Old German Baptist Brethren Church - New Conference

[Ernie]

A thread to learn more about New Conference German Baptists

https://ogbbc.org/

[Ernie]

I'm curious about the number of members OCBBC-NC had at the beginning as well as at the present.
Same with number of congregations.

[Ernie]

A few questions regarding clothing.

Do all NC men who are part of the church wear a straight cut suit during the winter in the colder climates? Or is it an older men/conservative men sort of thing?

What percentage of men still wear plain hats to church or additionally otherwise?

What percentage of the women wear the traditional cap during the week when out in public?

[Ernie]

For the sake of discussion and this being an Anabaptist forum/discussion (generally speaking), I wonder if it might be less confusing if "communing" (ie. sharing in communion, ie. bread and wine) and "fellowshipping" are clarified rather than used synonymously, considering that partaking of communion emblems is often restricted to members only or a particular litmus test (historically and contemporarily) among Anabaptists, particular more conservative ones, whereas fellowshipping tends to be far broader and more flexible..

Heirby, I assume your church would allow you to commune with other Anabaptist churches, or not? Does your church allow folks from other Anabaptist churches to commune with you?

[Heirbyadoption]

A thread to learn more about Old German Baptist Brethren - New Conference https://ogbbc.org/

Ernie, I apologize I haven't gotten back to you sooner. The chaos of life has been besetting me a bit. However, to a couple of your questions, the website gives a reasonably decent overview, though you do have to wade through a couple of tiers on each subject. I'll check and get back to you on the starting and current numbers, as later additions and attrition have happened quite a bit. The overall numbers haven't skyrocketed, certainly. On the other hand, generational growth (we have 60 members here, but 50 children under 15 at this point and maybe a dozen youth) and local additions tend to be more common than from other Plain Groups, though that varies by area. Several families recently joined in Indiana from Old Conference and quite a few Petitioner families have been attending and/or joining in Indiana and Ohio. A family recently joined our PA congregation from Dunkard Brethren, though in fairness we have had two young couples move from us to Dunkard Brethren in the last couple years as well for various reasons.

A few new congregations have formed since 2009 such as the "Eastern District (members in VA and PA) formally separating and organizing into two congregations/"districts" (Shenandoah, VA and Mt Zion, PA) as they developed more leadership and structure, and a few others have developed as outreach efforts (such as Las Cruces, NM and their offshoot down in TX that has not formally organized as their own congregation quite yet), Mt View (near Sandpoint, ID) and Caldwell, ID (they may have been working on forming pre-2009, I forget...).

Per the Plain coat, most of our brethren 30 years and up wear it (most of them were members at the time of our expulsion) and maybe 1/2-2/3 of the younger generation still would, though to be fair again, a good chunk of the younger would add least wear a vest if they don't wear the plain coat. It varies a little by area, and you'll see the occasional wintercoat or windbreaker, but by and large the Plain coat is still pretty standard. Warm Sundays, you'll only see coats on a few of the older folks, though. A few younger ones might wear a lapel coat / blazer for a non-church function or work, but its not common and certain not at church functions.

Per the Plain hat, thankfully that one is noticeably decreasing in use (speaking from my personal opinion). It's usage also depends on the area and is more generational (pre-09) than not, but the average would be 25% of the brethren, and more on Sunday than all week. The use of the traditional cap mid-week in public is a little harder to pin down, again partly because some areas are more open to scarves or hanging veils than others, but there's also a generational effect there - there's definitely a mix of practice on that one. I suspect that particular conversation will be coming to Conference in the next year or three, based on local conversations and diversity of practice.

And we are not technically forbidden from partaking on communion elsewhere; some of us occasionally do. The last formal position of New Conference on allowing other Anabaptists to commune at OGBBC NC love feasts is a bit lengthy - it is found in the 2012 decision from the Annual Conference, I believe, and can be downloaded and read here: https://ogbbc.org/resource/2012-annual-conference-minutes/ The official position is "close communion" (ie. members only) based on the thought that even with shared doctrines and practices between different groups, it is unwise to commune with others on the basis that those of differing church fellowships are not subject to each other in church discipline, and therefore the implication in that is that only members of the fellowship we submit ourselves can consistently sit at the communion table as brethren who are willing to mutually submit to one another. As interaction with the broader Plain Anabaptist community grows and the Church potentially comes under increasing fire from without, it would not surprise me to see some formal adjustments to that position...

[Ernie]

Thanks Heirby!

[JohnH]

Eastern District (members in VA and PA) formally separating and organizing into two congregations/"districts" (Shenandoah, VA and Mt Zion, PA)

They could have just renamed it to "Eastern Pennsylvania District and Related Areas".

[Heirbyadoption]

Eastern District (members in VA and PA) formally separating and organizing into two congregations/"districts" (Shenandoah, VA and Mt Zion, PA)

They could have just renamed it to "Eastern Pennsylvania District and Related Areas".

Except they were, in reality, two separate congregations that simply began together in the unprecedented context of 2009 due to a lack of necessary leadership in some of the areas (and a hesitance to rapidly ordain any in that particular milieu). Technically, the early "Eastern District" also included some isolated members down in FL and GA as well, so it was just an attempt to provide some stability until things could coalesce a bit, which they did a year or two later.