METHODIST MONDAY: 31 AUGUST 2026

  "Methodist Monday" is a series of simple posts that provide some very brief quotes from early Nazarene leaders that demonstrate the underlying "Methodist" identity of the Church of the Nazarene.  -  This week's quote comes from E. F. Walker, General Superintendent, 1909:

"Scratch a real Nazarene, and you will touch an original Methodist; skin a genuine Methodist, and behold a Nazarene!"

Ancient Paths Church of the Nazarene . . . Living Out the Historic Faith

 Here is a video that introduces our church, Ancient Paths Church of the Nazarene, using the Historical Statement found in the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene.  I have included the text of the Statement, below the video.

If you find yourself in Georgetown, Indiana, join us for worship - 10:30 Sunday mornings at 2278 Canal Lane.

HISTORICAL STATEMENT

    The Church of the Nazarene confesses itself to be a branch of Christ’s “one, holy, universal1, and apostolic” church, embracing as its own the history of God’s people recorded in the Old and New Testaments and God’s people through the ages, in all expressions of Christ’s church. Our denomination

receives the creeds of the first five Christian centuries as expressions of its own faith. We identify with the historic church in preaching the Word, administering the sacraments, maintaining a ministry of apostolic faith and practice, and inculcating the disciplines of Christlike living and service. Our

denomination heeds the Biblical call to holy living and entire devotion to God, which we proclaim through the theology of entire sanctification.

    Our Christian heritage was mediated through the 16th-century English Reformation and 18th-century Wesleyan revival. . . .

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1 The traditional word is catholic, which means of the whole or universal.  Recognizing that there are those, both inside and outside of the denomination for whom the traditional term is confusing, bringing to their mind only the Roman Catholic Church, we have opted for the the word universal, which seeks to more clearly express what the word catholic means.

WESLEY WEDNESDAY: 26 AUGUST 2026

 This week's Wesley Wednesday quote come from John Wesley's A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, and it focuses on prayer:


"38.     (5) . . . God does nothing but in answer to prayer; . . . Every new victory which a soul gains is the effect of a new prayer.
    "On every occasion of uneasiness, we should retire to prayer, that we may give place to the grace and light of God, and then form our resolutions, without being in any pain about what success they may have.
    "In the greatest temptations, a single look to Christ, and the barely pronouncing His name, suffices to overcome the wicked one, so it be done with confidence and calmness of spirit.
    "God's command to 'pray without ceasing,' is founded on the necessity we have of His grace to preserve the life of God in the soul which can no more subsist one moment without it, than the body can without air.
    "Whether we think of, or speak to, God, whether we act or suffer for Him, all is prayer, when we have no other object than His love, and the desire of pleasing Him.
    "All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it by his own choice.
    "Prayer continues in the desire of the heart, though the understanding be employed on outward things.
    "In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is a continual prayer. . . ." 

METHODIST MONDAY: 24 AUGUST 2026

 "Methodist Monday" is a series of simple posts that provide some very brief quotes from early Nazarene leaders that demonstrate the underlying "Methodist" identity of the Church of the Nazarene.  -  This week's quote comes from C. W. Ruth, Assistant General Superintendent, 1903:

"The Church of the Nazarene is nothing in the world but old-fashioned Methodism" 

WESLEY WEDNESDAY: 19 AUGUST 2026

 At Ancient Paths Church of the Nazarene1, I have been using the time during the giving of our tithes and offerings, as we are preparing to come to the Table, to help us with our Wesleyan sacramental theology.  I have been doing this by introducing some of the rich Eucharistic Hymns of the Wesley's.  Here are two of my favorites, which we have recently sung:

Glory to Him

1. Glory to Him who freely spent
His blood, that we might live,
And through this choicest Instrument
Doth all His blessings give.

2. Fasting He doth and hearing bless,
And prayer can much avail,
Good vessels all to draw the grace
Out of salvation's well.

3. But none, like this mysterious rite
Which dying mercy gave,
Can draw forth all HIs promised might
And all His will to save.

4. This is the richest legacy
thou hast on man bestow'd:
Here chiefly, Lord, we feed on Thee,
And drink Thy precious blood.

5. Here all Thy blessings we receive,
Here all Thy gifts are given,
To those that would in Thee believe,
Pardon, and grace, and heaven.

O the Depth of Love Diving

1. O the depth of love divine
the unfathomable grace!
Who shall say how bread and wine
God into us conveys!
How the bread his flesh imparts,
how the wine transmits his blood,
fills his faithful people's hearts
with all the life of God!

2. Let the wisest mortals show
how we the grace receive;
feeble elements bestow 
a power not theirs to give.
Who explains the wondrous way,
how through these the virtue came?
These the virtue did convey,
yet still remain the same.

3. How can spirits heavenward rise,
by earthly matter fed,
drink herewith divine supplies
and eat immortal bread?
Ask the Father's wisdom how:
Christ who did the means ordain;
angels round our altars bow
to search it out, in vain.

4. Sure and real is the grace,
the manner be unknown;
only meet us in thy ways
and perfect us in one.
Let us taste the heavenly powers,
Lord, we ask for nothing more.
Thine to bless, 'tis only ours
to wonder and adore.

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1 Ancient Paths Church of the Nazarene is located at 2278 Canal Lane, Georgetown, IN.  Our worship services begin at 10:30 AM.  If you are in the area, we would love to have you join with us!

Wesley Wednesday: 8 April 2026

 From Sermon 1: Salvation By Faith, Ephesians 2:8: 

He that is by faith born of God sinneth not, (1), by any habitual sin, for all habitual sin is sin reigning; but sin cannot reign in any that believeth. Nor, (2), by any wilful sin; for his will, while he abideth in the faith, is utterly set against all sin, and abhorreth it as deadly poison. Nor, (3), by any sinful desire; for he continually desireth the holy and perfect will of God; and any unholy desire he by the grace of God stifleth in the birth. Nor, (4), doth he sin by infirmities, whether in act, word, or thought; for his infirmities have no concurrence of his will; and without this they are not properly sins. Thus, 'He that is born of God doth not commit sin.' And though he cannot say he hath not sinned, yet now 'he sinneth not'.

Wesley Wednesday: 25 February 2026

It has been some time, but I thought I would try to revive the Wesley Wednesday posts with one verse
from a Charles Wesley hymn, "Jesus, the Sinner's Friend," which I sang last night during Evening Prayer:

What Shall I say Thy grace to move?

Lord, I am sin, but Thou art love:

I give up every plea beside -

Lord, I am lost, but Thou hast died.

Remembering Phineas F. Bresee

 

Phineas F. Bresee

 

Today is the commemoration (or "Feast Day") of Phineas F. Bresee, principal founder of the Church of the Nazarene.  As a means of celebration, I have re-printed the hagiography for Bresee which was published in For All the Saints: A Calendar of Commemorations, Second Edition.  The book was 
published by the Order of Saint Luke and edited by Heather Josselyn-Cranson.  I was privileged to have written the following piece on Bresee (the prayer was written by Daniel Taylor Benedict, Jr.):

Phineas Franklin Bresee was born to Phineas and Susan Brown Bresee in Franklin, NY, on December 31, 1838.  At 16, Bresee experienced 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.(301)

In 1867, in Chariton, Iowa, Bresee "entered into the blessing of entire sanctification."(302)  Bresee had been struggling 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."(303)  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(304) and, after 1883, Los Angeles and Pasadena, CA.  He was appointed presiding elder in West Des Moines (1864)(305) and in Los Angeles.(306)  Further, Bresee served as a delegate to multiple General Conferences.(307)



Me, behind Bresee's pulpit with
my Bresee bobble head

 Education was important to Bresee, as was seen by his serving on the board of Simpson College(308) and the University of Southern California.(309)  Later, Bresee became the president of Pacific Bible College (now Point Loma Nazarene University).(310)

By the mid-1890's, Bresee'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 Church's first miracle after baptism with the Holy Ghost at Pentecost was upon a beggar, and so, Bresee reasoned, the priority of a Holy Ghost-baptized church ought to be the poor.(311)  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.(312)

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."(313)  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.(314)

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.

Common Prayer for Pastors, Bishops and Abbatial Leaders

Gracious God, our Shepherd, we thank you for raising up Phineas Bresee as bishop and pastor in your church.  Remembering his faithfulness and care, fill all shepherds of your church with truth in doctrine, fidelity in Word and Sacrament, and boldness and vision in leading the people, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.
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301 Ingersol, Stan. Nazarene Roots: Pastors, Prophets, Revivalists & Reformers. Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City. 2009. p. 87-88.

302 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.

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

304 Ingersol. p. 88.

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

306 Bangs. p. 286.

307 Ingersol. p. 88-89.

308 Ibid. p. 88.

309 Kostlevy. p. 29.

310 Ingersol. p. 91

311 Ibid. p. 88-89.

312 Kostlevy. p. 29.

313 Bangs. p. 195-196.

314 Kostlevy. p. 29.

A Great Source for a Wesleyan Understanding of the Eucharist

You will find, in a previous post, that I highlighted a video on a Wesleyan understanding of Baptism.  The following video actually preceded that video.  In this video Dr. Matt O'Reilly, an elder in the Global Methodist Church, and the host of Theology Project, interviews my friend, Dr. Ryan Danker, and they discuss the place of the Eucharist in Wesleyan theology.  Dr. Danker is the Director of the John Wesley Institute in Washington, D.C..  -  Like the video on Baptism, I commend it to all who are a part of the Wesleyan tradition. 

Ancient Paths Church of the Nazarene: A New Church in the Ancient Tradition

Below is a video briefly describing Ancient Paths Church of the Nazarene.  It talks a little about who we are and about the gathering together of a core group for our official launch.  (One correction, the video indicates we will launch on the first Sunday of December, and it identifies that as the First Sunday of Advent.  It is actually the Second Sunday of Advent, December 7.)

I invite everyone who sees this post to keep us in your prayers.  And if you live anywhere near Georgetown, Indiana, I invite you to prayerfully consider whether God might be calling you to be a part of Ancient Paths Church.  We are meeting on Sunday mornings at 10:30 at 2278 Canal Lane.

You can also check us at on Facebook, and you can email at AncientPathsNaz@gmail.com

A Great Source for a Wesleyan Understanding of Baptism

 Dr. Matt O'Reilly, an elder in the Global Methodist Church, has recently produced a couple of very good video podcasts on his channel, Theology Project, which deal with the sacraments in the Wesleyan tradition.  The first one (which I plan to link after I have the chance to finish viewing it) is an interview with my friend, Dr. Ryan Danker.  That interview focuses on the place of the Eucharist in Wesleyan theology.  -  The one, linked below, is an interview with another friend, Dr. Jonathan Powers, about the place of Baptism in Wesleyan theology.  -  Dr. Powers is a part of the Anglican Church in North America, and he currently teaches at one of my alma maters, Asbury Theological Seminary.  -  This is a  really good interview, and I commend it to all who are a part of the Wesleyan tradition.

One note:  You can pick up Dr. Power's book on Baptism, New Life in the Risen Christ: A Wesleyan Theology of Baptism, here.

The New Archbishop of Canterbury

 The Church of England has finally elected a new Archbishop of Canterbury! She is the Rt. Rev'd. Sarah Mullally.

Check out the press release from the Church of England.

Wesleyan-Anglican Society News

 If you are a member of the Wesleyan-Anglican Society, or if you would like to become a member, the following video contains information that you will be interested in!

Aldersgate Day 2025

 Happy Aldersgate Day!

I invite you to take a look at my video for Aldersgate Day, this year, and following the video, I invite you to join me in the prayer, listed below.

Almighty God, in a time of great need

you raised up your servants John and Charles Wesley,

and by your Spirit inspired them to kindle a flame of sacred love

which leaped and ran, an inextinguishable blaze.

Grant that all those whose hearts have been warmed at these altar fires,

being continually refreshed by your grace, may be so devoted

to the increase of scriptural holiness throughout the land

that in this our time of great need,

your will may fully and effectively be done on earth as it is in heaven;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Prayer by Fred D. Gealy)

Christ the King Sunday

This Sunday, we will be celebrating Christ the King Sunday (or "The Reign of Christ the King")! - It is the last Sunday after Pentecost and the last Sunday of the Christian year. It is also the Sunday just prior to our entering into the holy season of Advent.
 

The observance of Christ the King Sunday is really a relatively new celebration. It was originally instituted by Pius XI, Bishop of Rome, for celebration on the last Sunday of October. However, after Vatican II, it was moved to its current location on the Christian calendar. 

 

Incidentally, no less than +N.T. Wright, has argued that Ascension Sunday is the proper celebration of Christ the King, rather than the creation of this relatively new celebration.  -  Nevertheless, I think that this setting, in addition to Ascension Sunday, has much to offer the Church.  An example of which can be seen in the lectionary readings; especially the Gospel reading, which is taken from John 18:33-37.  -  Jesus' contrast between the citizens of His Kingdom and those of the kingdoms of this world is especially timely given our age of varies wars and conflicts (not to mention the premiere of the new Bonhoeffer movie).

In honor of Christ the King Sunday, find, below, a copy of Charles Wesley's great hymn, “Rejoice, the Lord Is King.”  -  The hymn will be printed as it appears in the Sing to the Lord (Nazarene) hymnal and most other hymnals.  At Main Street UMC, we will be singing the version that appears in The United Methodist Hymnal, which includes some rather strange editorial changes in verses 1, 3, and 4; changes that seem not to make sense.  The predecessor hymnal, The Methodist Hymnal, retains the hymn as appears elsewhere.  -  Interestingly, the brand new O For a Heart to Praise My God: Hymns of Charles Wesley and Scriptural Liturgies follows the UMC hymnal when it comes to the changes in verses 3 and 4.

It is also interesting (and puzzling) that this hymn does not seem to appear in volume 7 of The Works of John Wesley: A Collection of Hymns for the Use of The People Called Methodists.  If it had, perhaps light may have been shed as to why the UMC hymnal changed the text.

Nevertheless, here follows the hymn!

 

Rejoice, the Lord Is King

 

1. Rejoice, the Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore!

Rejoice, give thanks, and sing, And triumph evermore.
Lift up your heart;
Lift up your voice! Rejoice; again I say: rejoice!
 

2. Jesus, the Savior, reigns, The God of truth and love.

When he had purged our stains, He took His seat above.
Lift up your heart;
Lift up your voice! Rejoice; again I say: rejoice!
 

3. His kingdom cannot fail; He rules o'er earth and heav'n.

The keys of death and hell Are to our Jesus giv'n.
Lift up your heart;
Lift up your voice! Rejoice; again I say: rejoice!
 

4. Rejoice in glorious hope! Our Lord, the Judge, shall come

And take His servants up To their eternal home.
Lift up your heart;
Lift up your voice! Rejoice; again I say: rejoice!
 

This Sunday (and every day!) may we all rejoice and worship Christ our King, not only with our lips but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to His service, and by walking before Him in holiness and righteousness all our days (cf., "A General Thanksgiving," BCP). - May all glory be to God the Father, Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit! Amen!

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This post relied on previous posts on this same topic.