The Church of the Brethren

Denomination·Founded 1708 CE·est. 81,345 members in the United States in 2022, the last full denominational Yearbook figure, down from 91,608 in 2020 — a fall of more than ten thousand in two years. Membership passed below 100,000 in 2020 for the first time since the nineteenth century. Counts exclude the related Old German Baptist Brethren, Dunkard Brethren, Brethren Church and Grace Brethren, who separated in 1881-83 and 1883 and 1939.

Judaism → Christianity → Catholicism → Protestantism → Anabaptism → The Church of the Brethren

Church of the BrethrenYoung Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, Elizabethtown College

Branch
Overview Belief 3How to Live 1Practice 1Stories & Scripture 1Community 1 You × The Church of the Brethren Discussion

Community

who belongs, how you join, how it is organized
Annual Conference decides, and it has been dividing the church since 1881. Queries come up from congregations through districts to a delegate body whose decisions bind the whole denomination. It split three ways in 1881-83 over dress, salaried ministry and Sunday schools, and it has been losing congregations since 2018 over sexuality. Go deeper — context →

Numbers count Panfaith activity only — never real-world adherence.

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