Alexander = Mack was born = in Germany in 1679. He attended church regularly with his family but as he grew he saw= how what was preached on Sunday was not lived throughout the week. After he mar= ried Anna Kling in 1701 they spent much time in Bible study and prayer and in 17= 08 five men and three women were baptized in the Eder River marking the beginning of the Church of the Brethren. Their new understandin= g of Scripture made them part of the anabaptist (re-baptism) movement but harsh laws making private religious gatherings, a= nd especially re-baptism, illegal made life very difficult. After years of harassment and danger the Macks emigrated to the= New World and settled in Germantow= n, PA along with Peter Becker = and many others.

Peter Becker lived from 1687 until 1785. He was = born in Germany but later f= ounded the first Church of the Brethren in America. At the age of 29 Pet= er defied the Reformed Church he belonged to in Germany and was re-baptized b= y John Naas. This lead to persecution by the rulers of the day and eventually lead= to the Becker family leading 20 other families in a harrowing 6 month journey = to America. These journeys were wretched and filled with despair and misery. M= any died during those journeys. Those who made it settled in Germantown PA. There they established the first Church of the Brethren congregation in America. Alexander Mack later joined them and was their leader until his death in 17= 35.

John Naas was born i= n Nordheim, Germany and lived from 1669 u= ntil 1741. He became a preacher and moved his family to <= st1:City w:st=3D"on">Krefeld, Germany in 1715 where he became an Elder in the new Brethren movement. He was a very tall, well conditioned man. This made him desirable to the King who wanted = such men to serve as his personal guards. John refused to comply when he was forcibly called into this service which lead to gruesome torture. He was finally released by the King when he said the only King he could serve was the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1733 he left Germany and came to America where he eventually settled in Amwell New Jersey. By this time the growing church in America= was seeing some division. A group at the Ephrata Cloister held beliefs John Nass was sympathetic to but Alexander Mack was not. T= his led to a split of the Amwell congregation. When peo= ple visit John Nass’ burial site today it is = not uncommon to hear the phrase, “There is a giant buried there”

Conrad Beissel came to America in 1720 and joined the “Dunkers” 4 years later. He became a pre= siding member in the Conestoga Congregation near Lancaster. After a time he began to differ with accepted beliefs, particularly with re= gard to celibacy and his belief in Saturday worship. In 1732 Beissel finally spl= it from the established church and started his own faith experiment in Ephrata= at what is now the Ephrata Cloister. One prominent member of this group was the wife of Brethren printer Christopher Sauer. This experiment grew and attrac= ted many traditional Brethren until Beissel’s death in 1768. The community then declined and in 1814 became the Seventh Day = German Baptist Church. The original Cloister site is now a historical landmark.<= /p>

Christopher Sauer Sr. and Jr. Christopher Sauer Jr. lived his life during the Revolutionary War. He took over his father’s printing business and a large part of that business was printing Bibles. They also used the influence available with a printing press to lobby the Pennsylvania Legislature. One of their biggest competitors was Benjamin Franklin who also owned a printing press. Christop= her Jr. was friends with Alexander Mack and both were elders in the Germantown church. Christopher’s wife was also a member at the Ephrata Cloister experime= nt. In 1778 he was taken from his home by soldiers and forced to swear he was no longer loyal to the King of England. He was willing to affirm that f= act but not to swear it. He was accused of being a traitor but a petition was sent to General Washington on his behalf and he was released. After returning to Germantown<= /st1:place> he had all of his possessions confiscated. He lived with a friend for a whi= le and then his daughter. He continued to preach and work for the church but he lived a poor man’s life.

John Kline 1797 – 1864

Elder John Kline lived during the era when Brethren believers were known as German Baptist Brethren. He was a physician, farmer, advocate of freedom and liberty and a martyr. He spent m= uch of his life travelling between homes, preaching, baptizing, praying and performing weddings and funerals. His travels helped keep people in touch w= ith each other since they lived far apart and did not meet in structured church= es like we do today. He kept diaries of his travels and those have been transcribed into a book known as “Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Martyr Missionary”. During the Civil War he was particularly trou= bled because Brethren were peaceful people who did not want to fight and the division between north and south wrenched families apart. He was instrument= al in getting an exemption for brethren not wishing to take up arms, one of the early laws regarding conscientious objectors. Kline many times crossed front lines in the pursuit of peace and in 1864 was shot to death close to his ho= me by local confederates unsympathetic to his cause.

Wilbur Stover 1866 – 1930

When Wilbur Stover was still in coll= ege he began to have a heart to share the Gospel in lands where Christ was not known. At first the church was unwilling to pursue this idea but through pe= rsistence and the help of his home church in Waynesboro Wilbur and his wife Mary Emmert, along with Bertha Ryan established the first missionary outreach in Bulsar, = India. One day Mrs. Stover was talking to a group of women and told them about Jes= us. One woman asked how long she’s known about Jesus. “Since I was a child” she said. “Then why did you wait so long to tell us?R= 21; was the reply. By 1906 the Brethren had missions in China, Nigeria and Ecuador= . In addition to sharing Christ missionaries taught people how to grow better fo= od, start schools and treat medical problems. Today Brethren churches also reach out in times of disaster to encourage and help rebuild lives.

For much more info go to http://www.cob-net.org/index.htm<= /a>

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