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Archiver > QUAKER-ROOTS > 1996-12 > 0850568986
From: <>
Subject: United Church of the Brethren
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 08:09:46 -0500
My great-grandfather was a lay minister of the Church of the Brethren in
Kansas. The church of the United Brethren in Christ resulted from a religious
revival which took place among the Germans of Pennsylvania in the latter part
of the 18th and opening years of the 19th centuries. It is probably accurate
to say that this church was the product of the Methodist revival of this
period. Philip Otterbein and Martin Boehm, pastors of the German Reformed and
Mennonite churches, respectively, were the leaders of the movement. Many
converts were made, the first were called brothers, and it is believed this
gave rise to the name of the church when it assumed an organized form. The
church was Arminian in doctrine.
About 1889 there was a division among the United Brethren which resulted in
two groups. The larger group retained the name United Brethren in Christ
while the smaller, and more conservative, group took the name United Brethren
in Christ (Old Constitution). The larger group then merged with the
Evangelical Church in 1947 to become the Evangelical United Brethren Church.
The E.U.B.'s in turn merged with the Methodist Church in 1968 to form the
United Methodist Church.
Wayne Lance <>
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