Church of the United Brethren in Christ

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The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is an evangelical Christian denomination based in Huntington, Indiana.

The church is a Protestant denomination of episcopal structure, Arminian theology, with roots in the Mennonite and German Reformed communities of 18th century Pennsylvania. It is the first American denomination that was not transplanted from Europe.

In 1889, a controversy over membership in secret societies, such as the Freemasons, the proper way to modify the church's constitution, and other issues split the United Brethren into majority liberal and minority conservative blocs, the latter of which was led by Bishop Milton Wright (father of the Wright Brothers).

The majority faction merged with the Evangelical Church in 1946 to form a new denomination known as the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB). This in turn merged in 1968 with The Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church (UMC).

The Wright-led faction continues today as a denomination of about 550 congregations, with 47,300 members in fifteen countries. Its headquarters are in Huntington, Indiana, where it operates Huntington University and The Graduate School of Christian Ministries.

Contents

[edit] History

Though not organized until 1800, the roots of the church reach back to 1767. In May of that year, a Great Meeting (part of an interdenominational revival movement) was held at a barn belonging to Isaac Long in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Martin Boehm (1725-1812), a Mennonite preacher, spoke of his becoming a Christian through crying out to God while plowing in the field. Philip William Otterbein (1726-1813), a Reformed pastor at York, Pennsylvania, left his seat, embraced Boehm and said to him, "Wir sind Brüder (we are brethren)". The followers of Boehm and Otterbein formed a loose movement for many years. It spread to include German-speaking churches in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio. In 1800, they began a yearly conference. Thirteen ministers attended the first conference at the home of Peter Kemp in Frederick, Maryland. At that conference in 1800, they adopted a name, the United Brethren in Christ, and elected Boehm and Otterbein as bishops of the conference. The United Brethren Church claims this organization in 1800 as the first denomination to actually begin in the United States. A Confession of Faith was adopted in 1815 (similar to one written by Otterbein in 1789), and it has remained the statement of church doctrine to the present. In 1841, they adopted a Constitution. It has remained mostly intact, being changed only a few times.

The United Brethren took a strong stand against slavery, beginning around 1820. After 1837, slave owners were no longer allowed to remain as members of the United Brethren Church. In 1853, the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society was organized. Expansion occurred into the western United States, but the church's stance against slavery limited expansion to the south. By 1889, the United Brethren had grown to over 200,000 members with six bishops. In that same year they experienced a division. Denominational leaders desired to make three changes: to give local conferences proportional representation at the General Conference; to allow laymen to serve as delegates to General Conference; and to allow United Brethren members to hold membership in secret societies. The denominational leadership made these changes, but the minority felt the changes violated the Constitution because they were not made by the majority vote of all United Brethren members. One of the bishops, Milton Wright (the father of aviation pioneers Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright), disagreed with the actions of the majority. Bishop Wright and other conference delegates left the meeting and resumed the session elsewhere. They believed that the other delegates had violated the Constitution (and, in effect, withdrawn from the denomination), and deemed themselves to be the true United Brethren Church.

Until 1946 two groups operated under the name Church of the United Brethren in Christ. In 1946, the larger "United Brethren" church merged with the Evangelical Church to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church. That body in turn merged with the Methodist Church in 1968 to form the United Methodist Church. The present United Brethren Church is descended from the minority who organized under the leadership of Bishop Milton Wright. They eventually adopted two of the changes that led to the division of 1889 - local conferences have proportional representation at General Conference, and half of the delegates are laypersons. They believe they adopted them constitutionally. In 1897, denominational headquarters, a college and a publishing house were established in Huntington, Indiana.

William Otterbein retained a connection with the Reformed Church, pastoring a Reformed Church in Baltimore, Maryland from 1774 until his death in 1813. Martin Boehm was excluded by the Mennonites in 1775. He joined the Methodist Church in 1802, while remaining bishop of the United Brethren until his death in 1812. Francis Asbury, bishop of the Methodist Church in America, spoke at the memorial services of both of these United Brethren bishops. Otterbein had assisted in Asbury's ordination.

[edit] Faith and Practice

The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is a conservative Trinitarian body of Christians that hold the deity, humanity, and atonement of Jesus; that the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired Word of God; and that salvation is through faith, repentance and following after Christ. The church holds two ordinances: baptism and the Lord's supper. The church takes a neutral position on the observance of feet washing, stating, "the example of washing feet is left to the judgment of every one to practice or not...".

[edit] Branches And Connections

For the first several decades the Church of the United Brethren in Christ was loosely organized, and known simply as the United Brethren Church. When they officially organized into a denomination they adopted the name "Church of the United Brethren in Christ" in order to avoid confusion with the Unitas Fratrum (Unity of the Brethren), or as it more commonly was called in English, the United Brethren (also known as the Moravian Church.) Although there was influence by Pietism and the Moravians on the founders of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, there is no direct organizational link.

Likewise, there are no organizational connections with the Brethren denominations coming out of the German Brethren and Swiss Brethren movements, nor are there any connections with various Mormon groups that use "United Brethren" in their name.

[edit] Church of the Brethren in Christ

Known branches of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ include several congregations led by United Brethren founder Martin Boehm that eventually became part of the Brethren in Christ Church. While they were associated with the United Brethren during the early decades, they never joined when the movement formalized into a denomination.

[edit] Missionary Church

There were also a small number of pastors and members that withdrew during the 1800s and eventually contributed to the convergence of denominations of what is now the Missionary Church, USA.

[edit] United Christian Church

In addition a small group of members withdrew (primarily over a desire for a stronger stand on pacifism) to form one of the denominations known as the United Christian Church around the middle of the 19th century.

[edit] Christian Union Church

In 1848 a small group withdrew to form the Republican United Brethren Church. They later merged with another small splinter group called the Reformed United Brethren Church to form the Evangelical United Brethren Association (not to be confused with the later Evangelical United Brethren Church). The Evangelical United Brethren Association is said to have united with others to form the Christian Union Church in 1864.

[edit] United Methodist Church & United Church of Canada

The largest "branching" came in 1889 when the main body divided into two groups. The larger group embraced a new constitution while the smaller group retained the original constitution. The larger group was known as the Church of the United Brethren in Christ or, later, The United Brethren Church (UB). In 1946 the United Brethren Church merged with the Evangelical Church to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB). In 1968 the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged with the Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church (UMC).

In Canada the Evangelical United Brethren Churches joined the United Church of Canada which was formed a number of years earlier with the merger of the Methodist Church, the Congregational Churches, and some Presbyterian Churches in Canada.

[edit] Evangelical Church of North America & Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada

At that time, a number of the Evangelical United Brethren Churches in the US and Canada left the Evangelical United Brethren Church/United Methodist Church. Some rejoined the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, other denominations, or remained independent. Most joined together to form the Evangelical Church of North America. Later, due to international laws and legal requirements by Revenue Canada, the Canadian branch of the Evangelical Church of North America withdrew to form its own denomination. The Evangelical Church in Canada then merged with the Missionary Church of Canada to form the Evangelical Missionary Church in Canada. Fraternal ties between the Evangelical Church and the Evangelical Missionary Church have been maintained.

[edit] Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International

The smaller group of churches resulting from the 1889 division became known as the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Old Constitution. Later, after the other Church of the United Brethren in Christ had changed names with its 1946 merger with the Evangelical Church, "Old Constitution" was dropped from the name. Today, they are often casually referred to as United Brethren (UB) or the United Brethren Church (UBC).

In the late 1980s through the early 2000s, a need to comply with changing international laws resulted in the creation of a number of self-governing United Brethren "national conferences," organized by country. These independent national denominations covenanted together to create an interdependent body called the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International. They must all agree to follow the Confession of Faith of 1815, as well as a set of seven Core Values. The other international governing documents include a Constitution and By-Laws.

[edit] Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International

[edit] National Conferences

The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International currently consists of nine self-governing national conferences. (At the 2005 General Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International, Mexico and the Philippines were accepted as the eighth and ninth national conferences.) The nine national conferences are:

  • The United Brethren Church in Canada
  • The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Honduras
  • The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Hong Kong
  • The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Jamaica
  • The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Mexico
  • The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Nicaragua
  • The Philippine National Conference of the United Brethren In Christ
    • aka "Looking Unto Jesus United Brethren In Christ Church"
  • The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Sierra Leone
  • The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA

[edit] Mission Districts

In addition there are seven mission districts. A mission district is a collection of churches in a country which are not yet organized into a national conference. Instead, those churches are under the supervision of a national conference. For example, Global Ministries of the United States National Conference currently oversees mission districts in Haiti and India, while Hong Kong Conference oversees the three churches in Macau. Any mission district can seek status as a national conference if it meets and maintains the following criteria:

  1. It consists of at least five churches within that country.
  2. It is a legally recognized entity within that country.
  3. No other United Brethren national conference exists in that country.
  4. It is organized with a constitution and other governing documents.
  5. Its governing documents, teachings, and practices do not conflict with the Confession of Faith, Core Values, Constitution, and Bylaws of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International.

If a mission district meets those requirements, it can apply for national conference status through this procedure:

  1. The churches in the mission district vote to seek membership in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International.
  2. They develop their governing documents and submit them to the international Executive Committee for review.
  3. The General Conference approves, by a two-thirds vote, the request for membership.

These are the current mission districts:

[edit] Organization

The General Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International, meets every four years. It is the highest governing body of the church, and is composed of representatives from the nine national conferences. Each national conference can send at least two delegates, with additional delegates awarded depending on the size of the conference in worship attendance. The national conference of each country elects its own highest official (often called the bishop). These national conference officials make up an international Executive Committee. The Executive Committee meets annually to take care of business between sessions of the General Conference.

[edit] Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA

[edit] Organization

The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA is the United Brethren national conference for the United States. Its national offices are located in Huntington, Indiana. Led by an elected bishop, it is composed of clergy and lay representatives from US cogregations and US-sponsored mission fields. The national conference meets every two years, with the next National Conference schedule to be held during the summer of 2007.

On October 14, 2003 the Executive Leadership Team of the United Brethren Church, USA voted to pursue joining with the Missionary Church. The joining was tentatively scheduled to occur in 2005 but was defeated by a vote of the membership in 2004. This action, had it received a favorable vote, would have combined the United Brethren churches in the United States into the Missionary Church USA, so that all of those congregations would have become Missionary Church congregations.

At the 2005 National Conference of the United Brethren Church, USA significant changes were passed that intiated a major restructuring and refocusing of the denominations. The new organizational structure eliminates the multiple geographical "annual conferences" which have existed since 1810, and replaces them with smaller grouping, called "clusters," designed to better equip congregations and their leadership while building stronger relationships and accountability.

The new structure does the following:

  • Moves the National Conference from a four-year cycle to a two-year cycle.
  • Requires each United Brethren church in the United States to affirm its continued support for a covenant agreement every two years. The covenant agreement lays out the minimum expectations to be a United Brethren church.
  • Requires that all pastors and their congregations work together with other pastors and congregations in groups of 5-10 churches called "clusters." The new structure allows flexibility in the formation and focus of a cluster. Each cluster has a coach who has been trained to equip the pastors in the cluster to equip their churches. All coaches are appointed by the United States bishop, and they report to the Director of Healthy Churches, a national conference staff member.
  • Allows for a variety of mission-focused networks and associations to be created. These groups may revolve around world evangelism, camps, church planting, or any number of other affinities.

Any church, regardless of denominational affiliation, may participate in the clusters and affinity groups under the new structure. While a church is not required to be a United Brethren church, it does need to agree to basic beliefs and values. In order to have a representative vote in the National Conference, however, a church must be in good standing with a signed covenant with the United Brethren Church, USA.

[edit] Affiliated Ministries
  • Global Ministries is the official agency of the Church of the United Brethren Church, USA, for worldwide evangelism and discipleship. Areas of responsibility include overseeing mission conferences, certifying missionaries, and promoting connections between US and non-US congregations.
  • Huntington University, and the Huntington University Graduate School of Christian Ministries, located in Huntington, Indiana, are owned and operated by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA. The successor of Hartsville Seminary, Huntington University was founded in 1897 as Central College. It soon changed its name to Huntington College, becoming Huntington University on July 1, 2005.
  • Laurel Mission is a wholistic ministry meeting physicial, social, and spiritual needs in rural Kentucky.
  • Michindoh Camp and Conference Center is a Christian conference center in Hillsdale, Mich.
  • Rhodes Grove Camp is a United Brethren campground located near Chambersburg, Pa.
  • Camp Living Waters is a United Brethren campground in Luther, Mich.

[edit] Publications
  • UB.org is the official website of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA.
  • UBMissions.com is the official website of Global Ministries.
  • "Worldview" is the official publication of Global Ministries and is published monthly.
  • The BishopBlog and UB News, are online publications and are updated frequently.

[edit] Status

The total number of United Brethren churches is 600, with a membership of 47,300. In 2000, membership in the United States was 24,603 in 253 congregations. The majority of United Brethren churches are located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Outside the United States, there are churches in Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Macau, Mexico, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, and Thailand.

[edit] Higher Education

Since its beginning in the 1700s, the Church of the United Brethren in Christ founded 34 colleges, seminaries, and academies in the United States. Those still surviving as independent entities, include:

[edit] Other

Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner," was a Sunday school teacher for the United Brethren.

Orville and Wilbur Wright, who invented the airplane, were the sons of United Brethren bishop Milton Wright.

[edit] References

  • Handbook of Denominations in the United States, by Frank S. Mead, Samuel S. Hill, and Craig D. Atwood
  • Trials and Triumphs, Paul R. Fetters, editor

[edit] External links

[edit] National Conferences

[edit] UBC-USA Affiliate Ministries

[edit] UBC-USA Camps

[edit] Huntington University

[edit] Publications

[edit] Additional UB links

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