Nazarene History
The Church Of The Nazarene History
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In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation -- led by people like Martin Luther and John Calvin gave birth to many of the Christian denominations we know today. In the early 18th century, an Evangelical Revival swept across England. That revival was fueled by evangelist George Whitefield and the ministry of two brothers, John and Charles Wesley. The Wesleys emphasized the possibility of a victorious life through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. The preaching, teaching, follow-up work and social ministries of the Wesleys gave birth to the Methodist movement. The historic "golden age" of evangelical Protestantism includes the first 100 years of this movement.
As time passed, the preaching and the teaching of the doctrine of the Spirit-filled life (sometimes called entire sanctification or Christian holiness) began to wane within Methodism in the U.S. and Great Britain. Opposition even developed to those Methodists seeking to maintain a focus on the biblical call to holy living. This resulted in the organization of new denominations including the Wesleyan Methodist and Free Methodist.
About that same time (latter part of the 19th century), a holiness revival spread across the U.S. In addition to Methodists, the revival involved members of many Protestant denominations. Sadly, the holiness movement was not universally popular, and opposition to the message of freedom from sin arose. Such opposition led groupings of holiness people to band together for mutual encouragement. The Church of the Nazarene was born in the context of this banding together of various small associations of local churches that had been formed to preach and teach holiness.
**This Text copied from the Southern Nazarene University Website.
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