The Evangelical Church or Evangelical Association, also known in the early 1800s as the Albright Brethren, was a "body of American Christians chiefly of German descent",

Arminian Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Re ...

in doctrine and theology; in its form of church government,

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Episcopal.

History

The Evangelical Church was founded in 1800 by

Jacob Albright Jacob Albright (also spelled Jakob Albrecht; May 1, 1759 – May 18, 1808) was an American Christian leader, founder of Albright's People (''Die Albrechtsleute'') which was officially named the Evangelical Association (''Evangelische Gemeinsch ...

(1759-1808), a German-speaking Christian native of the Lancaster,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

area, influenced by

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

and the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

and

Philip William Otterbein Philip William Otterbein (June 3, 1726 – November 17, 1813) was an American clergyman. He was the founder of the United Brethren in Christ, which merged with the Evangelical Church in 1946 to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church. That ...

's followers. In 1790 several his children died of dysentery. Although a member of a German Lutheran church, he asked a friend of

to conduct the funeral. Impressed, he began daily studies with another member of Otterbein's group, which became the

Church of the United Brethren in Christ The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is an evangelical Christian denomination with churches in 17 countries. It is Protestant, with an episcopal structure and Arminian theology, with roots in the Mennonite and German Reformed communiti ...

in a few years. He also studied with a member of the

. He became a member of a local Methodist study group and became a powerful preacher. The group authorized him as a lay preacher. Feeling that God had called him to ministry, he decided in 1796 to become a traveling preacher, following in the

pattern, preaching in homes, vacant buildings and street corners. He wrote, "I began my travels in the year 1776 in the month of October in order to obey the call of God in proclaiming his holy way as revealed in the Gospel." He began speaking across eastern Pennsylvania, northern Maryland, and Virginia, and organizing small groups. At some point Albright asked

Bishop

Francis Asbury Francis Asbury (August 20 or 21, 1745 – March 31, 1816) was one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. During his 45 years in the colonies and the newly independent United States, he devoted his life to ...

to appoint a German-speaking ordained minister to serve to his German-speaking groups with baptisms and communion. Bishop Asbury turned him down. By 1800 he had three groups with about 20 members, by 1803 he had five groups with 40. Albright had never given any indication that he was interested in forming a new organization or church, but in 1803, at the insistence of the leaders of his classes, he called a general meeting of the lay leaders and preachers for November 1803. Besides himself, two preachers and 14 lay leaders attended. The group drew up a license and the two pastors ordained Albright. The group wrote a brief statement of faith. In 1806, a major revival movement spread throughout eastern Pennsylvania, affecting many religious groups. Albright's followers grew greatly. By 1807, when the newly organized, unnamed church held its first annual conference, the church had 220 members. Here Albright was elected bishop. He also assigned preachers and did what business was needed. The Conference also adopted the episcopal form of government, articles of faith and a book of discipline. Albright was asked to prepare a Book of Discipline. Bishop Albright died in 1808. A Book of Discipline, based on a German translation of

Book of Discipline, was introduced six years later. In 1816, the church took on the name "The Evangelical Association" at its first annual conference. It was not until 1839 that a bishop was elected to replace Jacob Albright.

John Seybert John Seybert (1791 – 1860) was an American bishop of the Evangelical Association. He was only the second Bishop of this denomination, a predecessor to the Evangelical United Brethren Church (and the United Methodist Church). He was elected a ...

was elected as part of the young denomination's move towards centralized leadership, and in 1843 there was instituted a general conference, composed of delegates chosen by the annual conferences and constituting the highest legislative and judicial authority in the church. By 1892, the association numbered 148,506 members, not including children, with 1,864 ministers and 2,043 churches, in the United States, Canada and Germany.Gray In 1891, some members of the Evangelical Association left in a controversy over the ownership of the churches to form the ''

United Evangelical Church The United Evangelical Church is a splinter group from the Evangelical Association History It was formed in 1891 when some members of the Evangelical Association left to form the new church. The schism was caused by the autocratic administration ...

''."Evangelical Congregational Church" Thirty-one years later, in 1923, the two groups reunited and renamed themselves "The Evangelical Church". Those congregations which chose not to re-unite the Evangelical Congregational Church which, despite its name, has no historical relation whatsoever with the

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

es derived from

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

settlement. Rather, the name refers to its

organizational structure An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims. Organizational structure affects organizational action and provides the foundat ...

, which is based on the local congregation. It continues today. In 1946, the Evangelical Church merged with the United Brethren in Christ at a meeting in

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropol ...

to form the

Evangelical United Brethren Church The Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) was a North American Protestant church from 1946 to 1968. It was formed by the merger of the Evangelical Church (formerly the Evangelical Association, founded by Jacob Albright) and the Church of the ...

. This body, in turn, united with The Methodist Church (US) in 1968 to form the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

. A group of clergy and about fifty local churches withdrew at this time, probably in protest against theological and social liberalism in American Methodism, and formed the

Evangelical Church of North America The Evangelical Church of North America (ECNA) is a Wesleyan-Holiness, Protestant Christian denomination headquartered in Clackamas, Oregon. As of 2000, the Church had 12,475 members in 133 local churches. The Church sponsors missionaries in seven ...

Notes

References

External links

Evangelical Congregational webpage
{{Authority control Religious organizations established in 1800 Methodist denominations United Methodist Church Former Christian denominations Evangelical United Brethren Church Protestant denominations established in the 18th century United Methodist Church predecessor churches 1800 establishments in Pennsylvania

History

See also

Notes

References

External links