One of the things I love about the Church of the Nazarene is the freedom to disagree on issues of secondary importance. We Nazarenes have always been about being theologically consistent on the things that are really important while, at the same time, allowing people the freedom to disagree on things of lesser importance. We’ve kept that list of those things we view as essential very short and allowed people to reach their own conclusions on non-essential matters.
For instance—creation. We have some Nazarenes that are literal six-day creationists and others that believe it played out over the course of hundreds of thousands of years. But the tenet we all agree on is that “God did it and it’s intentional and purposeful.” We can disagree on the manner and/or time frame in which God did it—whether He pulled it off in the course of a week or stretched it out over the course of eons. But the fact we can both affirm is that this planet and the surrounding universe is the product of His intention, oversight, and design allows us to go through life as brothers and sisters even though we may not see eye-to-eye as it relates to our understanding of how it came to be.
Another example is eschatology. The Church of the Nazarene’s statement on the return of Jesus boils down to “we believe He’s coming back.” We do not espouse a certain theory of when and under what circumstances Jesus is going to return. You can be pre-millennial, post-millennial, pre-tribulationist, post-tribulationist—it doesn’t matter. I’ve had a few friends that have got all caught up in the book of Revelation and trying to discern the mysterious clues contained in that book. I’ve had others (and I fall into this camp) who’ve said the bottom line of the book is that God wins, but our job is to be fixated on getting people ready for His return whenever it happens. Their thinking is, “Lets not spend any energy trying to discern the details or circumstances surrounding Jesus’ return, but lets give ourselves to building readiness and influencing those who are lost knowing it will happen when it’s supposed to happen.”
Another area of divergence is sanctification—the aspiration God has for each of us to fully inculcate and live out the character and values of Jesus. Some Nazarenes believe sanctification is an instantaneous work of grace—a crisis moment subsequent to regeneration where we invite the Lord to do an empowering, enabling work in our heart so we can do in our circumstances precisely what Jesus would do if He was in those circumstances. Others believe sanctification is more of a gradual process—a progressive work of God’s grace whereby He enables to live a victorious and triumphant Christian life. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between … that sanctification is a systematic work of grace marked by crisis points along the way where we yield and surrender ourselves to God so He can do something about our future as He has previously done about our past. But there is a freedom to disagree for we all ascribe to the idea that the transformation of our character, which will be fully and completely realized when we get to heaven, is to get underway and begin on this side of the divide.
Perhaps part of that willingness to allow for diversity of opinion in areas of secondary importance is the product of how we came together as a denomination. The Church of the Nazarene formed over a century ago as the result of a variety of independent groups, who passionately embraced the same essentials, worked through the secondary issues and joined forces because they were convinced they could have greater impact and do more together than if they each did their own thing. Perhaps there is woven into our denominational DNA an appropriate spirit of tolerance and grace to where, after we realized that we agreed on the overarching principle, we could move forward as brothers and sisters even though there were some specifics where we didn’t see eye to eye.
And that is part of what concerns me about what is going on today. We all know we live in an exceptionally polarized and divided day. But when we tear people down and question their judgment and motives because we disagree on which candidate would make a better president … or launch a movement wanting to take the ministerial credentials of any pastor who doesn’t wholeheartedly embrace a particular political stance, we are betraying the mindset that made us the winsome and appealing people God calls us to be. I sometimes wonder if the time we spent on social media or watching our favorite news channel was instead directed towards praying and engaging or loving our neighbor regardless of what they believe or how they plan to vote if we’d more fully be the refreshing and alluring alternative the Lord calls us to be.
I know the upcoming election in the United States is a consequential one and the stakes are high. I also know that, as part of a global denominational family where only about one-third of our adherents are in North America, who is elected president and which party controls Congress is an issue that is largely irrelevant to the majority of my Nazarene brothers and sisters. How tragic it would be for us to sacrifice our credibility and influence on the altar of our opinions about politics and matters of state. How foolish it would be for us to put our unity at risk because of something that, in the eternal scheme of things, is impermanent and transitory—particularly if we believe in the supremacy and ultimate sovereignty of God. It just comes off to me as very myopic, short-sighted, and injudicious of the precious asset and cherished treasure we are endangering by not being gracious and civil towards those with whom we don’t see eye-to-eye on these matters and giving them the freedom to disagree.