WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A NAZARENE???

Every church has its distinctive -- practices or beliefs that set it apart from other groups. Sometimes this is confusing to people. They say, "If the Bible is true and Jesus was who He claimed to be, why are there so many different beliefs?" We are optimistic enough to believe that with all the differences in beliefs and practices, most Christian congregations still agree on 90 - 95 % of Christian teaching, and that the other 5 - 10 % we do not agree on falls in this category of "distinctive".

While we get our name from Jesus of Nazareth, you might be asking what in the world is a modern-day Nazarene? Well ...

bullet We are not Baptist, but like the Baptist we believe in calling people to repentance and to witnessing to their new life in Christ through public baptism.
 
bullet We are not Presbyterians, but like the Presbyterians we believe in the power of the preaching of the Word of God to bring about change in people's lives.
 
bullet We are not Lutherans, but like the Lutherans we believe in salvation through Jesus Christ on the authority of Scripture alone, in salvation by faith alone and in salvation as a gift of God's grace alone.
 
bullet We are not Charismatics, but like the Charismatics we believe in the gifts of the Spirit, which enables us to serve God and others.
 
bullet We are not Episcopalians, but like the Episcopalians we take worship seriously (we just choose to be a little less "formal" in our worship services).
 
bullet We are not Pentecostals, but like the Pentecostals we believe in being filled with the Holy Spirit, who purifies our heart from sin and gives us power to live the Christian live.
 
bullet And we are not United Methodists, although we have our roots in the Methodist tradition that grew out of John Wesley's revival movement in the 1700's. We have good fellowship with our United Methodist "cousins", but we are organizationally separate for historical reasons.
 
bullet We are a warm and friendly group of people who desire, with God's help, to live holy lives that bring honor and glory to Him. In three words our theology is "JESUS IS LORD!" We look to the Bible as our primary source for direction in our worship and our lifestyles.
 
bullet We are life centered in our teaching and sensitive to the needs and concerns of others.
 
bullet We give people opportunities to put their faith into action through various avenues of service.
 
bullet We are honored to take our place among the many who are called Christians.
 
bullet We aim to be a family for all who love Jesus, the Nazarene and there is always room for you in the Nazarene Family of Faith.

For more information about our Ministry and Mission on the Crystal Coast of North Carolina, please contact us at:
Church of the Nazarene
PO Box 1927
Morehead City, NC 28557
Phone (252) 726-1818
Fax (252)726-7681
E-mail: ccnaz@ec.rr.com

OUR STATEMENT OF FAITH

At the Crystal Coast Church of the Nazarene ...

bullet We believe that the Bible is the inspired and relevant Word of God
 
bullet We believe in one Creator, God, who reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit.
 
bullet We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ
 
bullet We believe that all people have sinned and need God's grace and forgiveness which is abundantly available through Jesus' death on the cross.
 
bullet We believe God draws us to Himself but the decision to respond is ours.
 
bullet We believe that an individual must repent and trust Christ to receive forgiveness and eternal life.
 
bullet We believe that as Christians we need to offer our whole lives to God that He might cleanse our hearts from the attitude of Sin (the Biblical Word for this is sanctification). When we surrender ourselves to God completely, His Spirit can fully mold us into Christlikeness; His perfect Love is reflected in our attitudes and actions; and God empowers us to live life more abundantly.
 
bullet We believe that the Church is the Body of Christ, carrying on His purposes in the world.
 
bullet We believe that God can bring healing.
 
bullet We believe that Jesus Christ is coming again.
 
bullet We practice the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper.
 
bullet Our local mission is to share the good news of Jesus, while growing in our faith
 
bullet Our goal is to show God's love never fails and hope always prevails.

We invite you to worship with us and to embrace our spiritual vision, to reflect Jesus to our contemporaries and to be a light for future generations.
~ Gene McLendon, Pastor