Corporate body

Church of the Nazarene Canada

1902-

The first Church of the Nazarene in Canada was organized in 1902 at Oxford, Nova Scotia. It began as a member of the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America but merged with the Church of the Nazarene and Holiness Church of Christ in 1907. Members of that congregation moved to Calgary, Alberta and joined other holiness believers to form the Calgary Holiness Association. Upon hearing about the Holiness Association, Dr. P. F. Bresee of Los Angeles sent a representative to Calgary to meet with the group and by August 1911 the first Nazarene Church in the west was organized with Thomas Bell as pastor. A Holiness movement in Victoria, under the leadership of Rev. G. S Hunt, followed in 1912. L. J. King, the converted Catholic Priest from Oxford, Nova Scotia who started the work of the Church of the Nazarene there, held revival meetings in Windsor Ontario in 1919. In 1920, Rev. C. L. Bradley, district superintendent of the Michigan district, organized the first Nazarene church in Ontario.

From their beginnings, the Maritime Provinces and Alberta were organized as their own districts, the Northeast District (1908) and Alberta District (1911). The churches in British Columbia had a variety of district organizational structures but became their own entity, Canada Pacific District, in 1956. The Manitoba-Saskatchewan District was organized in 1916 but joined with Alberta in 1948 to create the Canada West District. Ontario fell under the jurisdiction of the Michigan-Ontario District until 1936 but it was not until 1952 that it adopted its current title, Canada Central District. The Maritime Provinces, including Newfoundland –Labrador have since adopted the title Canada Atlantic District and Quebec is now its own district, Canada Quebec District.

The Canadian districts, sensing the need for national incorporation, established the Executive Board of the Church of the Nazarene by Act of Parliament in 1946. In 1960, all the Canadian districts sent resolutions to the General Assembly requesting that Canada become its own educational region. This was granted and as a result Canadian Nazarene College moved to Winnipeg and became the national school. The General church regionalized in 1980 making Canada its own region and the only region to have a National Executive Board.

When the parent body, the Church of the Nazarene, was divided into regions, Canada, namely the Church of the Nazarene Canada, became its own region.

Ambrose Archives