The Brotherhood of St. Andrew is an international lay Christian religious organization with historical roots in the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...

. The objectives of the organization focus on prayer, Bible study and service to the community with an emphasis on evangelism through fraternal outreach and "the spread of Christ's Kingdom among men."

History

The Brotherhood was first organised on St. Andrew's Day, 30 November 1883, as a prayer and Bible study group at St. James Church in Chicago. Initially led by James Lawrence Houghteling, a Yale graduate, local

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

President, and son of a prominent Chicago business family, the organization grew rapidly. Its mission (the average age of the dozen founding members was about 17 years old) was similar to the older

, and would be similar to Mott's Student Volunteer Movement (1888) and World Student Christian Federation (1895) – in that all sought to evangelize the laity by the laity. By 1887, the Brotherhood had 115 chapters and a total membership of more than two thousand men and boys. By a decade later, chapters had been added in England, Japan and China. By 1906, two years after Robert Hallowell Gardener had succeeded Houghteling as President, the BSA had grown to about 17,000 young men and boys in more than 1200 brotherhoods, with the American brotherhoods served by four (soon to be five) traveling secretaries. The organization was incorporated by an Act of the United States Congress and signed by President Theodore Roosevelt on May 30, 1908. That Act states, “The sole object of said corporation shall be the spread of Christ’s Kingdom among men”.

Current activities

Operationally independent, but a similar organization was formed in the

Scottish Episcopal Church The Scottish Episcopal Church ( gd, Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Episcopal(ian) Kirk) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Scotland. A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by King James VI, and ...

. Active chapters of the Brotherhood exist in Anglican provinces of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Daughters of the King The Order of the Daughters of the King is an Anglican lay religious order for women founded in New York City in 1885. It is a sister organization to the Brotherhood of St. Andrew, a comparable men's organization affiliated with the Episcopal C ...

is a sister lay Anglican religious organization to the Brotherhood affiliated with the Episcopal Church. Today, the organization continues its mission to bring others closer to Christ through regular study of the Scriptures (Bible) and bring others to the Church. Many Episcopalian chapters perform charitable works in their communities, raising funds and supplies for charitable organizations as part of Church outreach and aiding members and their families within the community with prayer and support. Additionally, chapters may hold events to raise funds and increase outreach for their parent churches.

References

External links

* 1883 establishments in Illinois Evangelical organizations established in the 19th century Religious organizations established in 1883 Men's religious organizations {{Christian-org-stub