Otterbein University - Sibyl Yearbook (Westerville, OH)

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names of these fourteen are as follows: Philip lVilliam Otterbein, Mar- tin Boehm, Henry XYeidner, George A. Gueating, Christian Newcomer, Adam Lehman, and John Ernst. These were present. Those absent were: Benedict Schwope, Henry Baker, Simon Herre, Frederick Shaf- fer, Martin Crider, Christopher Grosch and Abraham Draksel. These were all Germans and their work was wholly among German people. The statement is frequently made, that it was not the intention of these brethren to break away fro1n their Church relations and form a new or- ganization, yet they took action of a two-fold nature, namely, the adop- tion ofa definite. Confession of faith and a series of rules for theirfuture government. The instrument thus created and adopted by this first for- mal Conference, consists of five articles and constitutes the central germ out of which our present Confession of faith is developed. It is, though brief, yet broad, liberal and comprehensive. The rules of discipline for governing this first organization, which were adopted in this initial Con- ference of 1789. exhibit the same spirit manifest in the Confession of faith, and Rev. Spayth says, the Confession of faith and Disciplinary Rules, governed the church from 1789 to 1815-at the time of the meeting of the first General Conference. For a copy of this Con- fession and Disciplinary Rules: - See: Disciplines of the United Breth- ren in Christ. 1814-1841 by Prof. A. XY. Drury, D. D. The second for- mal Conference was held in York County, Pennsylvania, at the home of John Spangler, in 1791. At this session the number of ministers had in- creased to twenty-two. The next Conference convened. September the 25th, 18oo, at the home of Peter Kemp, near Frederick, Maryland. This was an important Conference: here the name United Brethren in Christ, was formally adopted, and Xlilliam Utterbein and Martin Boehm, elected Bishops. This was the first formal election of Bishops in the history of the Denomination. From ISOO to 1815 was a period of migration in United lirethren history. .X strong emigration from the East to Ohio, and the XYest, set in: but these emigrants carried the Christ life with them, to their new homes, and their number so multiplied that in 1810 a new Con- ference was formed west of the Alleghenies, known as the Miami, from which in 1818, and the years following, the Muskingum, Scioto, Indiana, and other Conferences were formed. On June the Oth, 1815, near Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, in a log school house the Hrst General Confer- ence convened. Pour States were represented by fourteen ministers, in this first General Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in 8 .

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United Brethren Zburcb A BRIEF SKETCH The Church of the United Brethren in Christ dates its origin to the last quarter of the eighteenth century, under the leadership of Philip William Otterbein, Martin Boehm, and a number of like kindred spirits. The spiritual dearth that obtained throughout the Churches, both in Europe and America at this time, became a subject of alarm to Otter- bein. The study of the Divine Word brought him into new religious experiences, and a higher consciousness of the living Christ in his own life. As a result, in his preaching and teaching he laid supreme stress upon the necessity of man being born anew, to admittance into the king- dom of Heaven. To afford wider opportunities to the laymen of his church, and to reach the unconverted, he established prayer-meetin s, 3 and conducted religious services in the country places. While engaged in this work of faith, Williaiii Otterbein met with Mar nonite preacher of like faith and experience, who became a co-laborer with Otterbein in Missionary work, and in 1776, they held their Memor- tin Boehm, a Men- able Meeting in Isaac Long's barn, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Many other Ministers, as well as laymen took part in this great meeting. this new Church work, and Boehm. Meetings in different sections of -were great seasons of flocked to them from a For a number of years all parties engaged in acted under the general leadership of Otterbein of far reaching influence continued to be held Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland. These spiritual infilling, and the people and preachers distance, to hear the word of life preached. At this juncture, in 1789, the first formal Conference convened in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, for the purpose of definite or anizatio t S 11, 0 more effectually preach and teach that union with Christ in heart and life, is essential to religious growth, what was to become the future work of the United Brethren in Christ. The organization consisted of fourteen Ministers, seven of whom w ere present, Of the fourteen, nine were of Reform antecedents, two Mennonites and one Moravian. The T 7

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Christ. Here a Confession of Faith was adopted and a book of Dis- cipline, containing rules for the government of the Church. The Minis- try of the Church, especially west of the Alleghenies, came in contact with the English speaking peoples in those sections, who proved them- selves to be vigorous supporters of the Church. As a result, the Confer- ences to the West soon became English, and the growth became more rapid, as the field grew wider. The same effect followed in the East, perhaps not quite so rapidly, until, while in 1820 the Ministry of Church numbered only about one hundred and fourteen and the laity ten thou- sand, in 1845 it had grown to tive hundred and eighty-one ministers and about thirty-six thousand lay-members. In 1837 the General Con- ference adopted the first Constitution, which was short lived, but in 1841 the General Conference adopted a second Constitution and Confession of faith, which served as the basis of its legislation and Creed up till 1898. The intervening period from ISZO to 1889, was marked by rapid growth. The Publishing House had its beginning in 1834, and the first issue of the Religious Telescope appeared in that year. In 1845 the first steps in our Educational history were taken, and in 1847, the first College, Otter- bein University, was opened. In 1853 the Missionary Society was or- ganized, and one year later the first Missionaries were appointed. The VVoman's Missionary Association was organized in 1875, and its work has been phenomenal for good. In 1820 our first Sabbath School was or- ganized, and the growth in this most vital department of our Church, has so developed that in our Sunday Schools at present, the membership is 26o,333. The Young People's Christian Union was organized in 1890, and in 1902 it had a membership of 63,846 While the growth of the United Brethren Church has not been as rapid as some Sister Churches, it has not been as slow as others. It .now has a membership of at least 25o,ooo-- with its Schools established and well nigh out of debt, together with all its other needed equipments to push forward the Kingdom of God. In the pioneer work of the Church, the names of Otterbein, Boehm, Newcomer, Gueating, Zeller, Spayth, the Kumbers, the Davises, Glossbrenner, Edwards, and many other great and good men, were prominent factors. May their sons and daughters, in the Lord, continue as valiant for the truth, as their Fathers were. ' E. B. KEPHART. 9