Photo Reveals Early Nazarene Symbols

Described by Nazarene historian Timothy Smith as “Spiritual Shock Troops” Nazarene youth organizations can trace their origin back Phineas Bresee’s church in Los Angeles.(Breese) Initially organized into two groups, the Brotherhood of St. Stephen for boys and Company E. for girls. Over the years the Nazarene youth organizations went through a series of restructuring to become the Nazarene Youth International (NYI) we know today.(Girvin)

From the early days we find fascinating references to youth that were fired up for worship and evangelism. The youth groups in Dr. Bresee's church grew to over two hundred average attendance and demonstrated that while they were eager to do God’s work, they were not averse to incorporating fun into their activities. Each year the church would charter a train that carried up to 1000 people to spend a day at Long Beach or Plaza del Rey. Fun activities included “boating, bathing and a picnic, followed by a late afternoon evangelistic service;” these beach getaways were described as “the real way of having a picnic, as is customary with the
Nazarenes.”(Smith)

Due to the primitive state of photographic technology in the early 20^th century, very few pictures are available showing these early Nazarenes in their frivolity during their trips to the beach. Fortunately, Holy Hijinx has recently acquired a photograph that may depict what Phineas Bresee may have looked like when he was at the beach. In the Photo Dr. Bresee appears to be modeling tattoos that may be prototypes of contemporary Nazarene logos.

The upper tattoo centered on his left deltoid depicts Jesus providing care to the sick, this symbol is similar to the logo used by Nazarene Compassionate Ministries. The second tattoo appears to be a pseudo-tribal depiction of the descending dove and flame, a common graphic depiction symbolizing the Holy Spirit cleansing and empowering followers of Christ. The image of the dove and flame are similar to those that are now part of the denominational seal.

Our archivists speculate that the discovery of this photograph demonstrates that Dr. Bresee's visionary leadership extended beyond the theological and organizational development of the denomination and into the creation of the symbols that would become important in inspiring his followers to greater piety and service to others.