Little Flock Sewing

[MaxPC]

My wife has a question. She would like to know if these ladies are Anabaptist or belong to another group? If you scroll down the page to their photo they are wearing some unusual head coverings.

Little Flock Sewing

[Josh]

I'm not aware of any plain Anabaptist groups in Gary, Indiana, but it is quite likely there are sincere believers there. As far as that website goes, it appears to be an online fabric store.

[MaxPC]

I'm not aware of any plain Anabaptist groups in Gary, Indiana, but it is quite likely there are sincere believers there. As far as that website goes, it appears to be an online fabric store.

Thank you, Josh. Do you recognise their coverings?

[Josh]

I'm not aware of any plain Anabaptist groups in Gary, Indiana, but it is quite likely there are sincere believers there. As far as that website goes, it appears to be an online fabric store.

Thank you, Josh. Do you recognise their coverings?

I don't. They're similar in style to a hijab though. The Chicago metropolitan area has a lot of different types of homeschooling sort of people, and I imagine these people would be one of them.

[MaxPC]

I'm not aware of any plain Anabaptist groups in Gary, Indiana, but it is quite likely there are sincere believers there. As far as that website goes, it appears to be an online fabric store.

Thank you, Josh. Do you recognise their coverings?

I don't. They're similar in style to a hijab though. The Chicago metropolitan area has a lot of different types of homeschooling sort of people, and I imagine these people would be one of them.

My wife (and myself) thank you.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Maybe I can head more light on this. My wife used to visit a store called Gehemans Country Fabrics in Lebanon county. They are closing their physical store, but are selling their mail order business to this "Little Flock" group. The proprietors of Gehemans appear to be either Weaverland or Groffdale.

The "Little Flock" website makes a point of saying that the dresses they make have no darts. The dresses Gehmans sold would look fine in an Eastern/Nationwide context, and yes they do have darts. Wife said that without darts, they will fit like a bag.

I wonder what group these people are part of. They have the look of something out of Islam.

J.M.

[Josh]

Maybe I can head more light on this. My wife used to visit a store called Gehemans Country Fabrics in Lebanon county. They are closing their physical store, but are selling their mail order business to this "Little Flock" group. The proprietors of Gehemans appear to be either Weaverland or Groffdale.

The "Little Flock" website makes a point of saying that the dresses they make have no darts. The dresses Gehmans sold would look fine in an Eastern/Nationwide context, and yes they do have darts. Wife said that without darts, they will fit like a bag.

I wonder what group these people are part of. They have the look of something out of Islam.

J.M.

No darts is certainly an interesting proposition. Is there any (Anabaptist) group that actually mandates this?

[ken_sylvania]

Maybe I can head more light on this. My wife used to visit a store called Gehemans Country Fabrics in Lebanon county. They are closing their physical store, but are selling their mail order business to this "Little Flock" group. The proprietors of Gehemans appear to be either Weaverland or Groffdale.

Actually North Lebanon Mennonite Fellowship.

I wonder what group these people are part of. They have the look of something out of Islam.
J.M.

At one time they had some connection with an independent Bible church in Gary, IN called Grace & Truth Fellowship.

[Josh]

This church used to be "Grace & Truth Fellowship Baptist Church" in 2004, until the pastor died, and his son (of the same name) seems to have continued as the new pastor of the church, and within a few years must have become interested in Anabaptistst.

This is from that church's website circa 2007 - 2009. I can't tell if this is the same people or not.



And here is their statement of faith from that era:

1. God the Father, Jesus Christ - the Virgin Born Son of God, and Holy Spirit, our Comforter (Matthew 28:19, 20; Galatians 4:4-6; Ephesians 2:13-18; I John 5:1-13) (Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:1, 20-25) (Acts 1:8; 5:3, 4).
2. That the Bible is wholly inspired by God and is the final authority in the daily life of the believer (We use the King James Version - II Samuel 23:3; Psalm 119:160; II Timothy 3:16).
3. That God created all things, and by His power preserves His creation, i.e. the giving and taking of life, promoting and demoting of authority, making poor and enriching all mankind according to His divine providence (Deuteronomy 32:39; Colossians 1:16, 17; I Samuel 2:6-10).
4. That the first man and woman were created pure and without sin but through unbelief and disobedience, fell and that sin, sorrow, and death, both natural and spiritual, are results of the fall, but that we have a choice to live holy or live sinfully (Romans 5:12) (Genesis 1:27) (Genesis 2:17; 3:16-23).
5. That Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation from sin and begins with a decision to turn from sin to new life in Christ but continues in our daily walk with Christ, totally committed in all aspects of life (John 3:16; Hebrews 9:14-26; Luke 18:8-9; John 3:3,5; Romans 6:1-7, II Corinthians 5:17; Matthew 3:8; II Corinthians 7:10).
6. That all those who are born again and who are obedient to God by living in the fear of God, constitute the true church of which Christ is the Head. (Romans 6:17; Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 5:9).
7. That self-denial and humility are essential to Christian discipleship (Luke 9:23; I Peter 5:5, 6).
8. That God provides the church with necessary leaders such as bishops, elders, ministers, evangelists, and deacons That these leaders are humble servants of God, leading by example, “not for hire,” not as “lords or dictators,” and should live by complete faith and trust in the Lord (I Peter 5:3; Matthew 20:25-26; Ephesians 4:11-16; I Timothy 3:1-13).
9. That Christian baptism is commanded representing the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as one is buried in the likeness of His death and raised to walk in newness of life. (Matthew 28:19,20; Acts 1:5; 2:2; 16-18,41; 10:44-48, Romans 6:4).
10. That the bread and cup in the Lord’s Supper are symbols of the body and blood of Christ, and is an ordinance observed in remembrance of Christ’s death, as He commanded to show a common union of believers with Christ and with one another, limiting this ordinance to members of the body of Christ (I Corinthians 10:16-21; 11:23-26).
11. That Scripture commands separation of the believer from the world, the flesh, and apostate brethren (I John 2:15-17; II Corinthians 6:14; Ephesians 5:7, 11; Amos 3:3; Psalms 1:1; II Thessalonians 3:6, 14).
12. That men are to provide for their wives and children; work six days a week as unto the Lord in an occupation that would glorify God, not promoting this world, the flesh, or the devil (II Thessalonians 3:10; I Thessalonians 4:11; Genesis 3:19; I Timothy 5:8; Exodus 20:9; Deuteronomy 5:13; I John 2:15-17).
13. That Christian women should be keepers at home (not to work secular jobs) and be trained “…to be sober (serious-minded), to love their husbands (do what is best for him), to love their children (Proverbs 22:6), to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home (not under the authority of anyone but her husband), good, obedient to their own husbands (I Peter 3:1), that the word of God be not blasphemed (Titus 2:4-5; I Timothy 5:14; Genesis 3:16)."
14. That God “…in the beginning made them male and female…” a distinct difference between man and woman. That although they are joint heirs with Christ, they have different roles, actions, and dress as to not combine the two in “unisex” clothing, which would include a godly covering and not cutting the hair of a godly sister, her not wearing man’s apparel, and not “effeminizing” a godly man and That the personal appearance of Christian men and women should be simple and modest, free from worldly fashion and adornment (II Corinthians 6:17; I Timothy 2:8-10; I Peter 1:14, 15; 3:3, 4; I Corinthians 6:9; Deuteronomy 22:5; I Corinthians 11:1-16).
15. That anointing with oil, accompanied by faithful prayer, is a symbol which God honors in the restoration of physical health (James 5:14, 15).
16. That as pilgrims and strangers in the world, Christians will seek to maintain simplicity in all areas of life as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven and Christian loves requires that believers should not take part in any destruction of human life, nor in any acts of personal retaliation or revenge(Matthew 5:38-48; 6:33; II Corinthians 10:3,4; Hebrews 11:13).
17. That church (Kingdom of God) and government are both ordained of God, but are separated entities in His plan and as citizens of heaven godly men are not to be entangled in the affairs of this life nor compromise their holiness by holding positions of authority or defense in this world (Romans 13:1-7; I Peter 2:13-17; II Timothy 2:4).
18. That obstinate sinners within the church should be excommunicated (I Corinthians 5:11-13; II Thessalonians 3:6, 14).
19. That the church is commanded to evangelize the world; that her primary mission is to deal with that which is spiritual and eternal (Matthew 28:19, 20; Matthew 9:13).
20. That the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (at the last trump) Christ will raise the righteous to everlasting life in the New Jerusalem, and the unrighteous to eternal damnation in the lake of fire (Matthew 25:46; Luke 14:14; John 5:2, 29; Revelation 20:13, 14)and is the blessed hope of believers (Acts 1:11; John 14:2, 3; Matthew 24:44; I Thessalonians 4:13-18).

It is a quasi-Anabaptist statement of faith with a heavy independent Baptist overtone; I say "quasi-" because it lacks a statement concerning personal non-resistance in the area of self defence, although I'm not sure that's intentional.

Around 2014, they rebranded as "Holy Mountain Fellowship"; they also seem to have affirmed the Schleitheim Confession around this time. Here is a picture of the "RJ Bruno & family" (the pastor) and his family, which does seem to be the same people operating the fabric store:



They also run a bakery that delivers bread locally and also will mail order it to your house. Based on their social media and other history, it seems they variously have different local people who have passed through their church, work for the bakery, participate in their orchestra, etc.

The new "hijab" style seems to be something they adopted recently (later than 2018). If I had to speculate, I would guess there was some Followers of the Way influence somewhere. Next time I'm driving near Chicago, I'm going to try to stop and visit these people. They seem like an interesting lot.