From the Grave

In looking for a resource page among the wreckage of my undergraduate filing cabinet, I stumbled upon this article in the debris; this is from several years ago, when I was studying Nazarene history and polity:


'. . .Increasingly, we hear that our assignment is not to make Nazarenes but to win persons to Christ. There is partial truth in the claim, but it is an unbalanced assertion. Those who make it may be applauded for seeking to avoid sectarianism and escape mere institutionalism. But it overlooks the incarnational element of our faith. When Jesus came to earth, He became a part of a particular nation and people—Israel—while at the same time proclaiming a universal gospel (i.e., for all peoples everywhere).

'The Jesus people of the 1960s became a strong, but fleeting, voice in society. While some of their causes have influenced the thought processes and perspectives of succeeding cultures and decades, as a unit or as a united force they are no longer a significant power in America at the close of the century and the beginning of the new millennium. Why is this true? It is true primarily because they would have virtually nothing to do with the institutional or organized or historic Church of Jesus Christ! Consequently their group has dissipated, their voice has been silenced, and their influence minimized. One of the Early Church fathers [St. Cyprian] said, "No man can have God for his Father who will not have the Church for his mother."'

-John A. Knight, former General Superintendent, from his 'Bridge to Our Tomorrows'
http://www.nazarene.org/ministries/administration/centennial/history/heritage/display.aspx


. . .Almost you would make me a Christian, Dr. Knight.

-Rick