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Dear Reader, Thank you for visiting our website, and we extend a warm welcome to you.

We would first of all like to tell you how the Nazarene Fellowship came to be. In 1832 a certain John Thomas and his family decided to emigrate to America and his son, also John and a doctor, agreed to go on ahead to prepare for the rest of the family. He accepted an appointment as ship’s surgeon on the Marquis of Wellesley which was sailing from London to New York.

The ship embarked on May 1, 1832 but it to be was a stormy crossing and eventually, with the ship badly damaged, it ran aground off the coast of Nova Scotia but the heavy seas continued to raise up the ship and repeatedly striking the sea-bed with such force that all on board feared the ship would break-up.

It was in these circumstances that Dr Thomas prayed and made a vow that he would dedicate his life to religious study should he be spared and seek out the truth about the matter of life and death, a vow he kept to and lived by for the rest of his days.

While continuing to practice medicine he spent as much time as possible in Bible study accepting and then rejecting the various teachings of many churches around him. It was a time of great changes in the Christian world and numerous denominations were being formed but Dr Thomas was a ‘work in progress’ and would never accept a teaching without being able to prove it to his own satisfaction from the Bible.

He continued this seeking the true understanding of the Bible, and just a few years before he died he was convinced of a better understanding than ever before and did his best to make it known, but by now there were some who did not listen. The Dr’s health began failing when he said that if he was allowed to live long enough he wanted go over to England and get hold of Robert Roberts' paper and teach the truth. But this was not to be.

However, his latest understanding was accepted and taught by the Nazarene Fellowship though not known by this name at the time. We were called Renunciationists or Turneyites and even known by that name today; we are not sure when the name ‘Nazarene Fellowship’ was adopted but it was probably about a hundred years ago.

Today we follow on where Dr Thomas left off and like him, we are prepared to change every day if need be til we get it right at last.

Here is a brief summary of what we have found from our studies -

WHAT WE BELIEVE

We believe that God is the creator and designer of the universe, and that He cares about the welfare of humankind.

We believe that God gave the Old Testament Scriptures to the Israelites through Moses and the Prophets and the New Testament Scriptures to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ and His Apostles.

We believe the Bible to be the only source of knowledge of God´s will and purpose with the earth; of the Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.

We believe Jesus will return to set up His Kingdom on the earth to rule the world from Jerusalem.

We believe that Jesus is the Messiah and Saviour; miraculously conceived and born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem; He grew up in Nazareth, and at about 30 years of age He began His ministry of preaching and healing.

He was executed by crucifixion by the highest religious authority, the Sanhedrin; and the highest civil authority, the Roman governor representing the Emperor. After the crucifixion He remained in the tomb until the third day when He was raised to eternal life in an incorruptible body.

We do not believe that Jesus existed before His conception and birth, nor that He became God incarnate nor that He is the second person of the so-called triune godhead. We reject emphatically the trinity doctrine, which was fabricated in the third century AD., and adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in the fourth century by a narrow margin of votes.

God´s word existed in the beginning, then in the Apostle John´s time God´s Word was incarnate in the Jewish man Jesus, and the world beheld His glory. Though He was God´s only-begotten Son, He did not have divine nature, but normal human nature during His earthly ministry.

We believe that the death of Jesus was a voluntary substitution for Adam and therefore for us as Adam´s descendants. In other words Jesus voluntarily paid the penalty of inflicted death which passed upon Adam for eating the forbidden fruit, but which God remitted so that Adam could live out his life. This penalty/debt, in due time, would be paid by God´s sinless Son. We do not believe that Jesus´ death was a punishment inflicted on Him by God so that we might be forgiven: and we reject categorically that Jesus death was necessary for His own salvation.

We believe that baptism must be by total immersion when we come to a belief in Jesus, and have a desire to make a commitment to Him and His teachings. Baptism is a declaration that we accept Jesus as our Saviour and as we go down into the water, it is a sign that we die to our old worldly way of life, and we emerge from the water to a new life in Jesus.

We believe that the committed Christian should be involved in prayer, bible study, righteous living, and witnessing wherever possible; always ready to give a reason for the hope within us.

We feel totally unable to concur with the theological concepts of popular churches, that we have immortal souls that after death go to a paradise in heaven beyond the skies; that there is a fiery hell where sinners will suffer eternal torment; that baptism is valid by sprinkling or pouring on babies or young children or unbelievers.


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