WESLEYAN-ANGLICAN SOCIETY SPECIAL DEAL

The Wesleyan-Anglican Society has an opportunity to possibly have a table in the exhibit hall during the Church of the Nazarene's Mission 15 Conference, February 9-11.

The M-15 Conference is the largest all-church gathering for Nazarenes in the U.S. & Canada between general assemblies. To have a table in the exhibition hall at this even would potentially give the WAS A LOT of exposure!

The cost of having a table is $400, and would be due in January. However, because of the lackluster response to our official membership process, we do not have the money needed to purchase a spot. Therefore, even though membership in the Society runs from Aldersgate (May 24) to Aldersgate, we are offering everyone who goes to our website, fills out the membership application and pays their dues during the month of December, not only current year membership, but 2015-2016 membership, as well! (And, yes, we will grandfather in those who have been faithful and have already paid dues AND filled out membership applications. Some have not done both!)

The WAS website can be found, here.

Join the Society, today!

The Book of Common Prayer

I recently posted the following video on my Facebook profile page.  It comes from St. Peter's Anglican Church in Evans, Georgia.  Their descriptor reads, "The Anglican Book of Common Prayer that guides our worship and forms our belief."

This, too, is our heritage as Wesleyan Christians.  We are reminded that John Wesley gave to us a conservative version of the Book of Common Prayer to guide our worship and form our beliefs, as well.  He called it "The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America." 

For those Wesleyan/Methodist Christians who are unfamiliar with our Prayer Book heritage, I comment "The Sunday Service" to you.  -  May God truly shape our faith and life.

Post by St. Peter's Anglican Church Evans Georgia.

The Sacramental Nature of Baptism As Seen In Song

This evening, during Evening Prayer, I finished singing through Wesley Hymns (edited by Ken Bible) . . . at least for this go around!  -  The last hymn in the book expresses the sacramental nature of baptism, nicely.  This is a good reminder for Wesleyan Christians (especially Evangelical ones) that we differ from many "Evangelical Christians" at this point.  Instead, we stand in line with our Methodist and Anglican forefathers, back to the Ancient and New Testament Church.

Many of our Evangelical sisters and brothers (e.g., Baptists), view holy baptism (and holy communion) as a mere ordinance.  (I say mere, because ordinances they surely are.  Even the hymn uses that term.  However, they are not merely so.)  As a mere ordinance, our sisters and brothers of this tradition view baptism as something that, while commanded by Christ, is exclusively understood to be a testimony by the one being baptized concerning what Christ has done in his/her life by faith.

We Wesleyans would affirm that, when a convert is being baptized, s/he is, indeed, testifying to what Christ has done in her/his life by faith . . . but we believe that this testimony is secondary.  Along with our forefathers in the faith, we believe that holy baptism is primarily God's work.  That is to say, we believe that baptism is not just an ordinance.  It is also a sacrament.  Whether the one being baptized is an infant or an adult convert, when we come to the waters of baptism with faith in Christ, God is present and at work.  Further, as the hymn makes clear, we believe that the whole of the Holy Trinity is at work in this sacrament.

To be sure, it is not an "automatic thing" simply because we go through the outward motions of a ritual.  Nevertheless, God's promised presence is granted to those who come with faith in Him.

Charles Wesley expresses this sacramental nature of baptism in this hymn:

 

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost

1. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
In solemn pow'r come down!

Present with Thy heav'nly host,
Thine ordinance to crown,
See a sinful soul of earth!
Bless to him the cleansing flood!
Plunge him, by a second birth,
Into the depths of God.

2. Let the promised inward grace
Accompany the sign;
On this newborn soul impress
The character divine!
Father, all Thy name reveal;
Jesus, all Thy name impart;
Holy Ghost, renew and dwell
Forever in his heart!

 

 

(Charles Wesley)

N.T. Wright : Husband and Wife - A Signpost for Heaven & Earth and God's Creation

The following is a video of N.T. Wright addressing the Humanum Colliquium.  I found it posted on my friend, Fr. James Gibson's blog, Locust and Wild Honey.  If it were not for his post, I couldn't have copied it, here!

I found +Wright's video to be well worth watching.  I hope you do, as well.

Phineas F. Bresee

(I originally wrote the following piece for "For All the Saints: A Calendar of Commemorations Second Edition," edited by Heather Josselyn-Cranson, OSL 2013.  )

Phineas Franklin Bresee was born to Phineas and Susan Brown Bresee in Franklin, NY, December 31, 1838.  At 16, Bresee experience his own “warmed heart” through a personal faith in Christ.  Soon, thereafter, he sensed a call to ministry and was granted a Methodist exhorter’s license.  He was ordained a deacon in 1859 and an elder two years later.[1]

In 1867, in Chariton Iowa, Bresee “entered into the blessing of entire sanctification.”[2]  Bresee had struggled with doubt.  The altar call after his sermon that night produced only one seeker; Bresee, himself.  “. . . [A]s I cried to [the Lord] that night, he seemed to open heaven on me, and gave me . . . the baptism with the Holy Ghost . . . it not only took away my tendencies to worldliness, anger and pride, but it also removed the doubt.”[3]  That experience of Christian Perfection would have a huge impact on Breese’s ministry.

Bresee served rural charges, and then large, urban churches in Iowa[4] and, after 1883, Los Angeles and Pasadena, CA.  He was appointed presiding elder in West Des Moines (1864)[5] and in Los Angeles.[6]  Further, Bresee served as a delegate to multiple General Conferences.[7]

Education was important to Bresee, as was seen by his serving on the board of Simpson College[8] and the University of Southern California.[9]  Later, Bresee became the president of Pacific Bible College (now Point Loma Nazarene University).[10]

 By the mid-1890’s, Breese’s commitment to the message of holiness led to his role as vice president of the National Holiness Association (NHA).  The experience of holiness also brought a passion for the poor.  The first miracle after the baptism with the Holy Ghost was upon a beggar, and so, Bresee reasoned, the priority of a Holy Ghost-baptized church ought to be the poor.[11]  This passion led him to withdraw from the MEC’s appointive system in 1894 to serve with the Peniel Mission.  However, while away, preaching for the NHA, Bresee was ousted from the Mission.  He was now left without the Mission or a MEC appointment.[12]

Thus, at the request of a number of southern California’s Holiness people, the Church of the Nazarene was organized on October 20, 1895 as a “Christian work, especially evangelistic and city mission work, and the spreading of the doctrine and experience of Christian holiness.”[13]  Bresee was the general superintendent of a growing holiness denomination.  A series of mergers with other regional holiness groups established the church as a national denomination in 1908 at Pilot Point, TX.[14]

Bresee served as the denomination’s senior general superintendent until his death on November 13, 1915.  He left behind his wife, Maria, six children, and what would become the largest denomination in the Wesleyan-Holiness wing of Methodism.

---

[1] Ingersol, Stan. Nazarene Roots: Pastors, Prophets, Revivalists & Reformers. Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City. 2009. p. 87-88.

[2] Bangs, Carl. Phineas F. Bresee: His Life in Methodism, the Holiness Movement, and the Church of the Nazarene. Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City. 1995. p. 71-73, 77.

[3] Girvin, E.A. Phineas F. Bresee: A Prince in Israel. Kansas City, MO. Nazarene Publishing House. 1916. p. 50-52.

[4] Ingersol. p. 88.

[5] Kostlevy, William C., Ed. Historical Dictionary of the Holiness Movement. Lanham, Maryland, and London. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. p. 28-29.

[6] Bangs. p. 286.

[7] Ingersol. p. 88-89.

[8] Ibid. p. 88.

[9] Kostlevy. p. 29.

[10] Ingersol. p. 91.

[11] Ibid. p. 88-89.

[12] Kostlevy. p. 29.

[13] Bangs. p. 195-196.

[14] Kostlevy. p. 29.

One Desire

We live in a world in which we hear from certain supposed "Christian leaders" that God's greatest desire is to bless us with financial success.  This supposed "gospel message" is broadcast via TV, radio and the internet, and is found in print in best selling "Christian" books.  These "Christian leaders" encourage Christians to pursue such "blessings" in the name of Jesus; a pursuit, it must be pointed out, that is no different in kind than the pursuit of secular minded non-Christians throughout the world . . . save that it is done "in Jesus' name."

As readers of this blog know, it is my custom to (usually) include some hymns while praying the office of Morning Prayer.  Currently, I am singing from Wesley Hymns, compiled by Ken Bible (Lillenas Publishing).  Today's hymn, along with the passage quoted below the hymn, provide a wonderful corrective to the popular message described, above.  The hymn, of course, is a (very short) hymn by Charles Wesley, and the quote following the hymn comes from John Wesley's A Plain Account of Christian Perfection.

May the words of this hymn and John Wesley's words be true for me and for the whole Church!

O My All-sufficient God

O my all-sufficient God,

Thou know'st my heart's desire;

Be this only thing bestowed;

I nothing else require,

Nothing else in earth or skies,

Not through all eternity;

Heav'n itself could not suffice:

I seek not Thine, but Thee.

 

"One design you are to pursue to the end of time, the enjoyment of God in time and in eternity.  Desire other things so far as they tend to this; love the creature, as it leads to the Creator.  But in every step you take, be this the glorious point that terminates your view.  Let every affection, and thought, and word, and action, be subordinate to this.  Whatever you desire or fear, whatever you seek or shun, whatever you think, speak, or do, be it in order to your happiness in God, the sole end, as well as source, of your being."



Thou Hidden Source of Calm Repose

The following Wesley hymn was one of the hymns I sang during Morning Prayer, today.  I thought that I should post it, here.  May God bless you through it!

Thou Hidden Source of Calm Repose

1. Thou hidden Source of calm repose,

Thou all-sufficient love divine;

My help and refuge from my foes,

Secure I am, if Thou art mine.

And lo! from sin and grief and shame

I hide me, Jesus, in Thy name.

 

2. Thy mighty name salvation is,

And keeps my happy soul above;

Comfort it brings, and power and peace,

And joy and everlasting love.

To me, with Thy dear name, are giv'n

Pardon and holiness and heav'n.

 

3. Jesus, my all-in-all Thou art;

My rest in toil, my ease in pain,

The healing of my broken heart;

In war my peace, in loss my gain,

My smile beneath the tyrant's frown;

In shame my glory and my crown.

 

4. In want my plentiful supply,

In weakness my almighty power,

In bonds my perfect liberty,

My light in Satan's darkest hour;

In grief my joy unspeakable,

My life in death, my heav'n in hell.

A Hymn for All Saints

Come, Let Us Join Our Friends Above

 

1.  Come, let us join our friends above

Who have obtained the prize,

And on the eagle wings of love

To joys celestial rise.

Let saints on earth unite to sing

With those to glory gone;

For all the servants of our King,

In earth and heav'n, are one.

 

2.  One family we dwell in Him,

One Church above, beneath,

Though now divided by the stream,

The narrow stream of death.

One army of the living God,

To His command we bow;

Part of His host have crossed the flood

And part are crossing now.

 

3.  Ten thousand to their endless home

This solemn moment fly;

And we are to the margin come,

And we expect to die.

E'en now by faith we join our hands

With those who went before,

And greet the blood-besprinkled bands

On the eternal shore.

 

4.  Our spirits, too, shall quickly join,

Like theirs with glory crowned,

And shout to see our Captain's sign,

To hear His trumpet sound.

Jesus, be Thou our constant Guide;

Then, when the word is giv'n,

Bid Jordan's narrow stream divide

And bring us safe to heav'n.

 

(Charles Wesley)

The Commemoration for James Arminius

Today, being a Sunday, would move the commemoration for Arminius, since the Lord's Day trumps all other celebrations.  Nevertheless, October 19 is the day set aside for him in For All the Saints: A Calendar of Commemorations (Second Edition).  I had the privilege of writing the entry for Arminius (as well as James Varick & Phineas Bresee).  Below is my article as it appears in the book:

Jacob (or James) Arminius, Dutch pastor and theologian, was born the son of Harmon and Elborch Jacobsz in Oudewater, Holland in 1559.  he received his early education at Utrecht.  In 1575, Arminius' mother and siblings were killed during the Spanish massacre of Oudewater.  Through the generosity of friends, Arminius was able to study at the University of Marburg and, from 1576 to 1581, at the University of Leyden.  Through the support of the Merchants' Guild of Amsterdam, Arminius went on to Geneva where he studied under Theodore Beza from 1582 to 1586, including a year at Basel.  Returning to the Netherlands in 1587, he began a fifteen-year pastorate in Amsterdam.  There he was ordained in 1588.  In 1603 he received his doctor's degree from Leyden and became the university's professor of theology.

When the United Netherlands (Dutch Republic) became independent, Calvinism became the official state religion.  However, Arminius could not accept the popular predestination position.  Instead, he attempted to modify Calvinism so that God could not be viewed as the author of sin and so that human choice might be safeguarded.  Arminius, facing much opposition, was reluctant to express anti-Calvinistic views, but, as time went on, he was accused for what he refused to say and write.

Arminius urged the government officials to call a national synod so that he might openly present his positions.  However, in 1609 he became ill and died, nine years before the synod was called.  The year following his death, Arminius' followers presented a Remonstrance over against the five points of Calvinism.  They "held that Christ died for all men [sic], that salvation is by faith alone, that those who believe are saved, that those who reject God's grace are lost, and that God does not elect particular individuals for either outcome.

Arminius taught that Christ is the object of God's decree.  The predestination of individuals is conditional, depending upon teir acceptance or rejection of Christ.  In other words, God, according to divine foreknowledge, has predetermined to save all who place their faith in Christ and continue in that faith.

Although condemned by those of a Calvinist persuasion at the Synod of Dort in 1618, Arminian teaching has, nevertheless, gained permanent standing in john Wesley and the Wesley[an]/Methodist tradition.
_________________________________________________________________
The following sources were referenced in the article in the book:
Carl Bangs, Arminius: A Study in the Dutch Reformation.
Williston Walter, et. al.  A History of the Christian Church 4th ed.
Elgin S. Moyer, Who Was Who in Church History.
Kenneth Scott LaTourette, A History of Christianity, vol. 2. "Reformation to the Present."

The Feast of St. Luke

Today, we celebrate the Feast of Saint Luke the Evangelist.  Luke was unique as a New Testament writer.  He was a Gentile and a physician.  He was also a fellow missionary with St. Paul.  St. Luke is the author of both the Gospel bearing his name, as well as the book of Acts.

Of the four Gospel accounts, Luke is the only one that tells us about the annunciation to Mary, her visit with Elizabeth, Jesus in the manger, the angels appearing to the shepherds, and the story of Simeon, the boy Jesus teaching in the Temple, the story of the Good Samaritan, the prodigal son, Lazarus and Dives, Zacchaeus (that wee little man!), and the Emmaus Road account of the resurrection (where Jesus is made known in the breaking of the bread).  There are in Luke's Gospel account six miracles and eighteen parables that are not found in the other three accounts.

In Acts, Luke tells us about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church.  He also tells us about the spread of Christianity "around the world."

 

A Prayer for the Feast of St. Luke

 

O Shepherd of us all, who inspired your servant Saint Luke the Physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of Jesus:  Grant, we ask you, your Spirit to your whole Church that we might be rich toward you in worship and in service to the poor; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

 

(Information drawn from Lesser Feasts and Fasts 1997 and from For All the Saints: A Calendar of Commemorations Second Edition.)

I Want a Principle Within

During Morning Prayer, as has been my custom, I sang some hymns.  I have rotated between the Nazarene "Sing to the Lord" hymnal and various collections of Wesley hymns.  Currently, I am once again singing through the "Wesley Hymns" hymnal compiled by Ken Bible and published through Lillenas Publishing Co. (Nazarene).

Today's hymns included the following by Charles Wesley.  -  It is my prayer, and I hope that it will be yours, as well.

1. I want a principle within

Of watchful, godly fear,

A sensibility of sin,

A pain to feel it near.
I want the first approach to feel

Of pride or wrong desire,

To catch the wand'ring of my will,

And quench the kindling fire.

 

2. That I from Thee no more may part,

No more Thy goodness grieve,

The filial* awe, the fleshly heart,

The tender conscience, give.

Quick* as the apple of an eye*,

O God, my conscience make;

Awake my soul when sin is nigh

And keep it still awake.

 

3. If to the right or left I stray,

That moment, Lord, reprove;

And let my spirit weep and pray

For having grieved Thy love.

O may the least omission pain

My well-instructed soul!

And drive me to the blood again,

Which makes the wounded whole.

 

_____________________________________________________________________

2/3 "filial" - of a son or daughter; here the awe of a child for his/her parent.

2/4 "quick" - alert, perceptive, sensitive.

2/5 "the apple of an eye" - that which is highly prized or dear; see Prov. 7:2

Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop Thomas Cranmer

Today we celebrate Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (1556).  One of my seminary professors once commented, as we look back to John Wesley as our spiritual father, we ought to look to Thomas Cranmer as a spiritual grandfather.

Cranmer was the major force in the English Reformation, and the person to whom thanks is due (in Christ!) for the Book of Common Prayer (in its variety of forms). Cranmer was primarily responsible for the very first Book of Common Prayer in 1549 and its first revision in 1552. In his development of the BCP, Cranmer followed closely the medieval forms of worship, especially the Old Sarum rites.

The 1662 BCP, which is still in use in the Church of England, as well as other Anglican provinces, and which is considered the standard by which all other Prayer Books are gaged, was a revision of Cranmer's previous work.

In the preface to his own edition of the (1662) BCP (viz., The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America), John Wesley says, "I believe there is no liturgy in the world, either in ancient or modern language, which breathes more of a solid, scriptural, rational piety, than the Common Prayer of the Church of England. And though the main of it was compiled considerably more than two hundred years ago, yet is the language of it, not only pure, but strong and elegant in the highest degree."

Thomas Cranmer was born in Aslockton, Nottinghamshire on July 2, 1489. He earned his B.A., M.A. & a Fellowship from Jesus College, Cambridge, and became a Doctor of Divinity, a lecturer in the same school. Cranmer was highly influenced by the Lutheran reformers. King Henry the Eighth, with confirmation from the Pope, appointed Cranmer to the See of Canterbury, and he was consecrated Archbishop on March 30, 1533.

When Queen Mary the First took the throne, as a staunch Roman Catholic, she had Cranmer arrested due to the protestant reforms he had implemented in the English Church. On March 21, 1556, Thomas Cranmer, along with other church leaders, was burned at the stake.

Thomas Cranmer has and continues to influence countless Christians in their spiritual formation and lives through the Book of Common Prayer, and all who use a version of the Book of Common Prayer or a liturgy that has been influence by one of the Prayer Books owe an immeasurable debt to Thomas Cranmer.

Even non-liturgical Nazarenes owe an immense debt to Cranmer. Our own ritual for the Lord's Supper in our Manual (Book of Discipline) was an abbreviated form of the Methodist Episcopal ritual, which came from Wesley's Sunday Service, which was a version of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. Closer to home, Wesley's understanding of holiness was, in many ways, shaped and supported by the liturgy of the Anglican Church, and the Collect of Purity at the beginning of the Communion service has been said to encapsulate our understanding of holiness.

For more information on Thomas Cranmer, I commend to you the Episcopal Church's Lesser Feasts and Fasts - 1997, For All the Saints: A Calendar of Commemorations Second Edition (OSL), and the "Introduction" to James' printing of The First English Prayer Book.

Let us give thanks to God for Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury!

Investiture Service for ACNA Archbishop

Well, I didn't make it!  -  I had strongly considered driving to Atlanta last week to attend the Investiture service of the Most Rev'd. Dr. Foley Beach as the new Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America.  I was planning to register my attendance as president of the Wesleyan-Anglican Society.  (I sent a congratulatory letter on behalf of the WAS upon the Archbishop's election.) 

In fact, I wrote a letter to the Board of General Superintendents of the Church of the Nazarene requesting that the send a congratulatory letter and offering to deliver it to the Archbishop on their behalf.  It was my hope that this would be a step that could eventually lead to some kind of dialogue between our two churches.  -  Unfortunately, I think the NPH scandal (cf. articles below) has kept them preoccupied.  (Though I was told I would hear back from them, I have not.)  Perhaps they did send a letter or will yet send one.

In any case, I did not make the trip to Atlanta.  -  Watching the video of the service, I wish I had.  -  I am thankful that the ACNA has made the video available on their website and have allowed it to be shared.

I would encourage the friends and members of the Wesleyan-Anglican Society, as well as readers of this blog to pray for the new Archbishop and for our sisters and brothers in the Anglican Church in North America.

In addition to generally encouraging the watching of the video, below, I especially encourage those who wonder what "Wesleyan/Anglican" might look like to watch the video.  -  Obviously, it is a very special kind of service, and there could be certain changes that might make a particular "Wesleyan" emphasis.  However, in general, and especially the "spirit" of the service is reflective of the image I have of "Wesleyan/Anglican."

New Logo for Nazarene Theological Seminary

 

 

 

 

Nazarene Theological Seminary recently revealed their new logo (above).  You can read about it on the NTS website, here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NTS President Inaugarated

Yesterday saw the inauguration of the Rev'd. Dr. Carla Sunberg as the President of Nazarene Theological Seminary (where I received my  Master's degree).  -  Nazarene Communications Network published the following article.  -  Congratulations Carla!  Expecting a great future for NTS!



Nazarene Theological Seminary celebrated the inauguration of its 10th president, Carla D. Sunberg, this week. The October 2 service took place in the J. B. Chapman Memorial Chapel on the seminary's Kansas City campus. Sunberg was elected president January 3.

The service included greetings and words of congratulation from sister institutions, former presidents, and representatives from the international church, faculty, alumni association, student body, and her family — the latter two delivered by her daughter, Cara Shonamon. In addition to celebrating all that has taken place at NTS since her election in January — including increased summer enrollment, increased giving from donors, and the largest Seminarian Offering in six years — the service included Sunberg's inaugural address, which cast a challenging vision for the seminary.

Following the investiture ceremony during which NTS Board of Trustees Chair Jeren Rowell officially installed Sunberg as president, prayers of consecration were offered by Church of the Nazarene General Superintendent Emerita Nina G. Gunter, General Superintendent David A. Busic, and General Superintendent Emeritus Jerald D. Johnson, Sunberg's father.

Prior to her election, Sunberg was co-district superintendent for East Ohio with her husband, Chuck. They were called to East Ohio while pastoring at Grace Point Church of the Nazarene in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Carla served as pastor of evangelism and discipleship.

Carla was ordained as an elder in the Church of the Nazarene during the 13 years that she and Chuck served as missionaries in the former Soviet Union, where Carla was director of compassionate ministries, as well as director of theological education.

She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Historical Theology from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, a Master of Arts from Nazarene Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor of Science from MidAmerica Nazarene University. In 2012, Olivet Nazarene University awarded her an honorary Doctor of Divinity.

Carla has served on the denomination's General Board, on the NTS Board of Trustees, as Alumni Association president for NTS, as a member and chairperson of the USA/Canada Region's Nazarene Women Clergy Council, and as a member of the denomination's Pensions & Benefits USA Board. In addition, after serving on its board as the official representative for the Church of the Nazarene, Carla also served as president of Wesleyan-Holiness Women Clergy.

Sunberg closed her inaugural address by saying, "When elected to this position a friend wrote and said, 'I'm not so much worried about what it [the seminary] looks like five years from now as I am about the fact that it still exists as an indispensable partner in ministerial preparation and competency for God-called ministers to a complex and needy world.'

"The winds may blow in ways we have never imagined and the look may never be the same, but may we allow the wind to take us in the direction of God's leading and may this place — this seminary — continue to be that 'indispensable partner' united together with God and with the Church in faithful service to God's mission in the world," she said. "With God, all things are possible!"

Episcopal Statement Issued from the Board of General Superintendents Concerning NPH

Today, Nazarene Communications Network published the following "Pastoral Letter" from the Board of General Superintendents.  This is a follow-up from the previous article posted on this blog.

 

To the Global Nazarene Family:

We are deeply saddened to inform you of the news that Nazarene Publishing House (NPH) will cease their current operations as of 1 December 2014. This date was announced to comply with the WARN Act (The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act), a Federal law in the United States. This act offers protection to workers, their families, and communities by providing notice 60 days in advance of large layoffs. Steps have been taken at this time to ensure that all NPH employees will retain their positions through 1 December 2014, with a severance package if they remain as employees through that date.

Hundreds of our Nazarene family members have sent letters and emails expressing concern and asking questions about what has happened and what is being done to deal with this crisis. This is evidence of how much you love your church and care about her mission. We wish there was a way to answer every inquiry personally. However, this letter is an attempt to address the church corporately.

There is much that could be said about how we have come to this point – certainly more than any letter can contain. But we feel it is important to try.

NPH has served its mission and our denomination faithfully and well for 102 years. It has provided excellent holiness literature, music, and resources. Hundreds of godly men and women have served the church through NPH. We owe them a debt of gratitude from the entire denomination. Words are not adequate to express our heartfelt thanks for their selfless, Christ-honoring service.

As a business, NPH has experienced many profitable years. A great deal of the income that has been generated through NPH has been poured back into the mission and work of the church, even beyond the walls of the House. Recent years have been more financially difficult. Due to shifting cultural circumstances including changes in the church, NPH has found itself having to adapt to new paradigms in order to maintain financial stability and sustainability. Net profits have decreased dramatically over the last decade to the point that the company was forced to draw heavily on financial reserves to stay afloat. The economic downturn of 2008 only deepened the pending crisis.

In 2012, with the election of a new leader for NPH by the General Board, plans were laid for yet another change in paradigm for NPH, including the acquisition of a new business unit for NPH. This was done with the sincere hope that NPH would be set on new trajectory and ultimately be stronger. Simply put: it did not work. It was a miscalculation on many levels. While it was obvious that the business model for NPH needed to change, we now know that these decisions likely hastened the crisis.

Over the course of the past year, many steps have been taken to try and rescue what we could. We have worked within our denominational structures, including the elected NPH Board of Directors, the Church of the Nazarene General Board Executive Committee, and many other individuals and entities to bring about the best resolutions possible. All of these individuals have worked faithfully and diligently navigating these difficult waters.

We have all done our best to act within the structures of our polity and to act on the information we had at any given moment. But we also acknowledge, that in the process, mistakes have been made, some systems have been inadequate, and even our best attempts for good and godly decisions have fallen short. This includes some actions of the Board of General Superintendents. We fully own and regret the ways we have contributed to the problems at hand.

In the midst of everything that has happened, perhaps our biggest regret is the breach of trust felt by many. We apologize for what has appeared as poor decisions, a failure to act sooner, or even the appearance of wrongdoing. There have been many times when the complexities of legal, financial, business, and polity issues prevented us from speaking widely about the issues at hand. We now realize our communication could have been and should have been much better. We ask your forgiveness for this.

Despite many opinions to the contrary, it is important to say, we do not believe anyone has made intentional decisions to hurt the church. Additionally, no World Evangelism Funds have been used to support the losses of NPH.

This has been a very difficult year for all involved. One member of our Board recently reflected, "This is the most difficult, complex crisis I have faced in all my years as a general superintendent." Hundreds of hours have been spent in conversation and prayer. There have been many times that we found ourselves at such a loss in knowing what to do next that we fell on our faces before God, crying out for His wisdom and discernment. God has been faithful to help.

We believe that God is even now at work to help us forge a new path.

The Board of General Superintendents took action several weeks ago to declare NPH in crisis. Since that time, a new crisis management team of advisors has been formed and is beginning the careful work of closing down the current operations of NPH.

Furthermore, in consultation with the General Board Executive Committee, we are also appointing a task force to help envision how holiness material will be provided for the future. While the current business model of NPH will be closing, this new way will continue to provide the necessary resources to educate and equip our pastors and laypersons around the world. NPH maintains resources that will help give birth to a new, dynamic publishing model.

More information regarding this new model will be forthcoming. In the meantime, several months of Sunday school curriculum is already prepared and will be available to our churches. NPH is in the process of shipping the December-January-February curriculum. They are also accepting orders, and working through the details with the intent to ship the March-April-May curriculum during the month of December.

We covet your continued prayers as we move forward. Most of all, we ask you to support the current NPH employees through prayer and any other way possible. They are our friends and loved ones.

We realize this letter will not answer every question and address every concern. Please receive it with the humility in which it is intended.

May God help us as we forge a new path to provide Wesleyan-Holiness resources that support our mission to make Christlike disciples in the nations.

Grace and peace,

--Board of General Superintendents

The letter, above, was originally published, here.  Let us be in prayer for the employees of NPH, for the future of NPH & for the bgs.

Nazarene Publishing House in Financial Crisis

Nazarene Communications Network has just published the following news release:

Board of General Superintendents declares Nazarene Publishing House in financial crisis       

Monday, September 29, 2014

Kansas City, Missouri

In light of the most recent report to the Board of General Superintendents (BGS) from the leadership of Nazarene Publishing House (NPH), the BGS unanimously moved to declare NPH in financial crisis. This action was taken in consultation with and support of the Executive Committee of the General Board.

Additionally, in further consultation with the BGS and the Executive Committee of the General Board, members of the NPH board of directors have resigned from their positions in order to create a small interim crisis management team to help navigate next steps. The BGS expresses appreciation for their service during this challenging time. The members of this crisis management team will be nominated by the BGS to serve as an interim board of directors of NPH.

Speaking on behalf of the Board of General Superintendents, David Graves, BGS chair, emphasized that "the long-term publishing goal is to have a sustainable Wesleyan-Holiness voice representing the Church of the Nazarene and its mission to make Christlike disciples in the nations."

Further announcements will be made as recommendations and plans are approved.

The church is asked to remember NPH and its employees in prayer.

--Board of General Superintendents

(The original post can be found here.)

+N.T. Wright on "Space, Time, and Sacraments"

Though this recording took place seven years ago . . . it's +N.T. Wright!  -  No, though this recording took place seven years ago, I just ran across it on Facebook and thought it very much worth sharing.

Bishop N.T. Wright N.T. Wright on "Space, Time, and Sacraments" at Calvin College on January 6, 2007.




(For the full video and audio of this presentation, please visit this website.)

Christ Will Come Again

             It has been interesting, in recent days, to see the number of, not just “family oriented” movies, but the overtly “Christian” movies being shown in movie theaters.  God’s Not Dead and Heaven’s For Real are the two big examples, thus far.  We have had biblical themed Hollywood movies, as well.  There was Noah, which, while having a much bigger budget and all of the Hollywood special effects, took such creative license that it just ruined the movie in terms of being true to the biblical story.  I am much more hopeful for the movie about Moses and the Exodus scheduled to be released in December.
            Nevertheless, these latter two are different from the former two.  The latter two seek to tell a biblical story, i.e., at least a story based upon a story in the Bible.  However, they are not being produced in order to propagate either a Jewish or Christian faith.  They are being produced . . . to make money . . . and, perhaps, to make an artistic contribution.  This is different from the other two that I have mentioned.

You see, the former two may hope to make money, as well, but they come from and seek to express a particular understanding of the Christian faith.  They seek to be a means of evangelism, or at least a Christian apology.  More specifically they seek to express the Christian faith as understood in popular evangelical circles.

On October 3 we will see the release of yet another movie that seeks to be “evangelical.”  It seeks to promote a particular understanding of a certain aspect of the Christian faith that is popular in many American evangelical circles.  -  The problem is it is wholly unbiblical.  It is based on a misunderstanding of Scripture which first made its appearance in the 1800’s (which means it was wholly absent in Christian teaching for 1800 years!).

New 2014 Movie

The movie in question is Left Behind.  It is actually a remake of a movie that starred Kirk Cameron some fourteen years ago.  It is based on Tim LaHay’s popular Left Behind novel series.  But, to be clear, while the books and the movie, themselves, are works of fiction, they represent a very real (though mistaken) theology.  This time around, the movie has a bigger budget and a little more star power in the form of Nicolas Cage, which makes it even more unfortunate.

Original 2007 Movie

So what’s the problem with Left Behind?  It is the whole concept of a “secret rapture” where people (Christians and children) all of a sudden simply disappear without a trace leaving planes hurling toward the ground and cars careening off of cliffs.  -  What is wrong with that?  Well, there is not one verse in Scripture that teaches that . . . nowhere . . . not one.

            Oh, there are two passages (two only) that are referenced to support this understanding.  The first is 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 which says:

For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.

The second comes from Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24:36-44 which, in part, says:

. . . so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.  Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.  Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. . . .

          “Well, of course,” some might say, “there you have it in black and white” (or red, if you have a red letter edition).  But is that the case?  -  Take a closer look.  Neither passage says anything about people disappearing without a trace.  Neither passage says anything about this being some secret event, where people have no clue as to what happened.  Neither passage says anything about our going to heaven to live eternally with the Lord.  Neither passage says anything about leaving a world in chaos.  So what do they say and how are they to be understood?
            Let’s look at the Thessalonian passage, first.  What we find here is something that those in the Middle East would readily recognize.  It draws on the image of when a king comes to a city.  When a king is arriving at a city, before he ever actually enters the city, loud trumpets are sounded.  People go out of the city in order to meet the arriving king, and they then usher him in in great fanfare and glory.  In fact, as was pointed out by the Rev’d. Peter Doyle, a colleague of mine, the actual Greek verb used in the passage is used in two other places in the New Testament.  In both of those places it specifies this very action of going out in order to usher one into the city.  In other words, far from our disappearing without a trace, we are going out to usher our King, Jesus, back upon His return to rule and reign forever!  And, as is stated in the Book of the Revelation, every eye will see Him.

            What, then do we make of the meeting Him in the air/clouds and our being with Him forever?  We meet Him in the clouds, because Paul is emphasizing what was stated by the angels in the Book of Acts, viz., “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (1:11).  He is affirming what Jesus has said about His coming in the clouds, and what St. John wrote, “Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him . . .”   And, indeed, we will be with Him forever, for He has returned to dwell among us forever!

            How are we, then, to understand Jesus’ teaching in Matthew, then?  Well, it is helpful to read it in context.  -  If we start back in verse 29, we discover that this is in the context of Jesus’ second (and final coming), when “. . . all the tribes of the earth will . . . see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory” (vs. 30).  So, again, this is not a secret rapture, where no one knows what happened.

            In the immediate context, Jesus is explicitly stating that it will be like “the days of Noah”:

For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.  Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left . . .” (vs. 37-40).

 

In other words, it is the one who is taken that is the one who is in trouble!  They are the ones who are “swept away in judgment.”  The Rev’d. Joel Parsons, another one of my colleagues, lets us know that we want to be “left behind,” because to be taken is to be taken in divine judgment!  That is clear from the context of this verse.

            And folks, that was the understanding of these passages found in the entire Church until the 1830’s!  And, it remains the understanding of these passages in the vast majority of the Church, today.  The exception is in much of the American evangelical world which has been indoctrinated with this new (novel) position.

            So, if that is the case, then where in the world did this whole secret rapture idea come from?  -  Well, hold on to your seats!  -  It originated in Scotland with the purported vison of a fifteen-year-old girl named Margaret MacDonald.  She reported that her vision revealed this “two-staged” second coming.  In other words, Jesus came in the incarnation, He would “come” secretly to “rapture” the Church away, and then He would come yet again in glory to reign.  -  In no place does the Bible teach this.

            Nevertheless, her vision caught the attention of an evangelist named John Darby, who went looking for biblical support for this girl’s visions.  The “support” he found?  The two passages cited, above.  From this, Darby developed an entire system to talk about the “end times.”  The message was popularized in a war ravaged America by Dwight L. Moody and the Scofield Bible.  The people of the day were quite open to this idea of escape, because, in the midst of war, they had lost hope in the concept of redeeming the world.  As the message spread, organizations like Moody Bible Institute and Dallas Theological Seminary arose promoting this new dispensational understanding of the “last days.”  And so the evangelical community embraced the various “end times experts” and had their visions reinforced by popular novels and other books.

            But, if we should “leave behind” the misunderstandings that form the basis of the Left Behind movie, then where should we Wesleyan Christians stand?  -  We should stand with the Scriptures and the historic teachings of the Church.  We hold to the ecumenical and orthodox faith of the Church as found in the creeds.  We do not find in them any mention of a secret rapture, but rather they clearly affirm our beliefs in the resurrection of the body and that Jesus will “come again to judge the living and the dead.”  In short, we believe that “Christ had died; Christ is risen; and Christ will come again!”  -  Thanks be to God!

 
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Special thanks goes to Randall Hardman, whose blog article prompted this article.