HISTORY OF THE GRACE BRETHREN MOVEMENT

HISTORY OF THE GRACE BRETHREN MOVEMENT

The rich heritage of the Grace Brethren began with its founders, Alexander Mack and others, creating a unique blending of anabaptist (with its focus on a personal faith, baptism of believers, and an emphasis on the local church) and pietist (the desire of individual Christians to live for Christ in daily life) teachings. All this is built on the rock of Jesus Christ and personal salvation in Him, and on a strong commitment to the Bible including the ordinances of baptism and communion. The group has usually been "progressive" meaning that they were flexible in methods in order to aggressively reach the lost.

1.        Alexander Mack in 1708 in Schwarzenau, Germany, broke the ice on a December day and baptized eight people in the Eider River forming the German Baptist Brethren.

2.      Religious intolerance fragmented the group. Years later many came to America in search of religious freedom. They gathered in Germantown, PA, in 1729. The Progressive flavor of Peter Becker (pastor) and Christopher Sower (printer) were strong and noticed by Benjamin Franklin who commented very favorably on their reason for lack of a creed.

3.    The Revolutionary War forced the Brethren into the wilderness of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana due to refusal to fight for either side. The group became Amish-like in rules, dress, and sense of community; it also lost its progressivism. George Wolfe led the Western Brethren.

4.    In the 1880's, the Old Orders wanted to retain the Amish-like community (and German language) now threatened by the "civilizing" of the mid-west. These peaceful people wanted no changes in their community or practices. The Progressives started Ashland College (OH) and were, under Henry Holsinger, asked to leave the Brethren Church (Church of the Brethren) because they were too progressive.

5.    The more progressive Progressives wanted to start a missions organization in 1909. They started "under the elm trees" in Winona Lake and have grown to 950 churches in 15 countries (in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia) with a classic "success" in the Central African Republic, which is the most evangelized nation in the world.

6.    The Progressives split in the late 1930's over the Biblical direction of Ashland College. Grace Seminary and the FGBC were formed and headquarters from Ohio to Winona Lake, Indiana, with Dr. Alva J. McClain as leader of the Grace Theological Seminary. Dr. McClain introduced American Fundamentalist doctrine emphasizing the absolute inerrancy of the Bible, the distinction between the church and Israel with the related impact on its view of the pre­-tribulational return of Christ and the need for church planting missions. Pastor Jim Custer from the Worthington, Ohio Grace Brethren Church initiated a series of contacts with the Ashland Brethren leaders to dialogue the split of the late 1930's. On March 7, 2001, a meeting of Grace leaders and Ashland leaders met on the Ashland University campus for prayer, confession and healing.

7.      Since the Progressives went with the Grace group, it tripled its number of churches (especially due to Grace Brethren Home Missions) and members until 1980 when factions caused a focus on internal issues. These issues revolved around the amount of conformity of practice and stemmed from a desire by some to introduce the fundamentalist perspective (militant, conformist, separatist) to replace the progressive perspective of the church. A small group, called the Conservative Grace Brethren Association, eventually splintered from the Grace Group in 1992.