In 1708 when a group of German men and women were baptized in the Eder River near Schwarzenau, Germany, disobeying their country’s laws. As a result they were persecuted. They were serious about being obedient to the call of Jesus Christ on their lives as they read and studied the New Testament. While recognizing the Bible as the final and authoritative Word of God, the Brethren actively pursue the lifestyle of the New Testament Church.
There are many who have tried to distill the essence of being obedient to Christ down to a paragraph of a series of short, simple statements of faith. We Brethren have always been afraid that this kind of statement would leave out equally important parts of the New Testament. Therefore, we have simply said that the New Testament, in its entirety, is our creed. We tend to believe that “faith without works is dead” as in the teaching of James. We believe that the pursuit of wealth (mammon) is a sterile venture unless you are committing it to the Lord’s purpose through your life. We believe that the taking of human life is not following Christ’s teaching. We believe that to be in community with other believers is a call upon each of us as we live our daily lives. We believe that we need to always be looking to Jesus and be obedient to Him. We believe that, in following Jesus, God will give all the protection that we need. We believe that when we pray we are seeking, we are worshipping, we are praising, as well as asking. We believe that we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, with all our strength and only serve Him. We believe the only door to God through which we have access is Jesus Christ our Redeemer, our Resurrection. We recognize baptism by submersion as a willful act of obedience to the scriptures and an outward sign of the change Christ has made in us. We celebrate communion service four times a year. Two of these celebrations include a more intimate service of foot washing, a fellowship meal and communion. We believe that the most important decision that we can make is to put the “will of God” first in our lives. There are many statements that we could make; read your own New Testament to find them.
The Church of the Brethren is a small denomination with headquarters in Elgin, Illinois and with its policy generally given by statements from our Annual Conference. Each local congregation however, has a lot of freedom to agree or disagree. We do operate under the discipline of our ordained ministry, with the District being charged with the responsibility for licensing and ordaining ministers. Congregations are set up to call and challenge members to be ministers. Each local congregation is responsible for determining its ministry and governing itself.
