Phineas F. Bresee

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Bresee

Phineas F. Bresee (December 31, 1838 – November 13, 1915) was the primary founder of the Church of the Nazarene, and founding president of Point Loma Nazarene University.

Painting of Bresee on display at the World Methodist Museum, Lake Junaluska, NC

Early life and ministry

Bresee was born on a farm near Franklin, New York, and raised there and in nearby Davenport. He was converted to Christianity in the Methodist Episcopal Church in Davenport in 1856 and delivered his first sermon later that year. He helped his family move to Iowa in 1857 and entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry in Iowa soon afterward. In 1860 he married Maria Hebbard, his sweetheart from back in New York.

Bresee was a pastor in Iowa from 1857 until 1883, serving various charges including

J. P. Widney to save the College of Liberal Arts there.[2]

Church of the Nazarene

In 1894 Bresee withdrew from the appointive ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in order to serve as pastor to the

Joseph Pomeroy Widney, a leading Los Angeles physician and former president of the University of Southern California, joined with numerous lay men and women to form a new church. Widney suggested the name "Church of the Nazarene", because he said it identified the ministry with the toiling masses of common people for whom Jesus
lived and died.

The new church in Los Angeles prospered. In 1898 there were two new congregations in the greater

San Francisco area. Widney also departed that year and returned briefly to the Methodist church before forming his own independent congregation. From 1903 on, Bresee began a process of systematic church planting, and by 1907 there were congregations of the Church of the Nazarene up and down the West Coast and as far east as Illinois
.

In 1907, Bresee led the Church of the Nazarene into a union with another Wesleyan-holiness denomination, the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America, a similar group that originated in

Chicago for their First General Assembly, the two groups formalized their merger, adopting the name Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene and electing two general superintendents (bishops)—one from the western group and one from the eastern body. Bresee was the first general superintendent elected, and he was soon joined by H. F. Reynolds of Brooklyn as the second one. The following year, at Pilot Point, Texas, the Second General Assembly of the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene was held and a southern body, the Holiness Church of Christ, merged with the Pentecostal Nazarenes. E. P. Ellyson of Texas
was elected to join Bresee and Reynolds on the Board of General Superintendents. Bresee served as the senior general superintendent of the church until his death in 1915.

During these years, Bresee continued serving as pastor of Los Angeles First Church of the Nazarene until 1911, when he retired from that position. And he edited the Nazarene Messenger, a large weekly paper, from 1898 until 1912. Through the paper, he rallied his people and knit strong familial bonds among the Nazarenes. When a group of women wanted to create a Bible school in Los Angeles, Bresee consented (somewhat grudgingly) to assist them, and became the president of the college, serving in that capacity until 1911. That school became known as Pasadena College until 1973, when it moved to

San Diego. It has been known since as Point Loma Nazarene College and Point Loma Nazarene University
.

Death

His health deteriorated in his later years from injuries suffered in a near-fatal electric car accident in 1900. Phineas F. Bresee died in 1915.

References

  1. ^ Brickley, Donald P. (1960). "Wesley Center Online of Northwest Nazarene University" (PDF). MAN OF THE MORNING. Nazarene Publishing House. Retrieved 2010-12-16.
  2. ^ "Why These Schools? Historical Perspectives on Nazarene Higher Education," by Stan Ingersol Archived 2008-06-24 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading

  • Bangs, Carl (1995). Phineas F. Bresee: His Life in Methodism, the Holiness Movement and the Church of the Nazarene. (
    ISBN 0-8341-1621-9
    )
  • Brickley, Donald P. (1960) Man of the Morning: The Life and Works of Phineas F. Bresee. Kansas City, MO: Nazarene Publishing House [1]
  • Corbett, C.T. (1958) Our Pioneer Nazarenes. Kansas City, MO.: Nazarene Publishing House. [2]
  • Girvin, E.A. (1916). Phineas F. Bresee: A Prince in Israel. Kansas City, MO: Pentecostal Nazarene Publishing House. [3]
  • Hills, A. M. Phineas F. Bresee—A Life Sketch. Kansas City, MO: Nazarene Publishing House. [4]
  • Moore, Emily Bush. (1973) Phineas F. Bresee: Mr. Nazarene. Kansas City, MO: Nazarene Publishing House. [5]
  • Smith, Timothy L. (1962) Called Unto Holiness: The Story of the Nazarenes: The Formative Years. Kansas City, MO: Nazarene Publishing House. [6]

External links

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