Question about WP-M/N

[mnorian]

Having in the past had experienced with several Protestant churches in the world thru attendance; I was interested it the Wesley's Parish-Methodist/ Nazarene congregations; as the SOP was very close to what I had come to believe; through a consensus of the beliefs of the churches I had attended; much reading of the Bible; and being exposed to a lot of different beliefs on CF; especially after being on staff.

My questions is: does both the Methodist's and the Nazarene's adhere to what the SOP says in the:

A few things to know about Wesley's Parish:

• We follow the Wesleyan Quadrilaterial in forming our theology. We recognize scripture as authoritative and our primary source, however we also consider tradition, reason, and experience.
• We believe a person has the freewill to respond to God's grace.
• Faith is all that is required for salvation, however faith results in good works (fruit).
• We believe that Christian Perfection/Entire Sanctification is a process based on God's prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace.
• Our Sacraments include baptism and communion. All of our churches perform "believer's" baptisms, some also Baptize infants as a means of grace.

and what is the basic difference in what the two congregations hold as their core beliefs?

I clicked on the Nazarene link in the SOP; and said "page not found".

I would like to hear from only long-time Nazarene and Methodist members; and this is just for my own personal information; so please; no debates.

Thanks for any info you can give me.

 

[Dave-W]

My dad was ordained in the Wesleyan Methodist denom and one of his best friends was a pastor in the Free Methodist denom.

It seems to me that the differences you ask about (or at least some of them) were reflected in their discussions. Doctrinally, there was not that much difference; mostly it boiled down to church government structure.

The Wesleyans had more of a congregational government with congregational autonomy. The Free Methodists had a hierarchy where the bishops appointed pastoral leadership. After getting the boot from the congregation he pastored (for something not his fault) we attended a Church of the Nazarene; it was close enough for him. All of my older siblings ended up in the UMC.

I am not sure how close the Free Methodists and the UMC are beyond them both having similar government structures.

I do understand all 4 of those groups to hold to the Wesleyan points you list in the OP; as do many other denoms that are offshoots of Wesleyanism. (there are a LOT)

 

[mnorian]

As I have know some Nazarene people and visited their church; I was hoping to hear from some from those; and more on the doctrine in The SOP and not the governmental side.