GERMAN BAPTIST BRETHREN, the legal name until 1908 of The Church of the Brethren, whose members are popu larly nicknamed Dunkers or Dunkards.
Origin.—The Church of the Brethren began in Schwarzenau, Germany, in 1708, in the county of Witgenstein, province of West falen. It was the result of the Pietistic Movement. The Pietists became dissatisfied with the formal religion of the state churches, and being persecuted for their faith, withdrew from other parts of Germany, from Switzerland, France and England to the moun tains of Witgenstein. After years of Bible study and prayer, some of these Pietists were convinced that they could not be true Christians without being organized into a church. Alexander Mack was their leader. They took the New Testament as the "Rule of Faith and Practice," following it literally, and where it was not clear, they interpreted it by the practices of the early church. Eight persons formed the nucleus of the church in Schwarzenau, which grew rapidly, and soon two other churches were formed, at Marienborn, and at Krefelt.
The treaty of Westphalia (1648) gave religious liberty only to the Lutherans, Calvinists and Catholics. The new church had no right, and was persecuted. In 1719 the church at Krefelt under the leadership of Peter Becker, came to German town, Pa. The same year the mother church at Schwarzenau, forty families, two hundred members, moved to Westfriesland, Holland. In 1729 this group, with Alexander Mack, also came to Pennsylvania. Within the next decade the scattered members who were left found their way to America.
In 1723 the first new converts in America were baptized in the Wissahickon Creek, Philadelphia. The first Love Feast was also held then, and Becker was made the bishop. Soon after, a missionary tour resulted in new converts and a second church, the Coventry church, near Pottstown, Pa. The church spread rapidly west and south so that in 1929 there were members in every state of the Union except in New England. The com municants numbered 135,000.
The New Testament being the only creed of the church, its teachings were set forth as the rule of faith and prac tice. (I) The Doctrine of Peace; there is to be no force in re ligion ; only willing believers are to be baptized ; no one is to have any part in war. (2) The Doctrine of Temperance. (3) The Doc trine of the Simple Life, as against luxury and worldliness. (4) The Doctrine of Brotherhood; no member ever held slaves; all caste and class distinctions are wrong. (5) Religion means obedience to the teachings of Christ, rather than creeds and cults; right living has always been emphasized more than forms. Bap tism is by triune immersion, as in the early church. The Agape is held, following literally John 13 : r-17. After the Lord's Supper, the Communion service of the Broken Bread and the Cup is administered.
The Church is democratic, each member has a vote. The country is divided into fifty districts, which hold conferences annually. The General Conference meets annually with delegates from each district and from each local church. The decisions of the General Conference are the unifying and di recting ideals for church government.
In Germantown, the two Christopher Sowers, father and son, were printers. The elder Sower printed the first Bible, in a European tongue, in America. Three editions of the German Bible were printed,
1776. He also published the first religious magazine on the continent, and as early as 174o organized a Sunday School for religious education, and printed portions of the Bible as lesson leaves.
Many efforts have been made to establish colleges. In 1929, the church owned and controlled the following educational insti tutions: Juniata College, Pa., founded, 1876; Mt. Morris Col lege, Ill., 1879; Bridgewater College, Va., 188o; McPherson Col lege, Kansas, 1887 ; Daleville Academy, Va., 189o; La Verne College, Calif., 1891; Manchester College, Ind., 1895 ; Elizabeth town College, Pa., 1898; Blue Ridge College, Md., 1899; Bethany Bible School, the Theological Seminary, Chicago, 1905. The Headquarters of the church is the Brethren Publishing House, Elgin, Ill. The Gospel Messenger, the church paper, and all other publishing for the church, is done there.
In 1876 missionaries were sent to Den mark. The real interest in missions began in 1894 when work was started in India, at Bulsar. In India the church had, in 1929, eleven stations with fifty-four missionaries. In 1908 work was started in the Shansi Province, China. In 1929 there were four stations with thirty-four missionaries in China. In 1922 a field was opened in Nigeria, Africa, where are two stations with eight een missionaries. There is also much home missionary work done, especially in the mountains of Virginia and Tennessee.
In 1732 the Ephrata Society was founded by Conrad Beissel, a former member of the Church of the Brethren. But the ideals, organization, and methods of this Society have al most no similarity to the church from which the founder came. In 1881 a small group left the church who were more conservative and called themselves The Old Order Brethren. They do not be lieve in Missions, Sunday Schools, or higher education. They number about 3,000. In 1882 a larger body, about Io,000 left the church who were more progressive than the mother church. They were popularly known as the Progressive Brethren, but their legal name is the Brethren Church. Their number is about 25,00o.
History of the Brethren; Kurtz, Nine teen Centuries of the Christian Church; Two Centuries of the Church of the Brethren, Brethren Publishing House. (D. W. Ku.)
