The Old Order German Baptist Brethren, also called Petitioners, are a small group of very conservative

Schwarzenau Brethren The Schwarzenau Brethren, the German Baptist Brethren, Dunkers, Dunkards, Tunkers, or sometimes simply called the German Baptists, are an Anabaptist group that dissented from Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed European state churches during t ...

History

The history of the Old Order German Baptist Brethren dates back to 1708, when the Schwarzenau Brethren were formed in

Berleburg Bad Berleburg (, earlier also Berleburg) is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approximately northeast of Siegen and northwest of ...

under the leadership of

Alexander Mack Alexander Mack ( 27 July 1679 – 19 January 1735) was a German clergyman and the leader and first minister of the Schwarzenau Brethren (or German Baptists) in the Schwarzenau, Wittgenstein community of modern-day Bad Berleburg, North Rhi ...

. Soon they moved to

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, ...

to escape religious persecution in Europe. In the 19th century many of them moved west with the frontier, to Ohio, Indiana and beyond. In 1860s and 1870s the traditionalists among the Brethren opposed the adoption of innovations such as revival meetings,

Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

s, and foreign missionary work. Stressing church discipline, Annual Meeting authority, and the preservation of the "old order" of church ordinances, worship, and dress, they formed the

Old German Baptist Brethren The Old German Baptist Brethren (OGBB) is a conservative Plain church which emerged from a division among the German Baptist Brethren in 1881 being part of the Old Order Movement. Like the church it emerged from, it has roots both in Anabaptism ...

in 1881. The Old Order German Baptist Brethren split from the

in 1921, when members of the latter began to adopt automobiles. Though similar to the Old German Baptist Brethren in faith and practice, the Old Order German Baptist Brethren represent those who desired to maintain a strict adherence to tradition, such as the use of horse and buggy for transportation. They also do not use electricity nor telephones but do allow tractors for field work.

Beliefs and practices

The Beliefs of the Old Order German Baptists are in many ways similar to the

, the group from which they emerged. The Old Order German Baptists use tractors and other motorized equipment in their farming, while the

Old Brethren German Baptist The Old Brethren German Baptists, also called Leedyites, are the most conservative group of Schwarzenau Brethren. They live in Indiana and Missouri. History Origins in Germany The history of the Old Brethren German Baptists dates back to 1708, whe ...

s, a similar horse and buggy group, farm with horses. Men wear suspenders, dark denim and workshirts. Beards are encouraged but not required. Women wear long dresses with the Brethren style cape (Triangular, loose in front and back), aprons and tied white head coverings.Kevin Williams: ''Beards encouraged but not required: Brethren openness draws converts''
at http://america.aljazeera.com In spite of the name, Old Order German Baptist Brethren do not use the German language anymore, neither a German dialect in everyday life nor

Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (not to be confused with High German dialects, more precisely Upper German dialects) (german: Standardhochdeutsch, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the standardized variety ...

for Bible and church as

Old Order Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite church ...

and many

Old Order Mennonite Old Order Mennonites (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania German: ) form a branch of the Mennonite tradition. Old Order Movement, Old Order are those Mennonite groups of Swiss people, Swiss German and south Germans, German heritage who pract ...

s do, because they had already given up the use of the German language when the first split of conservatives from the main body occurred in the early 1880s.

Demographics and congregations

In the early 1970s there were only about 20 families left in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren church, according to some estimates. As of 2000 the group had 125 members and a total population of 281 in 3 congregations in Ohio. These Congregations are found in the area of Covington, Gettysburg and Arcanum. They have meeting houses south east of Covington, near Versailles and west of Pleasant Hill. Some members far from the meeting houses meet in private homes, like the Amish.

Name of the group

Since their formation in 1881 and until the early 1900s the

were often referred to as Old Order German Baptist Brethren. Since the formation of the Old Order German Baptist Brethren in 1921 this then misleading name fell mostly out of usage, but in some few cases it persists until today. The Old Order German Baptist Brethren should also not be confused with the

s, a similar horse and buggy group that split off from the Old German Baptist Brethren and formed in 1939.Information from Indiana Old Brethren German Baptists

References

Literature