power of the preaching of the Word of God to bring about change in
peoples lives.
- We are not Lutheran, 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 Charismatic in practice, but like the Charismatics, we
believe in the gifts of the Spirit, which enables us to serve God and
others.
- We are not Episcopalian, but like the Episcopalians we take worship
seriously (we just choose to be a little less "formal" in
our worship services).
- We are not Pentecostal, but like the Pentecostals we believe in
being filled with the Holy Spirit, who purifies our heart from sin and
gives us power to live the Christian life.
- And we are not United Methodist, 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 aim to be a family for all who love Jesus. There is always room
for you in the Nazarene Family of Faith.
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