Does the "Charity Church" really exist anymore?

[Soloist]

They both depend on, and draw from, and appeal to, ex-conservative Mennonites and Amish for their growth. The same type of disillusioned people who in years past would have joined a Charity church, now go for FOTW franchise.

Geography has little to do with either. Both have nationwide attraction. Neither were geographically limited. They inhabit a spiritual niche, not physical niche. A surprising number of people from rural Oregon have spent time in Boston.

A surprising number of people from Oregon have left Boston too.

[cooper]

Charity and FOTW are very different movements. Charity was a synthesis of IFB and Anabaptism. FOTW is a synthesis of Church of Christ and Anabaptism. Charity took longer to implode than FOTW. Everything happens faster in the internet era I suppose.

[Ken]

They both depend on, and draw from, and appeal to, ex-conservative Mennonites and Amish for their growth. The same type of disillusioned people who in years past would have joined a Charity church, now go for FOTW franchise.

Geography has little to do with either. Both have nationwide attraction. Neither were geographically limited. They inhabit a spiritual niche, not physical niche. A surprising number of people from rural Oregon have spent time in Boston.

What is a surprising number? 10? 100? 1000?

It doesn't seem like any of them brought it back with them since the furthest west FOTW congregation is in Minneapolis.

I kind of don't buy the spiritual niche vs physical niche thing. What does that make them? Just an online church? Do they do zoom church from Boston?

[Soloist]

What is a surprising number? 10? 100? 1000?

It doesn't seem like any of them brought it back with them since the furthest west FOTW congregation is in Minneapolis.

Some similar positions are being talked about for Portland, but not under FOTW.

[twinpines]

I'm new to the forum here but saw this post and wanted to chime in
To answer Steve's original question, Yes, Charity Christian Fellowship in Leola PA is still very active and definitely does exist. Plenty of other "Charity Churches" exist too. However, as has already been mentioned, some of them look a bit different than they did 15 years ago. Having attended Charity for over 5 years in 2007-2012 and still having many friends and Acquaintances there, my perspective is that the "Charity Church of the 2005-2015" doesn't exist today in the way it did then, and few of the "Charity Churches" today look like they did then, however good or bad that may be.
A lot of that being that the passing of Bro. Denny and other earlier leaders has IMO brought the 'Setting of the Sun" on the Charity movement but there are still churches in Charity circles that are trying to carry the vision the best that they can as has already been mentioned.
As far as Charity possibly not supporting the head covering, etc as was mentioned in this thread earlier: CCF Leola does still very much practice the head covering and it is a requirement for membership from what I last heard.
One thing about Charity and Charity circles that has stood out to me is their diversity and because of that there is many things that are practiced differently by different families and churches so it's hardly fair to lump all of Charity together in to the same basket.

I'd be very interested in an unemotional/outsider accounting of all the churches that are still, or were considered Charity churches... where geographically, and what they are today on the spectrum of "carrying the vision forward" to something very different than where they started... It sounds like most or all have basically become "independent", but maybe some have joined other networks, accountable structures or maybe even closed up entirely?

Ernie, would you have a handle on my question or know of someone who's compiled anything? (As some may know, but maybe not Samuel, I was at Charity which became the Leola building/base, from earliest beginning days till early 90's. The impact is felt to this day and the history and possible lessons of it all still intrigues me...)

I can make a go of it for my part of the country. I have visited all churches I am referring to below.
Manitoba: 4 churches all more conservative then the hutterite churches they came from.
South Dakota: 2 churches, one is struggling with charismatic ideas and a minority is abandoning their plain dress. Result is a church split in process. The other is remaining more conservative but has lost several families that no longer want to stay conservative.
Wyoming: church is about 50% ex-evangelical and similar to BMA in dress, more strict in other ways.
Wisconsin: 3 churches, one is Similar to BMA, one is more conservative and one is somewhere between IFB and BMA but closer to BMA.

[Judas Maccabeus]

I'm new to the forum here but saw this post and wanted to chime in
To answer Steve's original question, Yes, Charity Christian Fellowship in Leola PA is still very active and definitely does exist. Plenty of other "Charity Churches" exist too. However, as has already been mentioned, some of them look a bit different than they did 15 years ago. Having attended Charity for over 5 years in 2007-2012 and still having many friends and Acquaintances there, my perspective is that the "Charity Church of the 2005-2015" doesn't exist today in the way it did then, and few of the "Charity Churches" today look like they did then, however good or bad that may be.
A lot of that being that the passing of Bro. Denny and other earlier leaders has IMO brought the 'Setting of the Sun" on the Charity movement but there are still churches in Charity circles that are trying to carry the vision the best that they can as has already been mentioned.
As far as Charity possibly not supporting the head covering, etc as was mentioned in this thread earlier: CCF Leola does still very much practice the head covering and it is a requirement for membership from what I last heard.
One thing about Charity and Charity circles that has stood out to me is their diversity and because of that there is many things that are practiced differently by different families and churches so it's hardly fair to lump all of Charity together in to the same basket.

I'd be very interested in an unemotional/outsider accounting of all the churches that are still, or were considered Charity churches... where geographically, and what they are today on the spectrum of "carrying the vision forward" to something very different than where they started... It sounds like most or all have basically become "independent", but maybe some have joined other networks, accountable structures or maybe even closed up entirely?

Ernie, would you have a handle on my question or know of someone who's compiled anything? (As some may know, but maybe not Samuel, I was at Charity which became the Leola building/base, from earliest beginning days till early 90's. The impact is felt to this day and the history and possible lessons of it all still intrigues me...)

I can make a go of it for my part of the country. I have visited all churches I am referring to below.
Manitoba: 4 churches all more conservative then the hutterite churches they came from.
South Dakota: 2 churches, one is struggling with charismatic ideas and a minority is abandoning their plain dress. Result is a church split in process. The other is remaining more conservative but has lost several families that no longer want to stay conservative.
Wyoming: church is about 50% ex-evangelical and similar to BMA in dress, more strict in other ways.
Wisconsin: 3 churches, one is Similar to BMA, one is more conservative and one is somewhere between IFB and BMA but closer to BMA.

I have a directory. and refer people to plain churches. When I see a church as Charity I always check to see if they are still plain. Most are not.

Has drift been that bad? My data is 10 years old.

[Josh]

Most of the old churches in your directory would have drifted, yes. The ones around me all have.

The ones that haven’t? One of them is in BMA now and doesn’t claim Charity lineage anymore.

[mike]

The Charity-affiliated (informal connection, as with many such churches) congregation in my area, which has been independent for the past 28 years or so, is considering joining Anabaptist Disciples of Christ, a newish (2016) network of around 23 churches that I don't really know anything about.

[Josh]

The Charity-affiliated (informal connection, as with many such churches) congregation in my area, which has been independent for the past 28 years or so, is considering joining Anabaptist Disciples of Christ, a newish (2016) network of around 23 churches that I don't really know anything about.

Come to think of it, one of the old Charity establishments around here is making the same affiliation.