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

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Rite of The Church of the Brethren

The love feast — the whole of John 13, in order, at a table.

It runs for hours: examination, then feetwashing in pairs with basins and towels, then an actual supper eaten together, then the holy kiss, and only then the bread and the cup. Doing the meal is the point; Brethren regard a communion without it as an abridgement.

⏱ Twice a year in most congregations — the annual and semi-annual love feast, usually near Maundy Thursday◌ Baptised members, with the unbaptised welcome to watch
Add to My Beliefs →
What happensSelf-examination; feetwashing, each washing and drying for the next; a full meal at the table; the holy kiss; then bread and cup
What it needsBasins, towels, a real meal, and the congregation seated at tables rather than in pews
What it aims atThat the whole of John 13 be done and not only referred to
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this rite is held

The love feast is the Brethren service that outsiders remember, and it is long — three hours is normal. The order is fixed: a period of self-examination, often with the deacons having visited each household beforehand; feetwashing, with members in pairs, one washing and one drying, in the double mode or the single depending on the congregation; then a meal, historically beef and broth, eaten at the tables; the holy kiss, men with men and women with women; and finally the bread and the cup. The Brethren argument is that John 13 records Jesus doing all of this in one evening and that a church which keeps only the bread and cup has selected from a single instruction. Frequency varies: most congregations hold it twice a year, some once, and a few quarterly.

The same ground, other faiths

rites that share this one's ideas
The love feast, and the night people stayed over. The Brethren in Christ Go deeper →
Hanuman leaps the strait. Hinduism · story Read it in full →
The alms round. Buddhism Go deeper →
Asteya — and the merchant's word. Jainism · precept Go deeper →
Repairing the world is human work. Judaism · core tenet Go deeper →
The church is the body of Christ. Christianity · core tenet Go deeper →

The conversation

argument stays attached to the rite it is about All discussion →

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Where next

The Church of the Brethren's Practice roomback up one layer Propose a change to this riteone button — it routes to the review pool

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

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