Our Story
In 1929, Robert Warland lived in the Dye community and wanted to start a Bible study. At the time, he was a Flint First Church of the Nazarene member. They met in the Dye Junior High School. On September 5, 1929, the Bible study members voted to organize a church.
Thus, the West Flint Church of the Nazarene was born.
After a while, they desired to have their campus and space. A building committee was established.
In the meantime, a tent was purchased for $100.00 for revivals and services. They met at the corner of Corunna and Eggleston roads. After a year of services under the tent and in the Warland home, the “little white church” was opened.
At the time, we began with $32.55 in the treasury, one tent for meetings, and 12 folding chairs. In the 1950’s, the “little white church” was torn down to build a new building (this new building functioned as the Church Fellowship Hall before the current FLC was constructed).
On September 16, 1973, West Flint’s board broke ground on our current sanctuary under Rev. Raycroft. Construction began on October 6, 1973, and was completed in 1974.
A Christian People
As members of the Church Universal, we join with all true believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ and in affirming the historic Trinitarian creeds and beliefs of the Christian faith. We value our Wesleyan-Holiness heritage and believe it to be a way of understanding the faith that is true to Scripture, reason, tradition, and experience.
We are united with all believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We believe that in divine love God offers to all people forgiveness of sins and restored relationship. In being reconciled to God, we believe that we are also to be reconciled to one another, loving each other as we have been loved by God and forgiving each other as we have been forgiven by God. We believe that our life together is to exemplify the character of Christ. We look to Scripture as the primary source of spiritual truth confirmed by reason, tradition, and experience.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Church, which, as the Nicene Creed tells us, is one, holy, universal, and apostolic. In Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit, God the Father offers forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to all the world. Those who respond to God’s offer in faith become the people of God. Having been forgiven and reconciled in Christ, we forgive and are reconciled to one another. In this way, we are Christ’s Church and Body and reveal the unity of that Body. As the one Body of Christ, we have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” We affirm the unity of Christ’s Church and strive in all things to preserve it.
(Ephesians 4:5, 3).
A Holiness People
God, who is holy, calls us to a life of holiness. We believe that the Holy Spirit seeks to do in us a second work of grace, called by various terms including “entire sanctification” and “baptism with the Holy Spirit”-cleansing us from all sin, renewing us in the image of God, empowering us to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, and producing in us the character of Christ. Holiness in the life of believers is most clearly understood as Christlikeness.
Because we are called by Scripture and drawn by grace to worship God and to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves, we commit ourselves fully and completely to God, believing that we can be “sanctified wholly,” as a second crisis experience. We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts, cleanses, fills, and empowers us as the grace of God transforms us day by day into a people of love, spiritual discipline, ethical and moral purity, compassion, and justice. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that restores us in the image of God and produces in us the character of Christ.
We believe in God the Father, the Creator, who calls into being what does not exist. We once were not, but God called us into being, made us for himself, and fashioned us in His own image. We have been commissioned to bear the image of God: “I am the LORD . . . your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44).
A Missional People
We are a sent people, responding to the call of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to go into all the world, witnessing to the Lordship of Christ and participating with God in the building of the Church and the extension of His kingdom (Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:1).
Our mission begins in worship, ministers to the world in evangelism and compassion, encourages believers toward Christian maturity through discipleship, and prepares women and men for Christian service through Christian higher education.
Articles of Faith
We believe in one eternally existent, infinite God, Sovereign Creator and Sustainer of
the universe; that He only is God, holy in nature, attributes, and purpose. The God who
is holy love and light is Triune in essential being, revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
(Genesis 1; Leviticus 19:2; Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Isaiah 5:16; 6:1-7; 40:18-31; Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19-20;
John 14:6-27; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 4:4-6; Ephesians 2:13-18; 1 John 1:5; 4:8)
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead; that He was
eternally one with the Father; that He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was born
of the Virgin Mary, so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say the Godhead and
manhood, are thus united in one Person very God and very man, the God-man.
We believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that He truly arose from the dead and
took again His body, together with all things appertaining to the perfection of man’s
nature, wherewith He ascended into heaven and is there engaged in intercession for us.
(Matthew 1:20-25; 16:15-16; Luke 1:26-35; John 1:1-18; Acts 2:22-36; Romans 8:3, 32-34; Galatians 4:4-5;
Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:12-22; 1 Timothy 6:14-16; Hebrews 1:1-5; 7:22-28; 9:24-28; 1 John 1:1-3;
4:2-3, 15)
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Triune Godhead, that He is ever
present and efficiently active in and with the Church of Christ, convincing the world of sin,
regenerating those who repent and believe, sanctifying believers, and guiding into all truth
as it is in Jesus.
(John 7:39; 14:15-18, 26; 16:7-15; Acts 2:33; 15:8-9; Romans 8:1-27; Galatians 3:1-14; 4:6; Ephesians 3:14-21;
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 3:24; 4:13)
We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we understand
the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, inerrantly
revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, so that
whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith.
(Luke 24:44-47; John 10:35; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 1:20-21)
5. We believe that sin came into the world through the disobedience of our first parents,
and death by sin. We believe that sin is of two kinds: original sin or depravity, and actual
or personal sin.
5.1. We believe that original sin, or depravity, is that corruption of the nature of all the
offspring of Adam by reason of which everyone is very far gone from original
righteousness or the pure state of our first parents at the time of their creation, is averse
to God, is without spiritual life, and inclined to evil, and that continually. We further
believe that original sin continues to exist with the new life of the regenerate, until the
heart is fully cleansed by the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
5.2 We believe that original sin differs from actual sin in that it constitutes an inherited
propensity to actual sin for which no one is accountable until its divinely provided
remedy is neglected or rejected.
5.3 We believe that actual or personal sin is a voluntary violation of a known law of
God by a morally responsible person. It is therefore not to be confused with
involuntary and inescapable shortcomings, infirmities, faults, mistakes, failures, or
other deviations from a standard of perfect conduct that are the residual effects of the
Fall. However, such innocent effects do not include attitudes or responses contrary to
the spirit of Christ, which may properly be called sins of the spirit. We believe that
personal sin is primarily and essentially a violation of the law of love; and that in
relation to Christ sin may be defined as unbelief.
(Original sin: Genesis 3; 6:5; Job 15:14; Psalm 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9-10; Mark7:21-23; Romans 1:18-25;
5:12-14; 7:1-8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:1-4; Galatians 5:16-25; 1 John 1:7-8Personal sin: Matthew 22:36-40
{with 1 John 3:4}; John 8:34-36; 16:8-9; Romans 3:23; 6:15-23; 8:18-24; 14:23; 1 John 1:9-2:4; 3:7-10)
We believe that Jesus Christ, by His sufferings, by the shedding of His own blood,
and by His death on the Cross, made a full atonement for all human sin, and that this
Atonement is the only ground of salvation, and that it is sufficient for every individual of
Adam’s race. The Atonement is graciously efficacious for the salvation of those incapable
of moral responsibility and for the children in innocency but is efficacious for the salvation
of those who reach the age of responsibility only when they repent and believe.
(Isaiah 53:5-6, 11; Mark 10:45; Luke 24:46-48; John 1:29; 3:14-17; Acts 4:10-12; Romans 3:21-26; 4:17-25;
5:6-21; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21; Galatians 1:3-4; 3:13-14; Colossians 1:19-23; 1Timothy
2:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:9; 9:11-14; 13:12; 1 Peter 1:18- 21; 2:19-25; 1 John 2:1-2)
We believe that the grace of God through Jesus Christ is freely bestowed upon all
people, enabling all who will to turn from sin to righteousness, believe on Jesus Christ for
pardon and cleansing from sin, and follow good works pleasing and acceptable in His
sight. We also believe that the human race’s creation in Godlikeness included the ability to
choose between right and wrong, and that thus human beings were made morally
responsible; that through the fall of Adam they became depraved so that they cannot now
turn and prepare themselves by their own natural strength and works to faith and calling
upon God.
(Godlikeness and moral responsibility: Genesis 1:26-27; 2:16-17; Deuteronomy 28:1-2; 30:19; Joshua 24:15;
Psalm 8:3-5; Isaiah 1:8-10; Jeremiah 31:29-30; Ezekiel 18:1-4; Micah 6:8; Romans 1:19-20; 2:1-16; 14:7-12; Galatians 6:7-8
Natural inability: Job 14:4; 15:14; Psalms 14:1-4; 51:5; John 3:6a; Romans 3:10-12; 5:12-14, 20a; 7:14-25
Free grace and works of faith: Ezekiel 18:25-26; John 1:12-13; 3:6b; Acts 5:31; Romans 5:6-8, 18; 6:15-16,
23; 10:6-8; 11:22; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14;10:1-12; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Galatians 5:6; Ephesians 2:8-10;
Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:21-23; 2 Timothy 4:10a; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-3; 3:12-15; 6:4-6;
10:26-31; James 2:18-22; 2 Peter 1:10-11; 2:20-22)
We believe the Spirit of God gives to all who will repent the gracious help of
penitence of heart and hope of mercy, that they may believe unto pardon and spiritual
life. Repentance, which is a sincere and thorough change of the mind in regard to sin,
involving a sense of personal guilt and a voluntary turning away from sin, is demanded
of all who have by act or purpose become sinners against God.
We believe that all persons may fall from grace and apostatize and, unless they repent
of their sins, be hopelessly and eternally lost. We believe that regenerate persons need not
return to sin but may live in unbroken fellowship with God through the power of the
indwelling Holy Spirit who bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God.
(2 Chronicles 7:14; Psalms 32:5-6; 51:1-17; Isaiah 55:6-7; Jeremiah 3:12-14; Ezekiel 18:30-32; 33:14-16; Mark
1:14-15; Luke 3:1-14; 13:1-5; 18:9-14; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 17:30-31; 26:16-18; Romans 2:4; 2 Corinthians 7:8-
11; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 2 Peter 3:9)
9. We believe that justification is the gracious and judicial act of God by which He grants
full pardon of all guilt and complete release from the penalty of sins committed, and
acceptance as righteous, to all who believe on Jesus Christ and receive Him as Lord and
Savior.
9.1 We believe that regeneration, or the new birth, is that gracious work of God whereby
the moral nature of the repentant believer is spiritually quickened and given a
distinctively spiritual life, capable of faith, love, and obedience.
9.2 We believe that adoption is that gracious act of God by which the justified and
regenerated believer is constituted a child of God.
9.3 We believe that justification, regeneration, and adoption are simultaneous in the
experience of seekers after God and are received by faith, preceded by repentance;
and that to this work and state of grace the Holy Spirit bears witness.
(Luke 18:14; John 1:12-13; 3:3-8; 5:24; Acts 13:39; Romans 1:17; 3:21-26, 28; 4:5-9, 17-25; 5:1, 16-19; 6:4;
7:6; 8:1, 15-17; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 6:11; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Galatians 2:16-21; 3:1-14, 26; 4:4-7;
Ephesians 1:6-7; 2:1, 4-5; Philippians 3:3-9; Colossians 2:13; Titus 3:4-7; 1 Peter 1:23; 1 John 1:9; 3:1-2,9;
4:7; 5:1, 9-13, 18)
10. We believe that sanctification is the work of God which transforms believers into
the likeness of Christ. It is wrought by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit in initial
sanctification, or regeneration (simultaneous with justification), entire sanctification, and
the continued perfecting work of the Holy Spirit culminating in glorification. In
glorification we are fully conformed to the image of the Son.
We believe that entire sanctification is that act of God, subsequent to regeneration, by
which believers are made free from original sin, or depravity, and brought into a state of
entire devotement to God, and the holy obedience of love made perfect.
Articles of Faith 2023 Manual of the Church of the Nazarene Page 4
It is wrought by the baptism with or infilling of the Holy Spirit, and comprehends in
one experience the cleansing of the heart from sin and the abiding, indwelling presence
of the Holy Spirit, empowering the believer for life and service. Entire sanctification is
provided by the blood of Jesus, is wrought instantaneously by grace through faith,
preceded by entire consecration; and to this work and state of grace the Holy Spirit bears
witness.
This experience is also known by various terms representing its different phases, such
as “Christian perfection,” “perfect love,” “heart unity,” “the baptism with or infilling of
the Holy Spirit,” “the fullness of the blessing,” and “Christian holiness.”
10.1 We believe that there is a marked distinction between a pure heart and a mature
character. The former is obtained in an instant, the result of entire sanctification; the
latter is the result of growth in grace.
We believe that the grace of entire sanctification includes the divine impulse to grow in
grace as a Christlike disciple. However, this impulse must be consciously nurtured, and
careful attention given to the requisites and processes of spiritual development and
improvement in Christlikeness of character and personality. Without such purposeful
endeavor, one’s witness may be impaired and the grace itself frustrated and ultimately
lost.
Participating in the means of grace, especially the fellowship, disciplines, and
sacraments of the Church, believers grow in grace and in wholehearted love to God and
neighbor.
(Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27; Malachi 3:2-3; Matthew 3:11-12; Luke 3:16-17; John 7:37-39; 14:15-23;
17:6-20; Acts 1:5; 2:1-4; 15:8-9; Romans
6:11-13, 19; 8:1-4, 8-14; 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; Galatians 2:20; 5:16-25; Ephesians 3:14-21;
5:17-18, 25-27; Philippians 3:10-15; Colossians 3:1-17; 1Thessalonians 5:23-24; Hebrews 4 :9-11; 10:10-
17; 12:1-2; 13:12; 1 John 1:7, 9)
(“Christian perfection,” “perfect love”: Deuteronomy 30:6; Matthew 5:43-48; 22:37-40; Romans 12:9-21;
13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 13; Philippians 3:10-15; Hebrews 6:1; 1 John 4:17-18
“Heart purity”: Matthew 5:8; Acts 15:8-9; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:3
“Baptism with the Holy Spirit”: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27; Malachi 3:2-3; Matthew 3:11-12;
Luke 3:16-17; Acts 1:5; 2:1-4; 15:8-9
“Fullness of the blessing”: Romans 15:29
“Christian holiness”: Matthew 5:1-7:29; John 15:1-11; Romans 12:1-15:3; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ephesians
4:17-5:20; Philippians 1:9-11; 3:12-15; Colossians 2:20-3:17; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 4:7-8; 5:23; 2 Timothy
2:19-22; Hebrews 10:19-25; 12:14; 13:20-21; 1 Peter 1:15-16; 2 Peter 1:1-11; 3:18; Jude 20-21)
We believe in the Church, the community that confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, the
covenant people of God made new in Christ, the Body of Christ called together by the
Holy Spirit through the Word.
God calls the Church to express its life in the unity and fellowship of the Spirit; in
worship through the preaching of the Word, observance of the sacraments, and ministry
in His name; by obedience to Christ, holy living, and mutual accountability.
The mission of the Church in the world is to share in the redemptive and reconciling
ministry of Christ in the power of the Spirit. The Church fulfills its mission by making
disciples through evangelism, education, showing compassion, working for justice, and
bearing witness to the kingdom of God.
The Church is a historical reality that organizes itself in culturally conditioned forms,
exists both as local congregations and as a universal body, and also sets apart persons
called of God for specific ministries. God calls the Church to live under His rule in
anticipation of the consummation at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Exodus 19:3; Jeremiah 31:33; Matthew 8:11; 10:7; 16:13-19, 24; 18:15-20; 28:19-20; John 17:14-26;
20:21-23; Acts 1:7-8; 2:32-47; 6:1-2; 13:1; 14:23; Romans 2:28-29; 4:16; 10:9-15; 11:13-32; 12:1-8;
15:1-3; 1 Corinthians 3:5-9; 7:17; 11:1, 17-33; 12:3, 12-31; 14:26-40; 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:1;
Galatians 5:6, 13-14; 6:1-5, 15; Ephesians 4:1-17; 5:25-27; Philippians 2:1-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12; 1
Timothy 4:13; Hebrews 10:19-25; 1 Peter 1:1-2, 13; 2:4-12, 21; 4:1-2, 10-11; 1 John 4:17; Jude 24;
Revelation 5:9-10)
We believe that Christian baptism, commanded by our Lord, is a sacrament
signifying acceptance of the benefits of the atonement and incorporation into the Body of
Christ. Baptism is a means of grace proclaiming faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. It is to be
administered to believers indicating their full purpose of obedience in holiness and
righteousness. As participants in the new covenant, young children and the morally
innocent may be baptized upon request of parents or guardians. The church shall give
assurance of Christian training. Baptism may be administered by sprinkling, pouring, or
immersion.
(Matthew 3:1-7; 28:16-20; Acts 2:37-41; 8:35-39; 10:44-48; 16:29-34; 19:1-6; Romans 6:3-4; Galatians
3:26-28; Colossians 2:12; 1 Peter 3:18-22)
We believe that the Communion Supper instituted by our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ is a sacrament, proclaiming His life, sufferings, sacrificial death, resurrection, and
the hope of His coming again. The Lord’s Supper is a means of grace in which Christ is
present by the Spirit. All are invited to participate by faith in Christ and be renewed in
life, salvation, and in unity as the Church. All are to come in reverent appreciation of its
significance, and by it show forth the Lord’s death until He comes. Those who have faith
in Christ and love for the saints are invited by Christ to participate as often as possible.
(Exodus 12:1-14; Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:17-20; John 6:28-58; 1 Corinthians 10:14-
21; 11:23-32)
We believe in the biblical doctrine of divine healing and urge our people to offer
the prayer of faith for the healing of the sick. We also believe God heals through the means
of medical science.
(2 Kings 5:1-19; Psalm 103:1-5; Matthew 4:23-24; 9:18-35; John 4:46-54; Acts 5:12-16; 9:32-42; 14:8-15; 1
Corinthians 12:4-11; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; James 5:13-16)
We believe that at the end of the age the Lord Jesus Christ will be revealed as Lord of
all. He will come again in glory and power to establish fully the kingdom of God that He
proclaimed and initiated in His life and ministry. As the Triune God first created heaven and earth,
God will renew them in the new creation where He will dwell eternally with His redeemed people.
[; that w]We who are alive at His coming shall not precede them that are asleep in Christ
Jesus; but [that], if we are abiding in Him, we shall be caught up with the risen saints to
meet the Lord in the air, so that we shall ever be with the Lord. In that day, God, who in the
cross triumphed over all evil powers, will complete His loving purposes for creation. There will be
no more suffering, injustice, or death, and God will wipe away every tear.
(Deuteronomy 10:17; Isaiah 11:1-9; 65:17-25; 66:22-23; Matthew 6:9-13, 24; 25:31-46; 28:18; Luke 4:18-21; John
14:1-3; Acts 1:9-11; 3:21; Romans 8:18-22; 1 Corinthians 13:12-13; 15:24-25; 28; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians
1:6; 2:5-11; 3:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 9:26-28; 2 Peter 3:3-15; Revelation 1:7-8;
12:10-12; 21:1-8; 22:7-20)
We believe in the resurrection of the dead, that the bodies both of the just and of
the unjust shall be raised to life and united with their spirits—“they that have done good,
unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
damnation.”
We believe in future judgment in which every person shall appear before God to be
judged according to his or her deeds in this life.
We believe that glorious and everlasting life is assured to all who savingly
believe in, and obediently follow, Jesus Christ our Lord; and that the finally
impenitent shall suffer eternally in hell.
(Genesis 18:25; 1 Samuel 2:10; Psalm 50:6; Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2-3; Matthew 25:31-46; Mark 9:43-48;
Luke 16:19-31; 20:27-38; John 3:16-18; 5:25-29; 11:21-27; Acts 17:30-31; Romans 2:1-16; 14:7-12; 1
Corinthians 15:12-58; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Revelation 20:11-15; 22:1-15)
