by Manny Silva
Concerned Nazarenes
Disturbing trends continue to develop in our denomination. Recently, I sent out a prayer request for a pastor and his church that decided to leave the Nazarene denomination, rather than stay and bow to emergent ideology and priorities. Soon, I will be posting some information regarding those who have been forced to leave their churches (“Divorced From The Church”). More and more Bible believing Nazarenes are finding themselves ostracized and are even being labeled as cult members, hateful, dividers, “used by the devil”…etc. On and on it goes, with no biblical justification! Students are subject to ridicule or harassment for standing up against unbiblical teachings at their universities.
The following story is also another scenario, that of a pastor being fired for daring to speak out against a movement which has not even been officially welcomed into the Nazarene denomination. Please understand that it is the desire of this pastor not to target leadership, but to make you aware of the magnitude of this problem. Hopefully, some of you will begin to look at this, and not be overcome by it:
The Story:
As many of you know, Pastor Joe Staniforth joined Concerned Nazarenes – a group of Nazarenes troubled by false teachings in our academic institutions and many of our churches in the Western world. These teachings can be summed up as “emergent ideology.”
For more information on the emergent church movement and the mission of Concerned Nazarenes, please visit www.concernednazarenes.org or one of the websites listed below.
In September 2008, Pastor Joe and his wife Claudia answered God’s call to work as missionaries, evangelists and church planters on the Texas-Mexico border. Although they’ve witnessed the Lord at work – especially in ministries in Matamoros, Mexico – Pastor Joe became increasingly concerned about emergent teachings in the Nazarene denomination. In obedience to the Lord’s leading, he began preaching against the ideology and practices of the emergent movement . Please click here to read the rest of this story.
Related Information on the downslide of the Nazarene denomination into emerging/contemplative:
Buddhist/Universalist Sympathizer Woos Nazarene Students at NNU
G12 Master Plan Could Expose Thousands of Nazarenes to Contemplative/Emerging Spirituality
