Page 23 - History of UB Church by A. Funkhouser Ver 1
P. 23
CHAPTER VI
EARLY YEARS OF THE CHURCH
In the early conferences of the United Brethren, business was a very subordinate matter. There
were no committees. Everything done was done by the body as a whole. Circuits were laid out by
the preachers themselves and not by the conference. The preachers met for mutual
encouragement and spent nearly all the session in religious services. It is therefore easy to account
for the brevity of the minutes of these conferences.
The conferences of 1789 and 1791 were in the nature of informal, advisory meetings between
two de facto bishops and the small band of local preachers working under their direction. Otterbein
and Boehm acted as bishops, but there was no definite organization to elect them to the office. The
primary object of these two assemblages was mutual advice and consultation. This fact helps to
bring out the progressive nature of what began as a movement and gradually developed into a
compact organization.
The United Brethren movement was one of the results of the revival period of 1750-1825. It
was very hard to reform the old German congregations and bring them to the New Testament
standard of law and order. Otterbein's flock at Lancaster was disorderly, and like some others it had
been in the hands of incompetent pastors. The fathers of the United Brethren denomination were
committed to the idea of a spiritual church. They were not designedly "come-outers." Yet they
could not stay in the church homes that had reared them, because of the narrow and vituperative
conservatism which could not brook any change in the old order of things.
The followers of the new movement had not been known by any general name. Such terms as
"the Brethren," "the Unsectarian," and "the Liberty People" were applied to them. Still other
designations were the "New Reformed" and the "New Mennonites." Sometimes the names of the
leaders would be used, and they would be styled "Otterbein's People," or "Boehm's People." There
were also semi-independent groups of Mennonites, such as "Light's People," who were drifting
toward the new church. In 1820 Peter Cartwright speaks of a tavern-keeper at Knoxville,
Tennessee, whom he calls an "Otterbein Methodist."
As a distinct church the United Brethren sect begins with the meeting held in September, 1800,
at the house of Peter Kemp, two miles west of Frederick, Maryland. Fourteen preachers appeared.
Their two-day meeting did not call itself a general conference, although it exercised the functions of
one. It chose a name for the new denomination and it elected bishops.
It seems to have been easy for these men to agree on the name by which the church has ever
since been known. It was not enough to use the simpler form of "United Brethren," because this
was already the official name of the Moravian body. To avoid uncertainty, especially in matters that
might involve questions in law, the words "in Christ" were added.
William Otterbein and Martin Boehm, who were already bishops in effect, were now elected as
such. Otterbein was now seventy-four years of age and Boehm was seventy-five.
The first printed Discipline says this of the first conference: "The preachers were obliged to
appoint an annual conference in order to unite themselves more closely, and to labor more
successfully in the vineyard of the Lord; for some had been Presbyterian, or German Reformed,
some Lutherans, and others Menonists."
In 1801 came the beginning of an itinerant system, ten men consenting to travel as directed by
the bishops, instead of laying out circuits for themselves. Still more method was introduced into
the system by the conference of 1802. One or two of the preachers would agree to serve as
presiding elders. The action taken in this matter was generally informal and usually unanimous.
Ever since the meeting at Kemp's, there has been a regular and uninterrupted succession of
general conferences. Until 1810 there was but one annual conference for the entire church. The
first new conference was the Miami, set off in that year. In 1829 the Eastern, or original,
Conference was divided into the Hagerstown and Harrisburg conferences, the former including the
Virginia territory, and the latter becoming the Pennsylvania Conference. The first conference to be
definitely known as a general conference was held in June, 1815, in a log schoolhouse of
Chapter VI 23 Early Years of the
Church
EARLY YEARS OF THE CHURCH
In the early conferences of the United Brethren, business was a very subordinate matter. There
were no committees. Everything done was done by the body as a whole. Circuits were laid out by
the preachers themselves and not by the conference. The preachers met for mutual
encouragement and spent nearly all the session in religious services. It is therefore easy to account
for the brevity of the minutes of these conferences.
The conferences of 1789 and 1791 were in the nature of informal, advisory meetings between
two de facto bishops and the small band of local preachers working under their direction. Otterbein
and Boehm acted as bishops, but there was no definite organization to elect them to the office. The
primary object of these two assemblages was mutual advice and consultation. This fact helps to
bring out the progressive nature of what began as a movement and gradually developed into a
compact organization.
The United Brethren movement was one of the results of the revival period of 1750-1825. It
was very hard to reform the old German congregations and bring them to the New Testament
standard of law and order. Otterbein's flock at Lancaster was disorderly, and like some others it had
been in the hands of incompetent pastors. The fathers of the United Brethren denomination were
committed to the idea of a spiritual church. They were not designedly "come-outers." Yet they
could not stay in the church homes that had reared them, because of the narrow and vituperative
conservatism which could not brook any change in the old order of things.
The followers of the new movement had not been known by any general name. Such terms as
"the Brethren," "the Unsectarian," and "the Liberty People" were applied to them. Still other
designations were the "New Reformed" and the "New Mennonites." Sometimes the names of the
leaders would be used, and they would be styled "Otterbein's People," or "Boehm's People." There
were also semi-independent groups of Mennonites, such as "Light's People," who were drifting
toward the new church. In 1820 Peter Cartwright speaks of a tavern-keeper at Knoxville,
Tennessee, whom he calls an "Otterbein Methodist."
As a distinct church the United Brethren sect begins with the meeting held in September, 1800,
at the house of Peter Kemp, two miles west of Frederick, Maryland. Fourteen preachers appeared.
Their two-day meeting did not call itself a general conference, although it exercised the functions of
one. It chose a name for the new denomination and it elected bishops.
It seems to have been easy for these men to agree on the name by which the church has ever
since been known. It was not enough to use the simpler form of "United Brethren," because this
was already the official name of the Moravian body. To avoid uncertainty, especially in matters that
might involve questions in law, the words "in Christ" were added.
William Otterbein and Martin Boehm, who were already bishops in effect, were now elected as
such. Otterbein was now seventy-four years of age and Boehm was seventy-five.
The first printed Discipline says this of the first conference: "The preachers were obliged to
appoint an annual conference in order to unite themselves more closely, and to labor more
successfully in the vineyard of the Lord; for some had been Presbyterian, or German Reformed,
some Lutherans, and others Menonists."
In 1801 came the beginning of an itinerant system, ten men consenting to travel as directed by
the bishops, instead of laying out circuits for themselves. Still more method was introduced into
the system by the conference of 1802. One or two of the preachers would agree to serve as
presiding elders. The action taken in this matter was generally informal and usually unanimous.
Ever since the meeting at Kemp's, there has been a regular and uninterrupted succession of
general conferences. Until 1810 there was but one annual conference for the entire church. The
first new conference was the Miami, set off in that year. In 1829 the Eastern, or original,
Conference was divided into the Hagerstown and Harrisburg conferences, the former including the
Virginia territory, and the latter becoming the Pennsylvania Conference. The first conference to be
definitely known as a general conference was held in June, 1815, in a log schoolhouse of
Chapter VI 23 Early Years of the
Church
