Rob Prince's Blog, page 13

Three Conversations Confirming Our Church Growth Strategy

Conversation #1: Yesterday, I met a couple who have come to Central Church a few times. They made a point to meet me. With their Exodus journals in hand, they told me they love Central Church and love our emphasis on the Bible. They said, “You don’t know how many churches just don’t talk about the Bible these days.”  

Conversation #2: Just prior to that discussion, I met a first-time guest. I asked her what made her come to Central Church and she said, “I heard this church really loves the community and I wanted to come and check you out for myself.”  

Conversation #3: A long time member said to me concerning our upcoming 24/7 Prayer week (someone in the building praying for the entire 168 hours from August 6-13): “Pastor, I’m so glad we are a praying church.” 

I love it!  

A commitment to scripture and to our neighbors draws people. A commitment to prayer keeps people.

People want to be in a church that preaches the Bible and loves their community. In too many churches, it’s either one or the other. Churches that attempt to love their neighbors too often aren’t preaching the Bible; or churches that are preaching the Bible, too often aren’t doing a great job in loving their neighbors. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s just the opposite. The Bible calls us to love our neighbors. The more we emphasize “both/and” and not “either/or” the more compelling Central Church will be.

Moreover, prayer is over all. A deep commitment to prayer is what people are longing for even if they initially can’t articulate it. Community outreach and Biblical teaching might get them through the door. A deepening of their prayer life and connection to Jesus is what keeps them. (Edited to read: this is an over-simplification, of course. Discipleship, fellowship, worship are all factors in keeping people, but all of those endeavors must be bathed in prayer and flow from a church’s commitment to prayer). 

Conclusion: Old church growth models emphasizing attraction events, being seeker sensitive, developing homogeneous units, blah, blah, blah don’t work in the 2020’s. It’s a commitment to prayer, sound Biblical teaching and loving one’s community that draws and keeps people. 

Our House is God’s House

Five months ago today, our friend, Lisa Faulkner, who had come to stay in our home, celebrated her 58th birthday. Four months ago today, she changed addresses from our place in Grand Blanc to a heavenly mansion. Clearly, she got an upgrade. Even writing those words, while sitting at my kitchen table, and drinking out of a mug that had been Lisa’s, seems surreal. (Shameless plug: You can read about our journey here). Has four months already passed since Lisa went to heaven?

Karla and I had never invited someone to live with us (and might never do it again). But we’ve always viewed out house as “God’s house.” Our name might be on the deed but we want our house to be used by the Lord (well, technically, the mortgage company owns more of this ol’ house than we do, but you know what I mean). To that end, we have various church parties at our house. Our former home group (that was disbanded when Lisa got really bad) is having a cookout/potluck tonight in our backyard (30-something people); last week it was the last Panama team (12 people); and next week it will be the church board, pastors and their spouses having dinner here (50 people). Our house isn’t our house, it’s the Lord’s. 

Too often, we think of stewardship as money. Jesus gets 10% and we get 90%. But good stewardship involves more than my bank account. Jesus owns everything. My money. My things. My time. My gifts. Everything.

The prophet Micah talks of the windows of heaven being opened when we tithe. He is talking about being blessed when we are faithful. Name-it-claim-it preachers have taken that to mean that bundles of money will be thrown your way if you pass the tithing test. I haven’t seen that happen, but what I have seen is better than money, at least in Lisa’s case.

Here’s the rest of Lisa’s story: Lisa moved in with us in November of 2021, she died four months ago as stated above. Prior to that, Lisa’s brother, Tim, had been to church a handful of times, but not the rest of her family. I had never met them. If you knew Lisa, her prayer was that her family would come to know Jesus. That was it. That was her greatest desire. 

In Lisa’s closing days, we got to know Tim and his wife, Sally. They came to our house (God’s house). We ate meals together. We sang around Lisa’s bed together. We became friends. Lisa and the Lord brought us together and today (praise the Lord!!!) they are in church nearly every Sunday. Lisa’s nephew and other others family members are too. It’s no small drive to come to church (they live in Vassar). But nearly every week, our friend Lisa’s answered prayers comes walking through the church doors. The windows of heaven have been opened. The blessings aren’t bundles of money, it’s Lisa’s family. 

Our house is God’s house. Karla is praying that God sends hail storm to “His” house. it needs a new roof. I don’t think that’s the way it works, but God does bless in exciting ways when He is the owner, and we are the stewards of all that we have. Lisa’s family is the living proof!

This isn’t Exile Living (sorry Scott Daniels) this is Exodus Living.

With apologies to Scott Daniels, Brian Zahnd and Walter Brueggemann (all who have written on the western Christian experience in the 21st century with the Israelite Babylonian captivity period in the 6th century BC), I am wondering if our experience is more like the children of Israel in the Exodus story. We aren’t strangers in a foreign land, instead we are quite comfortable and view life through a cultural lens of things foreign to God. Caution: whenever you begin a paragraph “with apologies” to the above theological heavy weights, you are probably in dangerous territory. 

It’s not totally my idea. The more I get into the Book of Exodus, the more I’ve been thinking about this (the Flint Central congregation is going through the book of Exodus this summer). Additionally, I was at a workshop where Olivet Nazarene University professor, Jeff Stark, threw this notion out to the group. I had to leave half way through the seminar, so please don’t blame Jeff for the rest of these thoughts. But his introduction further cultivated my imagination: Are we more like the Jews fresh out of Egypt? 

Maybe we are.

In 1607, Englishmen arrived in Jamestown. Likewise, the Jews were in Egypt for 430 years. Both USA citizens and the Israelites coming out of Egypt had been heavily influenced by the prevailing culture for 400 years. I’ve told our congregation several times, it was harder getting Egypt out of the people than getting the children of Israel out of Egypt (you will recall– It wasn’t easy getting the former slaves out of Egypt. It took ten plagues and a miraculous crossing of the Red Sea). Then 40 years later, on a journey that should have taken 11 days, the people were ready to enter the Promised Land. It took forty years of wandering in the wilderness to exorcise the Egyptian culture out of the people (a case could be made that the way of the Egyptians was never fully exorcised from them). Sometimes I wonder if we will ever escape the cultural influences upon us.

Our culture is diverse but strong. A drift away from God, regardless of one’s cultural influences, is seen in how one interprets Micah’s understanding of what God requires of people: “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). On the one hand there are those who think (but might not say): “Justice? Yes, but not social justice—that’s socialism; Mercy? Sure, but that only goes so far; Humble? Of course, but my way of thinking is the only way.” On the other hand, are those who think (but might not say): “God requires? The only thing that is “required” is love. There’s no need to “Act” (justly or otherwise) or “Walk” (humbly or otherwise), just love. Love. Love. Love. Period. End of Story. No condemnation. No judgement. No anything. Just “love” (mercy or otherwise).” 

I want to say, “Ugh…” to both sides of that misguided coin.

Moreover, too often people today, like the folks in Exodus, are constantly complaining; wanting to go back to their old ways (even though that was slavery); grumbling against leadership (is this the grumbliest generation ever?); looking for other gods at the first sign of God’s silence; and are mostly a mess. But mostly like the people coming out of Egypt, we have miles to go to move away from the heavy cultural forces upon us. Keeping God front and CENTER was the way then and it’s the way now. The Israelites had trouble doing that, it seems we do too. 

Imagining the Impact if NYC 2023 Overflows onto the Rest of Us

Our Central Church students are at NYC today. Not New York City. Nazarene Youth Conference. It’s in Tampa. Tampa in January is great. Tampa in July? Think: Sauna. Don’t believe people who say, “It’s not the heat; it’s the humidity.” It’s the heat AND the humidity. In spite feeling like they’ve been hit in the face by a wet blanket fresh out of the oven, our 45 students and five adults are part of a gathering of 10,000 students from across USA and Canada in steamy Tampa.

NYC is an every four year conference (although the next one will be in three years), where youth gather for worship services, Christian concerts and lots of fun.  My son, Alex, went to NYC in St. Louis in 2007 and Ben went to NYC in 2011 in Louisville (Ben went back to NYC in Louisville in 2015 when he worked the summer with non-profit Forge Flint). It’s a great event. One could argue, it’s the best thing that the Church of the Nazarene does.

Imagine with me (maybe “Pray with me” is the more correct phrase, but I’ll stick with “Imagine”). Imagine if God Almighty came in such a powerful way that those 10,000 NYC students were forever changed. Now (keep imagining) those 10,000 students then went home. On fire, not because of Tampa’s heat wave, but because of an unforgettable encounter with Jesus. Changed. Empowered. Infused with the Holy Spirit. Some of those students live in homes that are already on fire for Jesus. Great. An on-fire-for-Jesus student returns home and makes a great family even better. But some of those students are from homes that are filled with dysfunction and brokenness. Do you think God could use an on-fire, Holy Spirit empowered teenager in that circumstance? I do. Paul would agree. That’s why he wrote Timothy these words: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12). 

Imagine (are you still imagining?) those NYC students come home and do just that… set an example for the rest of us. Whether we are living for Jesus or not. They come home and set the example in all areas of life (Paul left nothing out on the above list). 10,000 students leading the charge, setting an example and making a difference could have a powerful effect not just upon the churches and homes to which they return, but upon our world.

Here’s what I mean: If 10,000 NYC students came home and splashed (not the sweat from steaming Tampa, but the Holy Spirit’s fervor) on just 4 people, now we were at 50,000 people influenced for Jesus. Imagine (don’t stop imagining now, we’re just getting to the fun part) if those 50,000 people splashed on four people, now we are at 200,000 people. You get where I am heading, don’t you? Splash. Splash. Splash. Splash and our country (and Canada too) would be reached for Christ. I am imaging that… no, I’m praying for that eventuality. The theme of NYC 2023 is Overflow. I hope, imagine and pray that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit overflows from our students, and onto our church and onto me. 

Old people like me tend to watch too much news; hear too many bad reports; believe too many tales of the world going down the tubes. But if 10,000 NYC students returned to their cities, schools and churches filled with the Holy Spirit and leading by example—only God knows the impact they can have. I’m praying for NYC 2023. I’m praying that it doesn’t stop in Tampa, but rather the Spirit’s moving ‘overflows” and splashes onto us too!

Just imagine what God could do!

Should Christians Fight? (Hint: The Kingdom of God is Not Middle School)

File the following phrase under “Words Not Found in the Bible”:
“And Jesus fought with the Pharisees…”

Neither does it say, “Jesus brawled with the Herodians” or “Jesus attacked the Roman occupiers.” Jesus clearly had stark differences with each of those groups, but the Bible doesn’t record shouting matches or dust ups. Never, not even once, does it say that Jesus quarreled with the disciples (sometimes the disciples argued among themselves). Never does he tell one of his disciples, “Sorry, I guess we can’t be friends anymore.”

When discussing the Lord’s holy anger, people like to point out Jesus’ confrontation with the moneychangers at the temple. He flipped some tables, scattered their ill-gotten gains and even made a whip. The Bible doesn’t say he used the whip on somebody. Apparently, no one went to the emergency room. He was making point to those clearly outside the bounds of godliness. They were religious profiteers preying on those who could least afford it. Even as he is chasing the money changers out, there is no recorded argument. No physical confrontation.

A case could be made, if ever there was a time to fight this was at his arrest. Probably Peter would have agreed and was the reason why he brought his sword. Still Jesus said “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” (John 18:36). The Kingdom of God isn’t about fighting. It’s a new way forward without violence, but also without character assignations, without snide comments, without gossip, without “taking sides” and without “the silent treatment.” The Kingdom of God is not middle school (with apologies to all the great middle schoolers out there). 

Paul sums up the needed posture for leaders in 2 Timothy: “the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone” (2 Timothy 2:24). In case, you are wondering 2 Timothy 2:25 does not say, “unless they disagree with you.” It simply says, “be kind to everyone.” Period. End of discussion. 

Christians will not always agree on every theological nuance. We will not always agree on the best steps forward in building the kingdom. Two Christians can disagree on the plenty of non-essentials. Through it all, it would do us well to remember who our Enemy is. It’s not our fellow believers. It’s not the church down the road. It’s not the ones to the slightly right or left of us. Our Enemy is the Father of Lies. Our Example, on the other hand, is the Prince of Peace who calls us to be peacemakers, to be kind, to get along with everyone, and, in so doing, advance His Kingdom. 

Can one have “Life to the Full” (John 10:10) and Chronic Pain too?

As many know, last year I authored a book Got Cancer? There’s Hope (Shameless plug #1: you can get it here). In 2014, I authored a book Chronic Pain (Shameless plug #2: you can get it here). In Got Cancer? I had a chapter titled ‘Cancer Sucks.” My mom wouldn’t have been happy with the title, because it used the “S” word, but it’s true, cancer sucks the life out of you. Chronic pain can too, even if there is no chapter with that title. 

Since a subarachnoid hemorrhage in 2007, I deal with Chronic Pain on a daily basis. Lately, I’ve been in a rather significant migraine cycle (don’t ask me what I preached Sunday, I honestly don’t remember much). So my neurologist’s favorite patient showed up in his office yesterday (I’m not sure I’m his favorite, but I’m pretty sure his accountant loves me). An office procedure, MRI appointment, neurosurgeon appointment (minor outpatient consult); new round of prescriptions (one my insurance company has to preapprove because it’s about a $100 bucks a pop)—and I was walking out the door.

Feeling a tad sorry for myself, I stopped off at a Rally House and bought a Tigers T-shirt. Psst… don’t tell Karla, but I bought a Lions T-shirt too. Two shirts later I was still feeling a little bummed. Things can’t restore joy. But they are sweet shirts. 

Then the Lord brought to mind a Bible verse (probably not any of the verses you’d imagine I’d be thinking in moment). It’s John 10:10, where Jesus says: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

“Name-it-claim-it” TV preachers have used this verse to say that Jesus wants you to have a life full of riches and wonderful things. Banks accounts full of money. Houses full of expensive items. Closets of full of designer clothes. And no pain– cancer, chronic or otherwise.

But is that truly what Jesus meant? Is “life to the full” all about possessions, money and skating though life without pain?  Remember when Jesus died his only possession was a robe that the soldiers gambled over. That was it. One robe. Not a closet full of robes. Not even a sweet Tigers’ shirt. Oh, and don’t forget, and in that moment, he was dying on a cross—a particularly painful experience. Yet, I don’t think anyone would claim Jesus didn’t live a full life.

Sometimes “full lives” means navigating life full of joys and sorrow. I have had way, way, way more joys than sorrows. You have too (is my guess). One of the Enemy’s biggest lies is to get one to forget their joys and amplify their sorrows. He wants to steal our peace. Kill our hope. Destroy our dreams. Can I admit—that was happening to me a bit yesterday?  

The Jesus life isn’t always easy (read: migraines for me; something else for you); the Jesus life doesn’t mean we won’t have troubles (Jesus said we would. See John 16:33). The good news in the midst of these issues is that Jesus is with us (see Matthew 28:20). A full life is not free of problems. A full life is full of Jesus through any trials and joys that come our way.

Jesus reminded me of this good news on my way back from Ann Arbor. I would be OK. But I He also gave me permission to sit out the song times at Vacation Bible Camp this week. It tends to be a little loud in the family center these nights and that tends to make my noggin a little grumpy. 

P.S. If the VBC kids raise $1000 for School Supplies at Dillon Elementary school by tonight (they were at $580 last night), I get a pie in my face. No, I will not be wearing my new Tigers or Lions’ shirt for this event. Anyone got a MSU Sparty shirt I can borrow?

Which Brand of Holiness are You? (an over-simplified explanation)

Rules First. Legalists stress holiness over grace. This brand of “holiness” looks a lot like the first century Pharisees with plenty of variations and expressions. It is a “holiness” based on fear and control. A “holiness” governed by guidelines, rules and measuring sticks. When holiness can be measured by the number of rules kept, it’s no longer holiness. It’s legalism. Most generally pride and haughtiness are the ugly underbelly to this brand of pseudo-holiness. Typically, like the Pharisees version in the first century, any who do not abide or “partner” with their version of “holiness” are labeled as heretics, outcasts and/or reprobates. It’s the classical example of one noticing the specks in other’s eyes without seeing the plank in their own. 

Liberty First. The Irreligious (maybe better stated the “sort-of-religious, or the religious wanna-bes, or the have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too religious) stress freedom over holiness. Anything goes. Holiness is not the goal. Liberty is the highest virtue. An in-all-things liberty rule of life leads to an outcome that is far from holiness. If “sanctify” means to be “set apart,” this brand of “holiness” sees nothing from which one needs to be set apart. Each person decides upon their own path. Every road can be good.  All who do not hold to a version of “liberty that leads to godliness” are accused of preaching a vengeful or angry God. There is no need for a God of judgment because there is nothing to judge. All things are good (with the possible exception – ironically– of those that would be judgmental toward the Liberty First crowd).

Jesus First. True Christianity stresses freedom through grace that leads to holiness.  Holiness is the goal. It is not devoid of freedom. It’s just the opposite, this brand of holiness is a fully-realized freedom that embarks on the path toward Christ-likeness. It’s not freedom for freedom sake (see Example #2); nor freedom to follow a list of pre-determined rules (see Example #1), but freedom that leads to self-surrender. It’s an overwhelming desire to be more and more like Jesus. Freedom brought by grace. Fed through grace. Covered in grace. Filled with grace. It’s a Jesus wrought freedom that leads to holiness, according to St. Paul.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. Romans 6:22

Now that the Dust Has Settled, Did the Nazarene General Assembly Change Anything?

Seriously, did anything change because of the 2023 General Assembly?
Time will tell.

We have a couple of new General Superintendents.  

We traded in David Graves for Scott Daniels and Eugenio Duarte for Christian Sarmiento. 
We traded a former college church pastor (Olathe) for another former college church pastor (Nampa). 
We traded a former regional director (Africa) for another former regional director (South America).
Are those good trades?  We’ll see. Probably the two newbies will bring in some strengths, just as we may miss some strengths from the our recently retired duo. 

We didn’t mess with the Articles of Faith. 
We changed the wording of the Covenant of Christian Character, but didn’t change the content much.
We left the paragraph regarding human sexuality mostly alone. (we added the word “only” twice, vaguely implying that single folks can’t find fulfillment… oops, that’s not great). 
We added a somewhat bland statement regarding gender identity.
We spent far more time than I ever could have imagined questioning if the gifts of tongues/prayer language are a part of the sanctified life (Wait! What?).

We suggested five year sabbaticals instead of seven.
We left the gathering for General Assembly at four years instead of five (no matter the cost).
We referred a few things for the GSs to study—Capital Punishment; an Article of Faith regarding the theology of humankind (or something like that), and few other things too.

We passed some manual minutia that probably no one will notice or care.
We spent a lot of time talking (and thereby slowing down the election process) about how we might speed up the election process along. Ironic but true. 

It might have been the first General Assembly that was hammered by social media. Rumors and gossip that used to be shared over coffee were being spread over the internet. Of course, gossip is wrong no matter the venue. I think some holiness folks forgot that truth. 

It seems that in spite of the unifying message that “Jesus is Lord,” there was more disunity than ever before. Maybe it was just me. Maybe it wasn’t that way for everyone. 

The General Assembly math equation seemed to be: 
division was present (American Holiness vs. Wesleyanism; USA/Canada vs. International)
(which might explain the subtraction in USA/Canada), 
and might also explain why some the frustration in the international delegates multiplied. 

But was anything added?

We were together once again. Whew, that was a long six years!
The worship and preaching were good. That was an addition.
I saw many friends. Many encouraged me on one front or another. That was also good.

There were a few folks that apparently didn’t like some of my blogs (true confession: I don’t always like some of my blogs.). Some of these dear ones expressed their displeasure with yours truly. Umm… maybe that’s why there’s not a faction within the church named “holiness friendship “or “holiness fellowship” or “holiness charity-ship” or “holiness just-don’t-act-like-a-goober-ship.” “Partnership” means different things to different people apparently. 

Did anything change?

Bottom line: Not a lot changed in the manual. But our world is changing. I hope the church and our leadership can travel through the upcoming storms with grace and truth. I pray that the path to the middle road returns. I pray that wherever we gather (outside USA/Canada?) in 2027 that the all-too-elusive unity returns. General Assembly 2023 served as a reminder to pray for the Church of the Nazarene—her leaders and her people (even those who said the disparaging things and spread the vicious rumors—maybe especially them) that we will conform more and more to the likeness of Jesus!

One Delegate’s Take on the Nazarene General Assembly 2023

Having a five-hour drive back to the state shaped like a Mitten, I was able to think about the 30th Nazarene General Assembly.  I found that #GANaz23 was like…

A Family reunion.  I mean a real family reunion— not a sappy idealization of a family reunion, but the good, bad, and ugly family reunion. You know what I mean. There are those in the family to whom you want to give a hug and not let go, and there are others where it could easily turn into “Hatfield-and-McCoys” encounter (in a loving, Christ-like way, of course). At this family reunion, there are those who talk way too much, and those you’d wish talked more. All shapes and sizes and colors. Some wore interesting clothes (I saw one lady who had the Nazarene logo all over her dress). Still looking across the room filled with scholars and goofballs and everyone in between I thought: “These are my people and I love them!” 

A little like Heaven. Whenever you worship with 10 to 12,000 people like on Sunday, you can’t help but imagine heaven. I loved it. 

A Preach-a-thon with no losers. All the GS’s preached. They were all very good. I’ve heard Dr. Duarte preach several times, I thought that was his best sermon. I’ve heard Dr. Busic tell the story about his dad several times. It makes me cry every time. Dr.’s Graves, Chambo, and Crocker hit it out of the park. Dr. Sunberg’s report was more like a sermon and it had us all shouting in a Bresee like fashion, “Good Morning!”

The Tower of Babel. With several languages spoken and several folks needing words and documents translated, things can get a little wonky. We weren’t building a tower like in Genesis, and the folks in Genesis didn’t have top-notch translators. Our language challenges are a beautiful problem of an international church. 

Something that would cause the “My Pillow Guy” to have a heart attack. The voting devises were… a challenge, but we survived and no one shouted, “Stop the steal!” A lot of time could have been saved with a very low tech seven-word approach to many of the resolutions, “All in favor raise your right hand.” Boom. No machines. No delays. Easy Peasy (we got there in the last hour… better late than never). 

A Petri dish growing something toxic. Some “not-so-good” Nazarenes (or former Nazarenes) with nimble fingertips must have thought that the fruit of the spirit is hate-spewing, libel-barfing, gossip-talking, rumor-mongering, fear-encouraging, slander-smearing, cantankerous-posting, division-inducing and reputation-bashing. It’s the ugly side of holiness (think: Pharisees with an iPhone and accounts on Twitter or Facebook). Chalk this up to, sadly, not everyone lives by the holiness they profess.

Paper, Rock, Scissors. Sometimes I was voting with the majority and sometimes with the minority. Sometimes I wished someone would hit me with a paper, a rock, or scissors because I was baffled at the voting. Did we really almost become a Pentecostal church with a 12-word amendment? Whew… crazy things can happen on the floor of the assembly.

The Royal Gorge. There is a divide in the church (maybe more than one). It was evident in voting on resolutions and for the General Superintendents. Here’s a totally oversimplified take of the church in USA/Canada: There’s a Wesleyan-leaning holiness group (Although John and Charlie would roll over in their graves if they knew of the tactics made in their name); and there’s reformed-leaning holiness group (although these folks would not like the “reformed” moniker…. But as you know, if it walks and quacks like a duck then…). There also seems to be a growing divide between USA/Canada and the world (See the vote regarding tongues). Over and over, the call was to be one in Christ. I pray we can be. Wherever we are from and whatever our bent happens to be.

In the end after all the votes cast and two new General Superintendents installed, the body in unity sang the doxology. It was a fitting closure to our week.

Now I’m back in Michigan and just met with a family preparing the funeral for a saint of the Lord. Tomorrow there’s a few graduation open houses I will be privileged to attend. And It’s Friday, so Sunday’s-a-comin’ and I’ve got a sermon to preach. For all the hoopla in Indy, the church is still about meeting people and sharing Jesus in our local setting. The local church is where the action is. The local Church of the Nazarene is the heart of the denomination, not the General Assembly. I’m glad I’m back in the Mitten.

See you in four-years! 

Stop Me If You’ve Heard this Before: The Church of the Nazarene “Ain’t” What She Used To Be.

Of course, the Church of the Nazarene isn’t what she used to be. She is 115 years old. Find any other institution that’s been around for that length of time and tell me it’s the same. I’ll save you the trouble, you won’t find it. It doesn’t exit.

Not a shocking admission: The world is different from 1908. So is the church. But is it worse? That’s what the aforementioned headline implies. It’s not the same and it’s worse. But is it?

When I was a kid there was no dancing. My folks sent a note to the Fifth-Grade gym teacher, Miss Norton, informing her that I was not to participate in the group square dancing. I was a Nazarene. If I could have had a membership class right there, every fifth-grade boy would be a Nazarene today. Fifth grade square dancing isn’t a slippery slope into a life of sin. 

My boys went to their senior proms. Most Nazarene teenagers do too these days. Nazarenes attending prom was unheard of 40 years ago. Instead of the prom, me and two other seventeen year old classmates drove to Cleveland, Ohio (from Detroit) to see the Cleveland Indians play the Boston Red Sox. We stayed in a seedy hotel that night and went to Cedar Point the next day. Looking back, we could have found far more trouble on our excursion than anything that occurred at the Garden City West Senior Prom. 

We couldn’t go to the movies either. I snuck out of the house as an eleventh grader to see Disney’s cartoon, Lady and the Tramp. It was my first movie. I was surrounded by second graders, thinking I was going to the Bad Place if Jesus returned at that moment. I’ve bumped into District Superintendents on my way out of the theatre now. 

The church has changed in ways besides the rules. 

There are more Nazarenes in Africa than in the United States. This is not a fact to be mourned but a reality to be celebrated. World Missions worked and is still working. Wasn’t seeing Africa turn to Jesus the goal when the first Nazarene stepped foot onto Capo Verde or Eswatini (Swaziland)? We might need our African brothers and sisters to return the favor (Praise the Lord!).

The Foundry and the Global Ministry Center are far less populated than in days’ past. And yet, ministry is still happening. Holiness publishing is still taking place. The work of the church continues. The valued employees of both entities work hard and are committed to the Church of the Nazarene. Is it different? Yes. Is it worse? Not necessarily.

The colleges and universities aren’t as “Nazarene” as they used to be. It’s true that the percentage of Nazarenes is at its lowest point in the USA/Canada schools, but is that a bad thing? My son married a non-Nazarene girl he met at Olivet. She’s a wonderful Christian. The addition of students from other traditions doesn’t water down who we are. It enriches the experience. 

There are challenges, factions and the church is faced with economic and ecclesiastical disaster as funds dwindle and clergy age. All true in deed. But is it worse than the challenges faced in the Great Depression or during world war time? Every generation brings challenges, but that doesn’t doom the church. The Church of the Nazarene is not yours, mine, Phineas F. Bresee’s or anyone else’s, it’s the Lord’s. As long as the church keeps her eyes on Jesus, she will be just fine—no matter what changes occur in the world. 

The headline is right, the Church of the Nazarene “ain’t” what she used to be. Neither are we. But that doesn’t make it bad. It makes it different. Sometimes different is OK.