Frederic P Miller

Church of the Brethren Frederic P Miller

Publisher Marketing: High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination originating from the Schwarzenau Brethren ("Schwarzenauer Neutufer") organized in 1708 by eight people led by Alexander Mack, a miller, in Schwarzenau (Bad Berleburg), Germany. The Brethren movement began as a melding of Radical Pietist and Anabaptist ideas during the Protestant Reformation. The first of its churches in America was established in 1723. These churches became commonly known as Dunkers and more formally as German Baptist Brethren. The denomination holds the New Testament as its only creed. Historically the church has taken a strong stance for non-resistance or pacifism. Distinctive practices include believers baptism by trine immersion; a threefold Love Feast consisting of feet washing, a fellowship meal, and communion; anointing for healing; and the holy kiss. The Church of the Brethren represents the largest body descending from Mack's Schwarzenau Brethren church. The German Baptist Brethren suffered a major division in the early 1880s, creating the Old German Baptist Brethren and the Brethren Church, with the original majority later adopting the name "Church of the Brethren" in 1908.