General Assembly Resolution: Sacramental Wine

 

In June of 2027, the Church of the Nazarene will be conducting its General Assembly.  The General Assembly is the supreme doctrine-formulating, lawmaking, and elective authority of the Church of the Nazarene. During past quadrenniums, I have presented to my district delegation, and through them to the General Assembly, a number of resolutions.  Some of them have passed and impacted the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene.  Some were amended.  Others were rejected. 

This year I have presented nine resolutions to my district delegation.  -  If you are a district superintendent or a delegate from another district, I would draw your attention to these and hope you might consider supporting them.  If you are not a ds or delegate, but you know a ds or delegate from a district other than SWID, please consider sharing these resolutions with your superintendent and/or delegates.

Note: Strikedthrough words are to be deleted from the current Manual. Underlined words are to be added to the current Manual. 

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29.3 We call our people to abstain from drinking alcohol . . . 

. . . Ephesians 5:18; Philippians 2:4)
(Only unfermented or dealcoholized wine should be used, along with bread, in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.)

 

I. SACRAMENTS

700. LORD’S SUPPER

The administration of the Lord’s Supper . . .

. . . NOTE: Only unfermented or dealcoholized wine should be used, along with bread, in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.

 

FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

1. This resolution seeks to clarify our rational for using non-alcoholic wine for the sacrament by reintroducing it back into our statement in The Covenant of Christian Conduct.  This grounding was lost when the Covenant was re-written for the 2023 Manual. 

 2. It is important to have such a statement within The Covenant of Christian Conduct, because the only place it is currently addressed is in the actual ritual, which many Nazarenes do not use.

 3. The inclusion of “dealcoholized wine,” along with “unfermented” is due to the development of the process of removing alcohol from otherwise fermented wine.  This process was not available when grape juice was first developed.  The inclusion reinforces our stance on alcohol, as well as our continued commitment to following Christ’s institution, using the fruit of the vine. 

 4. The inclusion of “bread” seeks balance, simply recognizing both elements used in the sacrament.