The older I get, the worse blue jeans get. When I was a boy, blue jeans were supposed to be blue. They were dark blue denim. The material was so thick you couldn’t help but walk stiff-legged and brand new jeans would rub your knees red. You had to wash them about 25 times before they were comfortable. If you developed a hole in the knee, it was time for a new pair. It’s different today. You can buy brand new jeans with holes in them. In fact, I was in a store the other day and they had “distressed” jeans and “destroyed” jeans. There wasn’t much blue left in the “distressed” jeans and they were full of holes. The “destroyed” jeans were as the name implies, in tatters. It seemed strange to me to spend good money for bad jeans, but then, I’m an old guy.

This is a new day. Styles change. People’s taste in jeans is different. That doesn’t make them wrong...just different. The amazing thing is that jeans are still around. They started making them for sailors in Genoa, Italy 500 years ago, thus the name “jeans.” Levi Strauss started making his in the late 1850’s in San Francisco because the gold miners needed durable pants. There have been many changes in style along the way, but blue jeans still meet needs. And I was thinking about holiness. Through the centuries, the style has changed but the deep, need-meeting core of the message has remained. In the 18th century, John and Charles Wesley took the message to the fields and streets. I imagine there were purists who thought this was an aberration rather than an advancement of the holiness message. The Wesleys’ strategy did not entail the starting of churches but small group meetings and open-air services. Many religious leaders of the day decried them as “enthusiasts.”

The style changed in the 19th century. The strategy of holiness leaders was to use the thriving campmeeting movement of the day to propel the message. Phoebe Palmer’s “shorter way” to entire sanctification utilized the altar of prayer to enter the experience. Many holiness churches were started by passionate proponents of the message. As in Wesley’s day, some have claimed the 19th century holiness movement to be an aberration rather than an advancement of the message. But who can deny the great good resulting from those efforts?

What shall be said of the 21st century holiness movement? What will the strategies be? Who will step to the front in leadership? May God help us older ones to speak kindly and reserve our judgment of those who will lead the holiness movement into the 21st century. Maybe the new Johns and Charles and Phoebes need our space, our prayers and our encouragement. May we not accuse them of aberration just because their “jeans” seem to be an odd style but let us see their efforts as advancement. Their strategies and emphases may be different. But we pray that the message will so captivate their hearts and the experience so transform their lives that they will magnificently shepherd the movement through their century.

Pleased with the Prospects, Bob Broadbooks

PS—What will “The 21st Century Holiness Movement” look like? I am curious about what you think. Strategies? Style? Emphases? Please write me. Thanks! rbroadbooks@nazarene.org