The Dunkard Brethren Church is a Conservative Anabaptist denomination of the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition, which organized in 1926 when its members withdrew from the Church of the Brethren in the United States.
The Dunkard Brethren Church observes the ordinances of baptism, feetwashing, communion, the holy kiss, headcovering, and anointing of the sick.
In 2001, the Dunkard Brethren Church had approximately 1035 members in 26 congregations.
Name
The name Dunkard or Dunker is derived from the Pennsylvania German word , which comes from the German word , meaning 'to dunk' or 'to dip'. This refers to their preference for the trine immersion method of baptism, in the forward position, observed by all of the various branches of Schwarzenau Brethren.
History
The Dunkard Brethren are a branch of the Schwarzenau Brethren or Dunkards, an Anabaptist tradition that emerged during the Radical Pietist revival. This movement began in 1708, when Alexander Mack and seven other believers conducted baptism of new members by immersion in the Eder river in Germany.
The Church of the Brethren represented the largest body of churches that descended from this original pietist and Anabaptist movement. For the history until 1926 see Church of the Brethren: Early history and Church of the Brethren: The Great Schism.
Early in the 20th century, some members of Church of the Brethren in the United States, the largest of the branch of the Schwarzenau Brethren, began to believe that there was a drift away from the old apostolic standards, such as the wearing of plain dress and the headcovering.
Immigration to the U.S.
In 1719, led by Peter Becker, twenty families left Germany and immigrated to the US. They settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Alexander Mack led 200 other Brethren to the Netherlands in 1720; after living there for nine years, they found that religious conditions had deteriorated. They immigrated to the US, joining the original Dunkard group in Pennsylvania.
Belief and practice
Dunkard Brethren practice believer's baptism, that is, reserving baptism for a person old enough to commit to belief. A believer is immersed three times to represent the Trinity: once in the name of the Father, once in the name of the Son, and once in the name of the Holy Spirit. Most of the women of the Dunkard Brethren dress in a plain manner, which has been associated with other Conservative Anabaptists, such as the Conservative Mennonites (including the Beachy Mennonites), as well as Old Order Anabaptist groups, such as the Old Order Brethren and Old Order Mennonites. Women are also expected to wear a plain white headcovering, usually in the form of a kapp.
Members and congregations
In 1980 there were 1,035 members in 26 congregations.