Page 16 — SUSQUEHANNA TIMES
Brethren in Christ celebrate their Bicentennial
Church was founded here
The Brethren in Christ
are doing what seems to be
impossible in this day and
age—preserving their heri-
tage from the past and
using it to be, not only
up-to-date, but actually
ahead of their times.
Last Sunday at their local
churches and next month at
their General Conference at
Messiah College, the Bre-
thren in Christ are cele-
brating the 200th anniver-
sary of their founding in a
farmhouse near the mouth
of the Conoy Creek.
At the same time, many
members of the church are
reading a most contempo-
rary book by one of their
members, entitled Rich
Christians in an Age of
Hunger.
Like a modern Jeremiah,
the author of this book,
Ronald J. Sider, warns of
the possibility of nuclear
attacks by the poor nations
on the rich nations, if the
gulf between the starvation
of the former and the
gluttony of the latter
continues to widen (‘‘Des-
perate people do desperate
things.”’). !
As a way to avoid such a
holocaust, Sider advocates
that rich Christians in the
West begin to practice
their religion, by eliminat-
ing their wasteful and
unhealthy consumption of
fuel and food, and giving
what they save to the
starving peoples of the
Third World. The book is
well documented with sta-
tistics, expert economic
opinions, practical suggest-
ions, and Scripture.
This very modern book is
grounded in the history of
the Brethren in Christ. The
frugal life-style espoused
by Sider requires ‘‘radical
non-conformity,”’ the sim-
ple, disciplined living of
Anabaptists, like the Amish
or strict Mennonites. It also
requires a spiritual con-
version like that of the
Methodists or born-again
Christians.
According to J. Wilmer
Heisey, Executive Secreta-
ry of the Board of Missions
of the Brethren in Christ,
the combination of these
two traditions—Wesleyan-
ism (John Wesley stressed
the imprtance of adult
conversion) and Anabap-
tism—give the Brethren in
Christ their distinctive
religion.
The Brethren in Christ
were originally called River
Brethren and had their
beginning near Stackstown
in what is now Conoy
Township. According to
Myron Dietz, who teaches
church history at Menno-
nite High School in
Lancaster, the River Breth-
ren grew out of the
powerful revival movement
that swept up and down
the thirteen colonies in the
mid and late 1700’s.
-J. Wilmer Heisey
Jacob Engle, a Menno-
nite who lived near the
present village of Stacks-
town, and some of his
neighbors experienced mo-
ving ‘‘rebirths’’ in their
religious lives during that
revival movement (of which
John Wesley was the best
known leader). Unlike
many of their contempora-
ries, however, who joined
the new Methodist and
United Brethren churches
being organized, Engle and
his brethren did not want
to give up their Anabaptist,
non-conforming way of life,
including their distinctive
garb and their non-partici-
pation in wars.
As years went by,
gradual changes began to
take place in the practices
of some of the River
Brethren. At first, the
Brethren held their worship
services in their homes, but
in the 1850’s a group led
by Mathias Brinser built a
meeting-house and were
therefore expelled by the
rest of their brethren. They
formed a new church called
The United Zion’s Child-
ren.
Shortly afterward, a
conservative group in the
remaining church, most of
whom lived in York
County, felt that their
brethren across the Sus-
quehanna were growing lax
in their practices, and set
up their own more strict
group called The Old Order
River Brethren. The Old
Order came to be popularly
known as ‘‘Yorkers,”’ and
their more liberal brothers
as ‘‘Donegallers.’”’ The
proper name taken by the
“Donegallers’’ was Breth-
ren in Christ.
[continued on page 3]
June 7, 1978
In this house, now owned by Mrs. Guy S. Hoffman, near Stackstown, Jacob
Engle and others organized the River Brethren around 1778.
Maytown launches drive
to buy new ambulance
from the Maytown:
Ambulance Association
The Maytown Ambulance
has launched a fund drive
to purchase a new ambu-
lance. Over the Memorial
Day weekend the ambu-
lance crew collected $66.73.
To those who helped us,
we thank you. To those
who did not help, here is
your chance to help.
The Ambulance Crew is
having a Chicken Bar-BQue
A few weeks ago the
Times got this letter:
Susquehanna Times:
Do you realize you
haven’t had one picture of
the Donegal Rhythm Sing-
ers in your paper this
year?! Why not get a group
picture this Sat. night at
the Donegal High School!
Saturday, June 10, from
3:00 to 6:00PM. Take-outs
can only be picked up at
the Maytown Fire House
between those times.
Please do not take this
fund drive lightly, we need
your help. Maytown has
well trained and certified
EMT’s and we take our job
seriously. We want to serve
you with the best medical
care we can give. With the
limited space in our
Here they are, whoever you are
Why did the Columbia
News have a picture of the
Nat’l Honor Soc. in their
paper (4/11/78) & not the
Susquehanna Times? Let’s
get with it!!
[no signiture]
As you can see, we have
complied with the request.
We caught the Rhythm
Singers at the Command
Performance last Saturday
| The Donegal Rhythm Singers
present ambulance we can
not carry all the equipment
we need and are trained to
use, thus hindering the
care we are trained to give
YOU.
Please come out June
10th and support the
ambulance crew. We don’t
take our responsilbility
lightly, neither should you.
We are working with life
and death, it could mean
your living or dying.
night.
The Times wishes to
apologise to those persons
whose names were inadver-
tently left out of the list of
people (in last week’s
Times) who participated in
Command Performance; es-
pecially Ted Hershey, who
we heard flew in from Ohio
or someplace equally dis-
tant to take part.
EE
aR