Very well put John. Reading "The Gospel Messenger" and "The Brethren Evangelist" of the 1880s you can see where the Brethren Church, aka Ashland or Progressive Brethren, made the evangelistic cause a top priority as a body. They may not have hit a homerun every time but you have to come up to bat to be in the game. The Conservative Brethren, today's Church of the Brethren, did not stress (at least in an open forum) the teaching of the scriptures or the involvement of the younger generation in the church as a whole. On the other hand the Brethren church considered the children as an integral part of the church itself through their "Children's Department" and "King's Children" sections of their newspaper. And their involvement of the fairer sex (with their influence on the children) ensured that the children were involved. The Conservative Brethren did come around to this way of thinking at a slightly later date. The evangelistic activities of the Brethren before and shortly after the early 1880s splits are well known. But for some reason, and I believe not as a conscious effort, the Conservative branch slowly, gradually began to feel it not too important for the continuing growth of the church. Then by the middle of the last Century, and, likely more a reflection of the expansion of the population as a whole, little non-denominational churches became more prevalent and acceptable as a societal norm. This turn from the more formal church bodies of the 18th and 19th Centuries to those of the present reflects a changing society taken into context with those same religious bodies of olde not realizing or willing to accept the changes taking place. Those of us with fond memories of the church of our childhood, being part of this change, realize too late that something has been lost. It is perhaps only thru our interest in our heritage that we begin to understand what has been lost. Wayne Webb -----Original Message----- Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:53:23 +0000 From: john shafer <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [BRE] OT maybe: How do Brethren grow churches? To: Brethren Listserve <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" 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