Difference between Brethren Church and Baptists?

Kathy,

If this is the same church you are referring to, this is a statement of their faith that I found on their website: http://ashlandgbc.org/statemnt.html

Hope this helps,

Joseph

 

The Handbook of Denominations in the United States lists 11 groups in the Brethren faith. Judging by the name and location, the church you mention is probably part of either the Ashland Grace Brethren that Joseph mentions above, or the
Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. According to the handbook, the Ashland group is more Arminian, and this group is more Calvinistic; although the Calvinist/Arminian classification is not very exact for Brethren churches.

[ June 28, 2001: Message edited by: rlvaughn ]

 

Kathy, I have read over the statements of faith of the Ashland church, the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, and the Grace Brethren Church. There are not many things on them that you could not find in some Baptist statement of faith (although the way they put these things into practice could vary widely). Two things in particular stood out - (1) they baptize by trine immersion (plunging face forward three times for the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost); and (2) they incorporate a love feast into the communion service in addition to the bread and cup and feetwashing.

If I am not mistaken, J. N. Darby and C. I. Scofield were both connected with the Brethren churches. They popularized dispensational pretribulational premillennialism, which is very prevalent today. I just mention them as names you might recognize.

[ June 28, 2001: Message edited by: rlvaughn ]

 

Most of the various Brethren groups fall into one of two camps. The Plymouth Brethren, or Darbyites. They descend from the English Brethren. This group consisted of people who were disenchanted with the imposed ritualism of the Church of England and the State Church system. History records they first began meeting in Dublin, Ireland around 1827, having broken away from the local Anglican Communion. Darby was a Anglican clergyman who led the original English congregation from 1830 onward.

Most of the rest of those calling themselves Brethren trace their roots to Germany and the old Baptist Brethren of that country. These groups go by several names in this country, most notably Church of the Brethren (Conservative Dunkers) [Note: Dunker is derived from the German word "tunken" meaning "to dip or immerse" and is related to the other German words used to describe baptism, "Tunkers", "Taufers," and "Dompelaars"], Brethren Church (Progressive Dunkers), Old German Baptist Brethren (Old Order Dunkers), and Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. These groups were originally knows simply as "German Baptists" or "German Baptist Brethren."

The latter group is not all that different from Baptists in doctrine and practice.

 

First, let me agree with Bros. Keith and Thomas on Darby and Scofield. They were connected with the Plymouth Brethren, a group not historically connected with the Brethren of whom who ask. They are of German origin.

Now, Kathy, as to your question, "if you were in my situation, would you check out the church or would you run in the opposite direction?" I am not sure that I could put forward what I would do as an example of what you should do, but here goes. I first would look for churches of my like faith and order. If I found none, as in your case, I would consider the possibilities of organizing one. I personally would not go to the Brethren church, because I am Baptist through and through (Baptist born and Baptist bred, and when I die I'm Baptist dead ). But I DO NOT agree with your mother-in-law that the Brethren are weird. I would be most concerned as to what they really believe about salvation of the soul. I would be afraid that some of the German Brethren churches hold Arminian positions of salvation - adding works to grace and the possibility of falling from grace. I would recommend that you check this out carefully before going too far into this.

 

Kathy, I have found another website that seems to be a different Brethren group from the ones we have mentioned previously. It is here. I am not sufficiently versed on the Brethren to be sure. There is a page on this site that talks about a 1939 division among Brethren churches. Anyway, I thought this might be of some help.

 

The Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches is a staunchly baptistic, conservative, formerly fundamental organization. DO NOT confuse them with Church of the Brethren, Brethren church, etc...

I graduated from Grace College, Winona Lake, IN in 1984, their College. Grace Theological Seminary is their Seminary. Currently they would fit in with the more conservative wing of the evangelical crowd. For instance, at their prophecy conference next week, some of the names are Elwood McQuaid, some one from Dallas Theological Seminary, and Don Wyrtzen is doing music (Word of Life)

Some famous Grace Brethren include Alva McClain, deceased, one of the scholars involved in the New Scofield, John Whitcombe, a leading scholar on Genesis and creation issues, Herman Hoyt author of many books, John Davis, a leading archealogist and author of many books on Genesis,and Homer Kent. A Grace Brethren evangelist, Dr. Humberd, now deceased was frequently mentioned and had sermon quotes in the Sword of the Lord.

They do practice triine immersion forwards, and foot washing, other than that they would be baptistic. When I was at Grace, we had large amounts of GARBC kids there, Independent churches, as well as Grace Brethren. They are Calvinistic. They split from the Ashland Brethren in the 1940's over modernism in the church.