I am not a member of the Brethren Church but my Father grew up Old German Baptist. His paternal side dates back to the 1700s with German Baptist membership. I found the answers here very interesting. Lately, I've been reading some at the www.wallbuilders.com site about how the minority have shut God out of our country. Facts and statistics are given in relation to the fact our Fore Fathers recognized Christianity as being a part of our nation. I would like to encourage everyone who is a Christian to stand firm. Read about what our Fore Fathers had planned for this nation that they always believed would be Christian centered. Now, we are becoming the "imbeciles". I really hope those who are the "salt of the earth" such as my Father's people will stand firm against the evils that are coming into our world. Once we were as German Baptists as "separatists" and stood for what was right in the world. I believe the German Baptists are the "salt of the earth" together with all who love Christ. When I was a child, I was told that Christians might be persecuted in our country. I couldn't believe that, now, however, I must admit I am beginning to wonder. My own heart tells me when we turn against God as a Nation, we are in for a very rocky road. I am proud of our Brethren Heritage and I pray God will bless each Dunkard, COB and every Christian. In my own life, I often realized things to late and made more than my share of mistakes. I hope more will turn towards the light in our world and fight the good fight while we are here. Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts, Iris, Daughter of Ira D. Cripe On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 8:26 AM, J.A. Florian <[email protected]> wrote: > This might be off-topic (I hope not too much.) > > We all know churches today go through declines. Sometimes they revitalize > and grow; other times, the congregation moves on and the church closes. > > I haven't seen much about Dunkard or COB churches that closed in the past. > I know of one that was hit by lightning sometime around 1920-30 and later > was torn down, but the congregation still had its mother church to attend. > > I believe I read about one church that closed for a time in the 1940s, but > re-opened later. > > I'm wondering about the methods Brethren have used to grow their churches. > How did they attract members? And retain members. > > With all the current pressures (financial, jobs, family), and world > changes, > how do Brethren keep their churches going today? > > I've been wondering about this for a while so thought I'd finally ask. > > Judy > > ------------------------ > Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN > ------------------------ > Support Our Sponsoring Agency > The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG) > For further information contact Ron McAdams mailto:[email protected] > ------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Come home to www.soldiersangels.org and adopt a Soldier! They have given so much to us.

Amen, Iris.  Your letter was filled with my history.  My father also was raised in the a long background of COB family members.  I am a Baptist now.  I also grew up thinking there was no way we would ever be persecuted in this country but the safety we felt was ours to worship God is fastly becoming a luxury that we must protect.    May the brethren, and all Christian groups band together and stand firm in the faith and the love of God.   Sherry Newman, GGgrand daughter of Christian Simmons of West Virginia and Tennessee, and great niece of Thomas Jefferson Simmons of Tennessee and Missouri. I hold my families roots in the church as a precious tie to the beliefs of the COB.  George and Sherry  "IN GOD WE TRUST" --- On Tue, 1/25/11, Iris Wilde <[email protected]> wrote: From: Iris Wilde <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [BRE] OT maybe: How do Brethren grow churches? To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 4:14 PM I am not a member of the Brethren Church but my Father grew up Old German Baptist. His paternal side dates back to the 1700s with German Baptist membership. I found the answers here very interesting. Lately, I've been reading some at the www.wallbuilders.com site about how the minority have shut God out of our country. Facts and statistics are given in relation to the fact our Fore Fathers recognized Christianity as being a part of our nation. I would like to encourage everyone who is a Christian to stand firm. Read about what our Fore Fathers had planned for this nation that they always believed would be Christian centered. Now, we are becoming the "imbeciles". I really hope those who are the "salt of the earth" such as my Father's people will stand firm against the evils that are coming into our world. Once we were as German Baptists as  "separatists" and stood for what was right in the world. I believe the German Baptists are the "salt of  the earth" together with all who love Christ. When I was a child, I was told that Christians might be persecuted in our country. I couldn't believe that, now, however, I must admit I am beginning to wonder. My own heart tells me when we turn against God as a Nation, we are in for a very rocky road. I am proud of our Brethren Heritage and I pray God will bless each Dunkard, COB and every Christian. In my own life, I often realized things to late and made more than my share of mistakes. I hope more will turn towards the light in our world and fight the good fight while we are here.  Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts, Iris, Daughter of Ira D. Cripe On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 8:26 AM, J.A. Florian <[email protected]> wrote: > This might be off-topic (I hope not too much.) > > We all know churches today go through declines.  Sometimes they revitalize > and grow; other times, the congregation moves on and the church closes. > > I haven't seen much about Dunkard or COB churches that closed in the past. > I know of one that was hit by lightning sometime around 1920-30 and later > was torn down, but the congregation still had its mother church to attend. > > I believe I read about one church that closed for a time in the 1940s, but > re-opened later. > > I'm wondering about the methods Brethren have used to grow their churches. > How did they attract members?  And retain members. > > With all the current pressures (financial, jobs, family), and world > changes, > how do Brethren keep their churches going today? > > I've been wondering about this for a while so thought I'd finally ask. > > Judy > >                               ------------------------ > Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN >                               ------------------------ >                        Support Our Sponsoring Agency >            The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG) > For further information contact Ron McAdams mailto:[email protected] >                               ------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Come home to www.soldiersangels.org and adopt a Soldier! They have given so much to us.                                ------------------------ Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN                                ------------------------                         Support Our Sponsoring Agency             The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG) For further information contact Ron McAdams mailto:[email protected]                                ------------------------ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message