During the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church exercised control (in the religious realm and often in the political realm) throughout Europe. By the early 1500’s, the church had become so corrupt that great numbers of Christians were calling for reformation. Thousands of people established independent Protestant churches under the leadership of such men as Luther and Calvin and Zwingli. The “Protestants’ churches had instituted some very excellent reforms — but on such matters as nonconformity to the world and nonparticipation in war — the cost was too great, and even the protesting reformers largely rejected these doctrines.
In Zurich, Switzerland, a group of Christians began to claim that Christ had been baptized as an adult. They said that infant baptism was not supported in the New Testament, and that the baptism of infants was a meaningless and useless rite. They taught that all Christians should be baptized as adults so that each could openly declare his faith and experience true conversion. Those who promoted these beliefs were called Anabaptists, a term which means “the rebaptizers.”
The Church of the Brethren in many ways is neither Catholic nor Protestant. The Brethren have been greatly influenced by the Anabaptists and the Pietists — two movements which came into being during the Reformation period. The Anabaptists were devoted to the details of the Scriptures, rejected infant baptism, and believed in the absolute separation of church and state. The Pietists emphasized the necessity for complete repentance and turning from the world, a continued search for God’s will through intensive Bible study. and the need to reject the distinction between clergy and laity.
Roman Catholics and Protestant reformers had largely ignored the parts of the Bible that were not palatable to most people, but the churches with an Anabaptist/Pietist heritage have maintained a number of distinctives down through the years. One of the areas of distinctiveness relates to the church ordinances. We will examine the ordinances one by one beginning with the next issue of the BRF Witness.
January/February 1975
