Written by Ronald J. Gordon ~ Published November, 2004 ~ Last Updated, January, 2005 ©
This document may be reproduced for educational purposes with full acknowledgement to the author. It is not an official voice
on Church of the Brethren membership but rather an educational primer intended to augment membership class preparation.

    Congratulations! You're interested in learning about membership in the Church of the Brethren. If you are considering a first-time commitment to Jesus and the Christian church, you should contact a Church of the Brethren pastor to further explore your decision. Or, perhaps you are already a member and just want to reexamine this subject. In either case, this exercise does not presume to speak with an official voice about Church of the Brethren membership, but rather serve as a primer to outline and briefly explain some of the basic principals involved in becoming a member. You will learn about vows of membership which you would be expected to affirm during a Baptismal or Reception service, and also the more distinctive beliefs and practices that uniquely accentuate the Church of the Brethren from other denominations. Thank you for considering membership and may God bless your continued journey of faith. Italicized scriptural quotes are taken from the King James Version and the World English Bible and some words are underlined to help focus attention on the critical point of a citation.

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Learning about Faith

What am I Searching For?

    Upon reaching a certain age, it seems natural for us to ponder questions such as, ?Who am I and what is my purpose for being here.? Some people try to find meaning in life by pursing thrills but the exhilaration soon wears off. Some pursue relationships but affection is not always a two way street. Others attempt to find meaning in service to their fellowman. The latter is more noble but it still does not satisfy that inner longing to understand the deeper questions of life. There is great wisdom in the famous quotation of Augustine, the 4th century Bishop of the city of Hippo Regius who eloquently reflected on these pursuits: ?You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.? After searching for meaning along many different pathways, disappointment brought him to the ultimate conclusion that all searching can end when we discover the love of God. Mathematical genus Blaise Pascal said it differently, ?There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man, which only God can fill through his Son Jesus Christ.? When that happens, we will finally discover true contentment. How does one explain the love of God? This love of God was demonstrated for us when God sent Jesus to carefully explain a New Covenant, or a new way that God wanted to interact with us. It is a Covenant of unmerited grace and mercy. God loves us so much that He allowed Jesus to die in our place so that we may have victory over sin and experience the joy of eternal life in heaven. ?In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins,? 1 John 4:10; and, ?Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone,? Hebrews 2:9. This sets Christianity apart from every other religion, in that our salvation has been accomplished by something which God has done for us, and not by what we might accomplish for ourselves. We are saved alone by God's grace and mercy. ?For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast,? Ephesians 2:8-9; and ?For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved,? John 3:16-17.

Who Is Jesus? - Matthew 16:13-17

If we answer this question subjectively (internally), there could be as many answers as there are respondents. A more reliable answer would be to examine the Bible and investigate what Jesus claims for Himself. Jesus claims to be God. Even a causal reading of the New Testament gives one a clear picture of the relationship between Jesus and God, for Jesus said a great deal about Himself, God, and their relationship. In speaking about His earthly mission Jesus said: ?I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,? John 14:6. Notice that He said ?the? way and ?the? truth and ?the? life. Not a way, or a truth, or a life. Jesus made it very clear that He alone is the way. In speaking with His disciples Jesus says: ?I and my Father are one,? John 10:29-30. The verb is 1st person plural indicative, or ?we? are one. Jesus uses the plural We, not the singular I. The verb person and number reveals that Jesus sees Himself and God as the same person. We are One in essence. We are One in nature. We are One in attributes. This was a very courageous thing to say, for Jesus was making Himself not only equal with God but also as having the very same essence as God. His detractors had no difficulty in understanding this premise. ?Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God,? John 10:31-33.

    Jesus lived in heaven but came to earth in the form of a baby, which is the Christmas story. ?And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger,? Luke 2:10-16. Christ is the Greek word for one who is anointed. Apostle Paul summarizes Christmas. ?Have this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross,? Phillipians 2:5-8.

    Jesus the Christ relinquished most of His divine privileges so that He could live on earth and personally explain that God wants to inaugurate a New Covenant whereby sins may be forgiven through God's grace because of a better sacrifice. ?How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance,? Hebrews 9:14-15. Jesus became that better sacrifice. He was anointed by God to accomplish this special act of substitutional love. Jesus, the perfect God-Man would die for our sins. Jesus is God's way of both demonstrating and inaugurating this New Covenant of love.

    Jesus wants us to know who He really is. This passage from Matthew is one of the better scriptures for us to examine because Jesus is asking this very question of His own disciples. It was important to Jesus that they know who He was. In other words, Jesus wanted them to get it right. ?Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?? ?And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.? ?He saith unto them, But whom say you that I am?? Peter replied: ?Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.? Jesus approvingly indicated that not only was Peter right but that the answer was given to him through divine inspiration: ?Blessed art thou, Simon Bar Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven.? Jesus is the anointed messenger of God. Jesus was anointed or specially consecrated by God to redeem mankind from the problem of sin. ?But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children,? Galatians 4:4-5. We are those children who are being ?spiritually adopted? by God through this New Covenant.

What is Christ's Purpose? - John 1:29

    ?Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.? John the Baptist made that divinely inspired statement. As Jesus was approaching him in order to be baptized, John called everyone's attention to the fact that Jesus was more than just a mortal man; Jesus was God's symbolic Lamb, to be sacrificed in order to remove the punishment for our sins. The Angel of the Lord proclaimed this purpose to Joseph: ?You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins,? Matthew 1:21. Apostle Paul explains this in Colossians 2:14: ?Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.? That is what we call the gospel or good news. Jesus will take away our sins if we trust Him to be our Savior. Blotting out is different than crossing out because wiping away removes the existence of something and further denies future discovery of it, while crossing out still permits one to see that which was crossed out. In the two boxes at the right, the word Debt can still be seen in the top box, even though it has been crossed out. However, the past contents of the bottom box will never be known because it has been wiped out. When Jesus died in our place to save us from the penalty of sin, our former record of sinful living was wiped clean. God tells us in Hebrews 10:16-17: ?This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.? God does not forget - that is a weakness. God is so powerful that He can choose not to remember something. If you think that is easy, just try to forget your social security number. This is wonderful news that our sins will not be remembered. Jesus established the Church to continue spreading this message of hope.

Why join a Church? - Matthew 16:18

    The Church is an organizational unit that was established by Jesus to continue His earthly ministry: ?Upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.? Jesus chose twelve disciples to begin the foundational work of spreading this good news before He ascended into heaven. Jesus equipped the Church with divine gifts to accomplish this special work. ?Now you are Christ's body and individual parts of it. God has appointed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then those who perform miracles, those who have gifts of healing, those who help others, administrators, and various kinds of tongues,? 1 Corinthians 12:27-28. Joining the Church of Jesus Christ enables us to become an integral part of this marvelous work. The Church is Jesus' instrument for continuing His ministry on earth.

    Brethren in earlier times admonished prospective candidates to be more reflective on the gravity of their commitment and the important promises they would be making to God. Luke 14:28 has become an important Scripture to Brethren because it had significant historical importance at the time of their formation in Germany in 1708. ?For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?? One of the costs of joining the Church of Jesus Christ is that we then belong to Him and should be respectful of how Jesus would direct our lives. His death upon the cross has redeemed us from sin. We have been purchased. ?Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's,? 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Joining the Church is a decision that requires us to be more intentional about fulfilling our small role in God's master plan. The Church is not a building but rather a dedicated group of people who work together toward this common purpose. We learn from each other and mutually strive to accomplish the will of God.

Why the Church of the Brethren?

    We offer another way of Christian living. When you come to the conclusion that attending church is more like attending to doctrines, creeds, liturgy, rote practices, and theological confusion, we hope that you'll discover we Brethren have something different. Our life pursuit is not following ritualistic form or racing toward hopeless horizons; but rather to know the living person Jesus and follow His instructions as outlined in the New Testament. We strive to be like Jesus and exemplify His love to others. ?By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another,? John 13:35. You won't need to memorize a new creed because we don't have one. The entire New Testament is our statement of faith. Learn more about us in the next section and discover ?Another Way of Living.?

Learning about the Brethren

Who are the Brethren?

    In 1708, Alexander Mack and seven others formed a new assembly that dedicated themselves to more intimately follow the teachings of Jesus. They baptized themselves in the Eder River near Schwarzenau, Germany, because they were influenced by the Anabaptists who strongly rejected infant baptism in favor of believer's baptism, and the Pietists who held that the established state-churches had departed from a true commitment to Jesus. In the devastating wake of the Thirty-Years war (1618-1648), Europe was try to put itself back together again. The religious struggle that started the original conflict resulted in three big churches (Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed) that would not permit any other groups to form. Religious persecution was severe and forced these early Brethren to keep moving around Europe. Later they migrated to America beginning in 1719, where their zeal for Jesus quickly developed into a multitude of Brethren settlements. They were a simple people that were known for their honesty and religious distinctives. Brethren observed a full service of communion called the Love Feast which included feet washing, a meal, the Bread, and the Cup. Full immersion three times for baptism, greeting each other with a holy kiss, anointing and laying on of hands for the sick, and rejecting war as sin also set them apart from other denominations. Observing these ordinances became central to the Brethren way of life. Over the years, differences in opinions concerning life styles and mission priorities resulted in splits which now yield seven Brethren Denominations who trace themselves back to the original Schwarzenau Brethren. The largest group decided to call themselves the Church of the Brethren in 1908. Presently, they are affiliated with Six Colleges, Bethany Theological Seminary, and numerous missionary, peace, and service projects around the world.

What is distinctive about the Brethren?

    Distinctives are those qualities which uniquely identify something. The multicolored rings to the right are universally recognized by all nations of the world as representing only one thing, the Olympic Games. Mascots are distinctive of colleges and sports teams. White wigs are distinctive of British lawyers. The Empire State building is a distinctive feature of the New York City landscape. Crosses are distinctive of Christian church buildings. The Star of David is distinctive of anything Jewish. Golden Arches are distinctive of one particular restaurant. When you see any one of these while traveling or reading a magazine, your mind immediately creates a larger picture of what it represents. The Church of the Brethren also has several historical distinctives and following is a brief explanation of the more prevalent ones.

Trine Baptism by Immersion

    We have long been known as the Dunkards because we fully immerse or dunk when we baptize. It comes from the German word tunken. Although modern Germans principally use the transitive verb tauchen (plunge, immerse) or eintauchen (dive into), the obsolete tunken was the moniker applied to the early Brethren. Our first label was the Schwarzenau T?ufer (Baptists) or Neue T?ufer (new baptists) because we wanted to distinguish ourselves from older Anabaptists bodies. While migrating through colonial America, we used the label German Baptist and then appended Brethren about 1836 and officially adopted German Baptist Brethren in 1871.

    The Church of the Brethren practices trine immersion (Latin: trinus, of three) for believers baptism, one plunge for each member of the Trinity. We may never know the exact method used by Christ and His disciples but three immersions most probably stems from the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) where Jesus instructed the disciples: ?Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.? Trine immersion was practiced from the earliest centuries for Augustine, the 4th Century Bishop stated in a Sermon to the Neophytes: ?Rightly were you dipped three times, since you were baptized in the name of the Trinity. Rightly were you dipped three times, because you were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, Who on the third day rose again from the dead. For that thrice repeated immersion reproduces the burial of the Lord by which you were buried with Christ in Baptism.? Thus, he infers that three plunges may also signify the three days of Christ's burial. The Latin Catholic Church practiced trine immersion until about the Twelfth century when it gradually succumbed to aspersion or sprinkling. Tampering with this method of baptism would be regarded by many as severely redefining what it means to be Brethren.

Feet Washing and Love Feast

    Our communion service closely follows the Last Supper of Jesus and His disciples. We have a meal, the feet washing service, the breaking of Bread, the Cup of Blessing, interspersed with the singing of hymns. Practices and emphasis may vary slightly from one congregation to another but observance of each segment is generally consistent. A few kindred denominations also have feet washing but not the meal. Brethren are unique in that our observance of communion is very complete, and usually a full evening service. Alexander Mack, our founding father, said: ?We indeed have neither a new church or any new laws. We only want to remain in simplicity and true faith in the original church which Jesus founded through His blood. We wish to obey the commandment which was in the beginning.? Inscriptions and paintings on ancient walls called it the Agape Meal or love meal, a feast of love, or simply, a Love Feast (Greek: agape, cherishing love). Attending the Love Feast in past generations was closely, if not strictly, monitored. In many Brethren congregations it was expected that Elders would ?examine? members prior to the service in order to determine their scriptural appropriateness for participation. ?Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body,? 1 Corinthians 11:27-29; and ?Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils,? 1 Corinthians 10:21. The possibility of being barred from Love Feast was not something regarded lightly. Communing, as it was often called, was popular and Brethren frequently traveled to other congregations in order to enjoy the spiritual benefits of this great service.

    In former years, several congregations held the Love Feast in barns because their church buildings tended to be small and members from other congregations attending would be anticipated. Non-members, children, and the curious often watched from the hay loft. Some church buildings were large enough to accommodate these crowds, and had constructed pews that quickly converted the backrest into a table. Meal preparation for Love Feast was extensive. Brethren churches were among the first to have kitchens. For that reason, some congregations have great difficulty in accepting the more simple ?bread & cup? communion that is more distinctive of high liturgical denominations. Tampering with this service is already regarded by many as severely redefining what it means to be Brethren.