The Church of the Brethren is the name since 1908 of one of the older denominations in the Free or Believers Church tradition. It was founded in 1708 in Schwarzenau, Germany, by a group of Reformed and Lutheran Pietists who adopted beliefs and practices along Anabaptist lines. Because of severe persecution and economic necessity, virtually the entire movement migrated to North America beginning in 1719.
Known here as the German Baptist Brethren, or colloquially as "Dunkers" or "Dunkards," the Brethren founded congregations across the nation with heaviest concentration in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and California. The adult membership in 1999 was 138,000 in 1029 congregations and 35 fellowships. These figures do not include members of independent churches in Nigeria, India, and Ecuador once affiliated with the Church of the Brethren.
Although noncreedal from its inception, the Church of the Brethren has always held to the basic tenets of Protestant Christianity. Among the more distinctive practices are the baptism of confessing believers by threefold immersion; the observance of the Last Supper by a service of feetwashing to symbolize servanthood, a fellowship meal to symbolize brotherhood, and the commemorative Eucharist to symbolize Saviorhood; and the anointing of the ill for spiritual and bodily health.
As one of the three "historic peace churches," along with the Friends and Mennonites, the Brethren have consistently held an official peace witness, often expressed in conscientious objection to military service. During World War II, camps (Civilian Public Service) were maintained for religious objectors who performed work in the national interest, for example, in reforestation and improvement of national lands. Special units were organized as subjects of medical research (semi-starvation and control patients), as attendants in mental hospitals, and as agricultural technicians. During and after the Korean War, many of these programs were continued under the alternative service provisions of Selective Service, and voluntary service abroad was introduced, a forerunner of the Peace Corps.
Also growing out of the peace concern was a worldwide program of relief, reconstruction, and welfare as a service of love to those suffering from war, natural catastrophe, or social disadvantage, under the auspices of the church agency, the Brethren Service Commission.
In 1948 a program of voluntary service was instituted, which provides both young men and women the possibilities of devoting one or two years of their lives to projects of social service at home and abroad. Work with migrant laborers, ghetto dwellers, prison inmates, and minority groups exemplifies the types of activity undertaken within the Brethren Volunteer Service Program, which also includes a training period. More recently, older volunteers have also been enrolled in the program, quite often after they have reached retirement age.
The Brethren are related to six accredited liberal arts colleges/universities and sponsor one graduate school of theological education. The general offices are located at Elgin, Illinois, as is The Brethren Press; the monthly publication of the Brethren is Messenger. An independent scholarly journal, Brethren Life and Thought, is issued in the interests of the denomination.
In polity, the Brethren combine both congregational and presbyterial practices, with final authority vested in an annual conference of elected delegates. A twenty member council, the General Board, is the highest executive body and employs a staff centered primarily at the general offices. Congregations are organized into districts, twenty-three at present, ordinarily with a full-time executive in each one.
Members of the Church of the Brethren are active in ecumenical relationships from the local level through the National and World Councils of Churches. The European offices are located in the WCC center in Geneva, Switzerland.
There are several major branches of the Brethren, each of which considers itself the direct descendant of the Schwarzenau Brethren: the Old German Baptist Brethren, organized in 1881; the Brethren Church, 1883; the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, 1939; the Dunkard Brethren, 1926; and the Conservative Grace Brethren Churches, International, 1991.
Links:
http://www.brethren.org
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