During the 30th General Assembly and Conventions of the Church of the Nazarene, six resolutions were adopted recognizing various locations as historical landmarks in accordance with Manual paragraph 913. This is the fifth article in a series highlighting the significance of these six new historic landmarks of the Church of the Nazarene.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, First Church of the Nazarene was designated as a historical landmark of the Church of the Nazarene by the action of the 30th General Assembly in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, last month. The designation came after the General Assembly adopted Resolution 757, a resolution from the New England District on the USA/Canada Region. The church building is located at 234 Franklin Street. The building itself was finished in 1912 by some of the earliest holiness people of the denomination. The congregation that has worshipped at Franklin Street has been a part of the holiness movement since the mid-1800s. “In the mid-nineteenth century, this group of faithful holiness people in Cambridge purchased the property before joining the denomination and tirelessly and faithfully worked to bring to fruition their dream of a church building,” the resolution reads.

The location’s roots begin with Plummer’s Mission, a holiness mission created in the mid-19th century holiness movement of the northeast. Over the years, it became more greatly associated with the holiness movement in New England. The founding pastor, John Short, began leading the congregation in 1894.

Short was a part of the Central Evangelical Holiness Association, the oldest organized parent body of the present-day Church of the Nazarene. The association consisted of 10 local churches, including Cambridge, and a few smaller associations across the New England region. 

In 1907, the group from New England joined with the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America, which traveled to Chicago and united with Phineas Bresee’s Church of the Nazarene to form the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. One year later, that group joined with the Holiness Church of Christ at Pilot Point, Texas.

After the establishment of the Church of the Nazarene, Short oversaw the growth of the church in Cambridge until his death in 1922. Despite it being the location of the Plummer’s Mission, the early congregation never had a true church building. In 1912, they finished the building project and had it completely paid off within two years, according to Short’s obituary. While there was a small addition to the church building within the last 50 years, the building that currently stands on site is the original building constructed by the early holiness people.
“The building of the First Church of the Nazarene of Cambridge, with its long history and its roots in the formation of the denomination, is truly one of the historical buildings in our denomination,” the resolution says. 

Related: Fitkins Memorial Chapel granted historical landmark status

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