“We Are a Holiness People”

Richard Taylor wrote an article in 1999 called “Why the Holiness Movement Died.” In it, he said that there were many reasons for the demise or decline of the Holiness Movement. Quanstrom records Taylor’s thoughts: “The first and most basic reason was that the holiness message itself was not one that fallen creatures wanted to hear. Sinful people were inherently depraved and therefore predisposed to reject the doctrine. ‘Obtaining the experience [of entire sanctification] is humbling and costly. Few people are willing to pay the price.’ He acknowledged that the extravagant claims made for the second blessing were often unrealistic and, therefore, undermined the doctrine. He suggested that another reason for the decline was the hypocrisy of those who claimed to have been entirely sanctified. ‘Now we must at this point shamefacedly confess that a further contributing factor in the demise of the holiness movement was the shabby demonstration of holiness on the part of so many of its professors.’ He suggested that the influences of pastoral counseling and the church growth movement on the pastors of the denomination distracted them from their first obligation of preaching the message of heart holiness. Along with these was the general neglect on the part of pastors and others to read holiness literature.” Taylor also believed that professors who had earned their doctorates at liberal institutions had come back to Nazarene schools and had contributed to the demise. He also considered Mildred Bangs Wynkoop’s book A Theology of Love to carry much of the blame. Taylor was not the only one who called for a return to the traditional articulation of the doctrine. Along with him were Grider and Metz, professors at Nazarene Theological Seminary and MidAmerica Nazarene College. In 1999, the Nazarene Church responded to these concerns by printing a mission statement that was called “Core Values.” Quanstrom writes that “It declared that the Church of the Nazarene had been historically defined by three primary values, and it declared that the church was still defined by these values. The second of the three ‘core values’ was titled ‘Holiness,’ and it asserted without apology that Nazarenes were indeed a ‘holiness people.’” They affirmed that holiness was instantaneous as well as a lifelong process. Quanstrom says that this publication was a “highly edited work,” and that among those who contributed to it were Der. Ron Benefiel, president of NTS; Dr. Jim Bond, general superintendent; Wes Tracy, professor at NTS who had also been the editor of Herald of Holiness; and Dr. Carl Leth, pastor of Detroit First Church of the Nazarene, who is now the head of the School of Theology and Christian Ministry at Olivet Nazarene University. The three core values that were chosen for this publication were “Christian, Holiness, Missional,” which I might add are core values with which I could not agree more. Quanstrom writes that there is evidence that our denomination is confronting our theological ambiguity. He says that this can be seen in that many conferences and gatherings have been occurring in recent years with the purpose of educating on holiness and other issues. Some examples of this in recent years at Olivet would be the Holiness Summit in 2009 and the dialogue with Leonard Sweet in 2011. Nazarenes have not given up on holiness. Quanstrom says that the question for the Church of the Nazarene at the beginning of the 21st century is “how to understand this promise of freedom from sin as an amazing work of God’s grace in the believer’s life while acknowledging the reality of the deep sinfulness of humankind.” Quanstrom concludes his book by pointing back the symbol of the Liberty Memorial which for him symbolized the early Nazarenes’ great eschatological hope of heaven coming to earth through the holiness movement. This memorial had been neglected, fallen into disrepair, and finally closed in 1994. Quanstrom ends his book by saying that the Liberty Memorial was reopened in 2002. The people did not wish to see something so great ruined. One of the closing thoughts of this book is that perhaps the Church of the Nazarene came into existence not for the 20th century, but for the 21st century, and that our mission and purpose was foreseen by the first Nazarenes and is now being realized in our own time.