Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches

The Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches is a theologically conservative fellowship of Brethren churches descended from the Schwarzenau Brethren

Schwarzenau Brethren

The Schwarzenau Brethren, originated in Germany, the outcome of the Radical Pietist ferment of the late 17th and early 18th century. Hopeful of the imminent return of Christ, the founding Brethren abandoned the established Reformed and Lutheran churches, forming a new church in 1708 when their...

movement of Alexander Mack

Alexander Mack

Alexander Mack was one of the founders of the Schwarzenau Brethren.Alexander Mack may refer to:*Alexander Mack , Civil War Medal of Honor recipient*Alex Mack, American football player*Alex Mack...

of Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

History

The Brethren (at the time called German Baptist Brethren) suffered a three way division early in the 1880s, and the more progressive group organized the Brethren Church

The Brethren Church

The Brethren Church is one of several groups that traces its origins back to the Schwarzenau Brethren of Germany. In the mid-19th century, the church began to struggle over modernization. Progressives stressed evangelism, objected to distinctive dress, and objected to the supremacy of the annual...

. Led by charismatic leader Henry Holsinger, they maintained the standard Brethren doctrines, but wanted to adopt new methods, and desired more congregational autonomy and less centralization. These more progressive Brethren moved into the mainstream of Christian evangelicalism in America. Several events in the late 19th century and early 20th century, including the Bible Conference movement, emphasis on foreign missions, and the rise of fundamentalism, had an impact on the church. The Foreign Missionary Society of the Brethren Church was formed on September 4, 1900, in Winona Lake, Indiana

Winona Lake, Indiana

Winona Lake is a town in Wayne Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana, United States. The population was 4,908 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Winona Lake is located at...

.

But, also in the early 1900s, two different viewpoints began to emerge. As Robert Clouse

Robert Clouse (professor)

Dr. Robert G. Clouse was born in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1931. He is currently Professor Emeritus at Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana. He married Bonnidell Barrows in 1955 and has two sons, Gary and Kenneth.-Education and career:...

writes about this event “the Progressives showed considerable agreement in what they opposed, but were less united in what they wished to create.” The Brethren Church had rejected classical liberal theology in 1921 with "The Message of the Brethren Ministry," written by J. Allen Miller and McClain. However the aggressive approach of fundamentalism, led by Louis S. Bauman and McClain, conflicted with the drawn out approach of traditional Brethrenism. The fundamentalist desired strongly worded statements of faith, the traditional Brethren stressed non-creedalism. The fundamentalist's classic dispensationalist belief largely disregarded the Sermon on the Mount

Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...

as a law for an earlier age, while the traditional Brethren statement "the New Testament is our Rule of Faith and Practice" placed a high emphasis on this passage in Matthew 5–7. The fundamentalist were largely Calivinist

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

, the traditional Brethren largely Arminian.

This tension finally erupted in 1936–37 with a growing controversy at Ashland College. Although the school was in the control of the Brethren Church, it was transitioning from a Christian denominational school to a secular school with more regional and less denominational focus. Because of a push to enlarge non-Brethren representation on the board of trustees and establish a "double standard" of conduct for regular college students and pre-seminary college students, Bauman and Charles Ashman, Sr. (1886–1967) resigned from the Ashland College board of trustees on June 1, 1937. The next day, professors Alva J. McClain and Herman Hoyt were fired from Ashland Seminary due to increasing tension between the college group and the seminary group. At a prayer meeting in the home of J.C. Beal that evening Grace Theological Seminary

Grace Theological Seminary

Grace Theological Seminary is an evangelical Christian seminary located in Winona Lake, Indiana. GTS is joined with Grace College and is associated with the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. The seminary enjoys a history that dates back to its 1937 organization by Alva J. McClain, the...

was born, where after prayer Bauman announced "I want to give the first gift to the new school."

In the next two years two groups emerged in the Brethren Church: those sympathetic with Ashland College and those sympathetic with Grace Seminary. Traditional Brethren, in part because of their drawn out approach and in part due to their distaste of fundamentalist theology, sided with Ashland College, while the fundamentalist led by Bauman and McClain, sided with Grace. In 1939, the Grace Seminary group formed the National Fellowship of Brethren Churches. The Fellowship incorporated in 1987 as the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.

Another division occurred in 1992, led by former Grace Seminary professor John C. Whitcomb

John C. Whitcomb

John Clement Whitcomb, Jr. is an American Old Testament theologian and young earth creationist. Whitcomb is sometimes credited for establishing the modern young earth creationist/creation science movement by authoring with Henry M...

forming Conservative Grace Brethren Churches, International

Conservative Grace Brethren Churches, International

Conservative Grace Brethren Churches, International is a conservative group that separated from the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches....

. The issue of dissension was open membership to individuals who had not been baptized by triune immersion, although the larger issue had more to do with Whitcomb himself. His strong personality along with beliefs such as "second-degree separation," which defines that Christians should not only be separated from "the world" and theological liberals, but also theological conservatives who cooperated with them, brought strife and, "Due to his insistence on issues such as this, his colleagues at the Grace Seminary found it increasingly difficult to work with him." He was dismissed from Grace Seminary in 1990, and consequently formed the Conservative Grace Brethren Association, which became the starter organization for the denomination to follow.

Beliefs

Twelve articles, adopted in 1969, are presented by the fellowship as their statement of faith on the following issues - the Bible

Bible

The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

, God

God

God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

, Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

Christ

Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...

, the Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...

, Man

Human

Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...

, Salvation

Salvation

Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...

, the Church

Christian Church

The Christian Church is the assembly or association of followers of Jesus Christ. The Greek term ἐκκλησία that in its appearances in the New Testament is usually translated as "church" basically means "assembly"...

, the Christian life, Ordinances, Satan

Satan

Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...

, Second Coming

Second Coming

In Christian doctrine, the Second Coming of Christ, the Second Advent, or the Parousia, is the anticipated return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, where he sits at the Right Hand of God, to Earth. This prophecy is found in the canonical gospels and in most Christian and Islamic eschatologies...

, and Future Life. The Grace Brethren at one time were considered to be more Calvinistic

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

than the Ashland Brethren, but there is a growing cooperation emerging in recent years between the Grace and Ashland groups. They are generally dispensational, and pretribulational in eschatology.

Grace Brethren International Missions, CE National, Brethren Missionary Herald Company and Women of Grace USA are ministries formed by the FGBC to help fulfill their mission of making Jesus known. Grace College and Seminary
Grace College
Grace College is an evangelical Christian college located in Winona Lake, Indiana. The college is associated with Grace Theological Seminary and the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.-Accreditation:...

in Winona Lake, Indiana

Winona Lake, Indiana

Winona Lake is a town in Wayne Township, Kosciusko County, Indiana, United States. The population was 4,908 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Winona Lake is located at...

is associated with the FGBC. Though its students do not all belong to FGBC churches, Grace does offer scholarships to FGBC students who meet academic standards. Grace College is also now offering a three-year accelerated degree option that will allow students to get a Bachelor's degree in three years or a Bachelor's and Master's in four years As part of its redesigned curriculum, Grace College is placing a heavy emphasis on applied learning experiences, such as internships. Many ministry-minded Grace students do internships and volunteer work in FGBC churches. FGBC headquarters are maintained in Winona Lake, and the annual conference is held there. Today (2003) the Fellowship of Grace Brethren is made up of over 265 churches in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, with a membership of over 30,000. There are 23 districts cooperating with the Fellowship, and over 1100 churches have been formed outside North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. Worldwide attendance in Grace Brethren Churches is estimated to be 600,000 people.

External links

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