Judy, this is a good question. As a longtime member of the Church of the Brethren I have attended a number of congregations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. I attend Annual Conference every year. Sadly, the Church of the Brethren as a denomination has been shrinking since the 1960's. At one time the Church of the Brethren grew rapidly because families were large and our congregations were much better at retaining members by maintaining strong community and teaching the beliefs and practices. The German Baptists/Church of the Brethren at times in the history of the church were quite evangelical as well. Many deny this fact now, but it is true and you can read this by reviewing the Brethren publications from the past. Additionally there has been attrition due to congregations being unable to change, and as we know not all change is bad. There are some Brethren congregations that are growing around the country now; generally the ones that make outreach a priority. John Shafer > Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 09:26:09 -0500 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected]; [email protected] > Subject: [BRE] OT maybe: How do Brethren grow churches? > > 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