A Quick Run Through Our History

It All Started in a Barn

It was 1767, and an inter-denominational renewal movement was sweeping through the colonies. Back then, Christians would gather in what they called “Great Meetings.” These were lively affairs. Several hundred people from all over might spend several days hearing a string of stirring speakers.

Isaac Long hosted a Great Meeting at his big barn in Lancaster, Pa. Martin Boehm, a Mennonite preacher, told his story of becoming a Christian and a minister. It deeply moved William Otterbein, a German Reformed pastor. Otterbein left his seat, embraced Boehm, and said loud enough for everyone to hear, “Wir sind bruder.”

(Oh--we spoke German back then.)

Otterbein’s words meant, “We are brethren.”

Out of this revival movement came a new denomination, and it took its name from Otterbein’s words: United Brethren in Christ.

Tell Me More About These Guys

Boehm and Otterbein became our first two bishops. They were real different.

• Boehm was short, Otterbein tall.
• Boehm was described as “plain in dress and manners.” Otterbein, from a long line of distinguished ministers, was cultured and well-educated.
• Boehm lacked confidence in his speaking ability. Otterbein exuded confidence. He cpmmanded attention, while Boehm could easily shrink into the background.

Otterbein and Boehm realized that, despite their many differences--in theology, background, education, personality, and even stature--they agreed on the basics of the faith. These were the perfect guys to head a new church which united diverse people from many backgrounds around the essentials of the faith. We've got another whole article about them.

When Did the United Brethren People Become a “Denomination”?

We start the clock in 1767, there in Long’s Barn (which makes us 230 years old). But it was a loose movement for many years. As time wore on, they saw the need for some organization and standards.

The movement spread to include a bunch of German speaking churches in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio. In time, the loose movement saw the need for organization. In 1800, they began holding a yearly conference for business and inspiration, which came to be called "General Conference."

Just 13 ministers attended that first conference, which was held in a house. They did two major things:

1. Adopted a name: United Brethren in Christ.
2. Elected Boehm and Otterbein as bishops. Both men, at the time, were in their mid-70s.

The United Brethren church has the distinction of being the first denomination to actually begin in the United States. Other denominations existed at the time (Lutheran, Reformed, Mennonite, and others), but they were transplants from Europe. The United Brethren church was truly Made in America.

Circuit Riders

The church spread west, into Ohio and Indiana. Circuit-riding preachers, on horseback, carried the Gospel from community to community, organizing churches and doing whatever they could to tell people about Christ. Many of them were farmers who traveled around preaching in their spare time, sometimes supervising a circuit of up to 30 churches. Very dedicated people.

The early ministers were mostly farmers who traveled around preaching in their spare time, without pay. A preacher would travel for hours over rugged terrain on horseback getting to just one meeting (not quite like hopping in the car and going across town). He might oversee 30 churches spread over two counties. Very dedicated folks.

Back then, UB churches chose a “lay leader” to be in charge of the church between the preacher’s visits. The day the preacher came was always special and eagerly-awaited. Big crowds would gather for the service, and many people might commit their lives to Christ.

These highly-committed circuit-riding preachers served at great sacrifice. The church grew rapidly under their leadership.

Now It’s in Writing

Back in 1789, Otterbein wrote a “Confession of Faith,” which outlined the basic doctrines to be followed. A similar Confession of Faith was adopted in 1815, and it’s never been changed--not one word. (View the Confession of Faith)

In 1841, we adopted a Constitution. It’s been changed maybe 20 times over the years. (View the Constitution)

How Long Did We Speak German?

In the 1700s, German immigrants accounted for one-third of Pennsylvania’s population, and nearly everyone spoke German in the state’s south-central counties (Lancaster, York and others), where we started.

As German immigrants moved west, so did the church. But around 1815, English began overtaking German.

Oh Say What?

Francis Scott Key, who wrote “The Star Spangled Banner” during a War of 1812 battle, was a United Brethren Sunday school teacher.

Paying the Pastor

As time passed, preachers were encouraged to do what they do fulltime. The 1815 Discipline (our “operations manual”) set the annual salary for preachers at $80 for single ministers, $160 for married ones. The figures were raised to $100 and $200 in 1837, and to $125 and $250 in 1853. How’s that for inflation?

Ministers barely scraped by, usually by farming or doing other things on the side.

Untrained, but Effective

Most pastoral preparation occurred on-the-job. When you expressed interest in becoming a minister, you were promptly given a church--or more likely, a whole circuit of churches. No classes on sermon preparation or theology.

Bishop Jonathan Weaver wrote about UB preaching in general, “The preachers were lame in philosophy, and knew nothing of the higher criticism, but on the cardinal doctrines of the gospel they were giants. They would preach on the judgment and future rewards or punishments until one would think the day had come.”

During the first 60 years or so, only a couple bishops had any college training. In fact, people with college education were viewed with suspicion, because they might rely more on their learning than on God.

But in the 1800s, we started a bunch of colleges. Unlike most other colleges at the time, all of ours admitted women. And Otterbein College in Ohio did something unheard of: opened its doors to blacks. (The college president’s home was a station on the Underground Railroad, which helped slaves escape.)

Against the Grain

In 1821, forty years before Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, UBs took a strong stand against slavery. The church people who owned slaves had two choices: set them free, or let the church decide how long the slave had to work to compensate the master for his “investment.” But in no case could a member sell a slave.

Starting in 1837, slave owners couldn’t continue as members.

This hard-line stance kept us from spreading into the South, and brought persecution, including arrests and killings, during the Civil War.

Wagons West!

In 1853, a denominational mission board was organized under the cumbersome name “Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society.” That year, we launched our first missionary venture. A wagon train of UB missionaries began traveling from Iowa to Oregon, where they intended to plant United Brethren churches. There were 38 oxen-pulled wagons, 98 persons, and 300 head of cattle on the Oregon Trail. The trip took five months. Quite a missionary venture!

Oregon Mission organized in 1855. By 1861, there were nearly 600 members, with preaching occurring in 48 places. So in less than 100 years, the movement which began in Long’s Barn had spread from coast to coast.

Across the Ocean

In 1856, we expanded overseas for the first time, starting churches in Sierra Leone, West Africa. We're still there.

Where’s Church?

Until the mid-1800s, we didn’t have many church buildings. For instance, Virginia, home to some of the earliest congregations, had just three church buildings in 1850. An Ohio conference, after 40 years, had just one church building. Meetings were held in homes, barns, schools, or outdoors. The concern was outreach, not membership and pretty buildings.

But as more congregations erected buildings, the Discipline addressed the matter in 1837. “Let all our meeting houses be built plainly and neatly, with free seats, and not more expensive than necessary.” Churches couldn’t build until they’d raised two-thirds of the cost.

The Church Divides

By 1889, the United Brethren church had grown to over 200,000 members. It had six bishops, plus a full-blown denominational structure. But trouble was brewing.

The controversy centered around the desire to make three changes in the Constitution. And since the amendment procedure spelled out in the Constitution made it almost impossible to change the Constitution, the denominational leaders decided to just ignore the Constitution and make the changes anyway. They essentially adopted a new Constitution in an unconstitutional way, along with a new Confession of Faith.

Only one of the six bishops opposed these changes. His name was Milton Wright. He, by the way, had two sons named Wilbur and Orville. You might have heard of them.

Wright led our group--maybe only 10,000 people, a definite minority--away from the larger body. They stuck to to the original Constitution and Confession of Faith. But beyond that, they were very much starting over. They had no Headquarters, no colleges, no publishing house. Most of the congregations which sided with Wright lost their property to the larger group, which many courts recognized as the legitimate owner of all church property.

Under Bishop Wright’s capable leadership, these churches reorganized. The United Brethren church of today is descended from them.

What Happened to the Other Group?

For a while, two denominations used the name "Church of the United Brethren in Christ." In 1946, the other “United Brethren” church merged with the Evangelical Association to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church. So once again, there was only one Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The EUBs merged with the Methodist Church in 1968 to form the United Methodist Church.

The United Brethren Church Today

In 1897, a denominational headquarters and a publishing house were established in Huntington, Ind. So was a denominational college: Huntington University .

Throughout the 1900s, the United Brethren church continued developing and expanding. Much of the growth has come overseas. Before the division of 1889, we had mission work in Sierra Leone, a small country in West Africa. We retained that work. But a number of other foreign mission fields have been added.

In 1932, we opened a school in Canton, China. World War II and the communist takeover of China disrupted that work, but the work was reborn in Hong Kong, where we now have nine churches.

In 1944, mission work began in Jamaica. A couple years later, we launched mission work in Honduras, which today is our fastest-growing conference anywhere. The work in Honduras led to establishment of a mission in Nicaragua in 1969, which in turn is now overseeing mission work in Costa Rica and Guatemala.

We have 15 established churches in India, all of which began in the 1980s as an offshoot of the medical work of a missionary couple. Nearly all of the church members are converts from Hinduism.

The vision of Hong Kong Conference led to the opening of a new mission in Macau in 1987. Macau is a Portuguese colony about 40 miles from Hong Kong; in 1999, it reverted to the control of China (as Hong Kong did in 1997).

In addition, cross-cultural ministries have begun in North America, starting with a Chinese congregation in New York City in the mid-1980s. We now have Jamaican, Hispanic, and African churches in the United States.

In 2005, the worldwide United Brethren fellowship welcomed two new national conferences: Mexico, and the Philippines.

In 2006, a new mission district opened in Germany, consisting of immigrants from Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone National Conference oversees this new mission district.

And That’s an Extremely Condensed Look
at Our First 100 Years (or So).

If you’d like to know more UB history, you should get the book Trials and Triumphs, a 460-page history of the denomination. Lots of interesting stuff in it. It costs about $15. To order a copy, call (260) 356-2312 and ask for Marilyn.

Want to Know More About the UB Church?

This web site has a lot more information you might want to track down. Here are some links:

The story of Martin Boehm and William Otterbein

Where United Brethren Churches are Located

Current United Brethren Mission Work