LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY catvincent)

I caught this headline from the BBC:

"A US evangelical Christian minister has been appointed to lead a million-dollar program to tackle gang violence in Los Angeles, the city's mayor said.

Reverend Jeff Carr, a minister in the Church of the Nazarene, was named director of gang reduction and youth development programs for the city."

Ignoring the whole church/state divide thing specifically, I wondered if the matter was made worse by CoN being Dominionist. Nothing on DC Wiki or Theocracywatch.

As a reflex, I checked out the Google hits of Jeff Carr and Church of the Nazarene. Though clearly Evangelist and heavily into outreach programmes, there wasn't anything I could spot which suggested Dominionist tendencies - until this paragraph on their 'Resources' page:

"...the pursuit of the Great Commission, making disciples of all people."

The next page, providing materials "to aid local congregations in the pursuit of the Great Commission, making disciples of all people", goes on to say;
"Historically and biblically the Church cared for the marginalized. This training session helps a local congregation explore the need and the possibility of reaching the poor, the mentally disturbed and single parents. These groups share one thing in common--they need the church as an ally to living life well. " They provide a lot of tools - PDF, Powerpoint, training manuals, demographic analysis etc.

Now I find that quite creepy... but still, no clear Dominionist links I can see.

Their statement of homosexuality bears a look:
"The Church of the Nazarene believes that every man or woman should be treated with dignity, grace, and holy love, whatever their sexual orientation. However, we continue to firmly hold the position that the homosexual lifestyle is sinful and is contrary to the Scriptures.

- We further wish to reemphasize our call to Nazarenes around the globe to recommit themselves to a life of holiness, characterized by holy love and expressed through the most rigorous and consistent lifestyle of sexual purity. We stand firmly on the belief that the biblical concept of marriage, always between one man and one woman in a committed, lifelong relationship, is the only relationship within which the gift of sexual intimacy is properly expressed."

Then we reach their article of faith:
Nicene creed mostly - but also Biblical unerrancy, Entire Sanctification and elements of (as I understand it) premillennial dispensationalism - which, along with the homophobia seem to be Dominion markers.

Seems that CoN were founded by one Phineas F. Bresee (1838-1915), who founded CoN as a breakaway from the LA Methodist Episcopal Church (a Wesleyan 'Christian Holiness movement') church and their Peniel Mission to the homeless. Breese once said,"We don't need forts and barricades, need a marching, conquering army." He's also on a list of evangelisers in the book Seven Hundred Plans to Evangelize the World. The same man (Howard Culbertson in 1989) who quoted re. Breese above also said, "Today, the Church of the Nazarene is at work in nearly 90 countries. The dream of planting the holiness banner everywhere drives us onward and outward."

CoN have eight universities and 2 seminaries in the US.
Jeff Carr is now the head of the PF Breese Organisation.

I guess that the LA gig could be seen as the kind of governmental link that a Dominion group would seize.

That's all I got - but enough to make me twitchy. Throwing it out to the wiser and better-clued-in members of the group.