Check.Church

Church of the Nazarene

Holiness · 1895–1908 · United States; worldwide

The largest Holiness denomination, formed by the successive union of eastern, western, and southern holiness bodies between 1895 and 1908 around the doctrine of entire sanctification and ministry to the poor.

Church of the Nazarene was formed between 1895 and 1908, as a process rather than a single event. Church of the Nazarene continues today. Church of the Nazarene's institutional line runs back through The Holiness movement, Methodism, Church of England, Roman Catholicism to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and Church of the Nazarene stand 3 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
Between 1895 and 1908, as a process rather than a single event
Family
Holiness
Region
United States; worldwide
Key figures
Phineas Bresee
Cause tags
Doctrine
Also known as
Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene (1907–1919)

What it separated from

On the tree

Church of the Nazarene and its institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday10042443145110541534172918351895The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredChurch of England (Anglican)Church of EnglandAnglicanMethodism (Methodist)MethodismMethodistThe Holiness movement (Holiness)The Holiness movementHolinessChurch of the Nazarene (Holiness)Church of the NazareneHoliness

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Adherents

About 2,764,205 adherents (official census, as of 2025).

Source: Church of the Nazarene 2025 official statistical report (released Jan 2026); 29,424 churches; 2024: 2,783,731

Sources

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.