What are Methodist and Nazarene?

WesleyJohn said:

No problem. It's just a dumb pet peeve of mine. Most Nazarene's don't really care...just ones who think like me (hopefully not too many of those!)


John Wesley was an Anglican priest until the day he died. He had no desire (as far as I know) to begin another church or denomination, but hoped to rekindle the fires of holiness within the Anglican church. The Church of the Nazarene is somewhat of a bizarre group, as we trace our routes not just through Wesley, but also through the American Holiness Movement/Revival, which was primarily an American Protestant movement in the late 19th century. As such, our theologians often wrestle between the best of Wesleyan theology and the best of American Protestant theology.

I tend to see myself on the Wesleyan side of that coin, but 20 minutes down the road from me is a Nazarene pastor who would probably be much more comfortable on the American Holiness Movement side of the coin.


I pastor a Church of the Nazarene. I'm sure that there are slight doctrinal differences, but probably more differences will be found in style of worship and in interpretation. In my limited experience, CotN tends to be more contemporary in worship style and less liturgical (although my church is fairly structured and liturgical in its worship). I think you would find that CotNs are more conservative than many UMCs. CotN has a strong missionary emphasis, but I imagine the UMC does as well. It's always dicey to try to compare two denominations, and I'm sure I did poorly. In general, I find that more probably ties us together than separates us, but that we probably each have a unique place in the Body with a unique mission to fulfill.


You're quite welcome.

WJ

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