Fellowship of Evangelical Churches

Last updated
Fellowship of Evangelical Churches
Location6535 Maplecrest Road
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46835 [1]
Country United States
Denomination Evangelical
Membership72 churches [2]
Website fecministries.com
History
Former name(s)Egly-Amish, Defenseless Mennonites, Evangelical Mennonite Church
Founded1866
EventsFEC Conference (annual)
FEC-logo-2013.jpg

The Fellowship of Evangelical Churches (FEC) is an evangelical body of Christians with an Amish Mennonite heritage that is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. It contains 60 churches located in Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. [2]

Contents

History

Beginnings as Egly Amish

In the first half of the 19th century, the time before the Amish split into Amish Mennonites and Old Order Amish, several members of the Amish Egly family immigrated from Baden, Germany, to North America. Among them was Henry Egly (1824–1890). Egly was elected deacon of a Berne-Geneva Amish church in Indiana. In 1858, Egly was then elected bishop of the Berne-Geneva Amish Church. Egly, who insisted on the new birth experience, withdrew from the Amish church. Approximately half of the congregation withdrew as well. In 1866, the first Egly-Amish church was created in Berne, Indiana. [3] In the beginning the Egly Amish church was very strict in regard to discipline and dress, but later developed in the same direction as the Amish Mennonites, that is towards the Mennonite mainstream, away from the Amish heritage. [4]

Defenseless Mennonites

The Egly-Amish officially adopted the name "Defenseless Mennonite" on 6 November 1908 as the congregation wanted to be known as more Mennonite rather than Amish. [3]

Evangelical Mennonite Church

In 1942, the Defenseless Mennonites were charter members in the founding of the National Association of Evangelicals. Later, in 1948, their name was changed to "Evangelical Mennonite Church" to reflect both their Anabaptist and Evangelical beliefs. [3]

Fellowship of Evangelical Churches

On 2 August 2003, the Evangelical Mennonite Church voted to be known as the "Fellowship of Evangelical Churches", or FEC. [3]

Doctrine

The Defenseless Mennonite Conference published its Confession of Faith, Rules and Discipline in 1917. The confession of faith was revised in 1937, 1949, 1961, and 1980. It contains 12 articles of faith. The Lord's Supper is observed with open communion.

Organization

The conference office is located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The FEC organization is governed through a congregational form of governance. Local congregations elect delegates to a delegate body, which in turn elects the conference leadership. The conference is composed of 34 churches in the Midwest of the United States, with 5278 members. 55 percent of the churches are located in Illinois and Indiana. All FEC ministries are funded by voluntary donations of congregations and individuals.

Branches and connections

Affiliated organizations

These organizations have their own governing boards but are affiliated solely with the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches.

Affiliated churches

Colorado

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Kansas

Maine

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Literature

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mennonites</span> Anabaptist groups originating in Western Europe

Mennonites are a group of Anabaptist Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Reformation. The name Mennonites is derived from the excommunicated Roman-Catholic chaplain Menno Simons (1496–1561) from Friesland, part of the Holy Roman Empire, present day Netherlands. Menno Simons became a prominent leader within the wider Anabaptist movement and was a contemporary of Martin Luther (1483–1546) and Philipp Melanchton (1497-1560). Through his writings about the Reformation Simons articulated and formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss Anabaptist founders as well as early teachings of the Mennonites founded on the belief in both the mission and ministry of Jesus. The Anabaptist followers had held such beliefs with great conviction, despite persecution by various Roman Catholic and Mainline Protestant states. Formal Mennonite beliefs were codified in the Dordrecht Confession of Faith (1632), which affirmed "the baptism of believers only, the washing of the feet as a symbol of servanthood, church discipline, the shunning of the excommunicated, the non-swearing of oaths, marriage within the same church", strict pacifistic physical nonresistance, anti-Catholicism and in general, more emphasis on "true Christianity" involving "being Christian and obeying Christ" as they interpret it from the Holy Bible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plain people</span> Simple lifestyle Christians

Plain people are Christian groups in the United States, characterized by separation from the world and by simple living, including plain dressing in modest clothing. Many Plain people have an Anabaptist background. These denominations are largely of German, Swiss German and Dutch ancestry, though people of diverse backgrounds have been incorporated into them. Conservative Friends are traditional Quakers who are also considered plain people; they come from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brethren in Christ Church</span> Brethren in Christ denomination

The Brethren in Christ Church (BIC) is a Christian denomination. Falling within the Anabaptist tradition of Christianity, the Brethren in Christ Church has roots in the Mennonite church, with influences from the revivals of Radical Pietism and the holiness movement. They have also been known as River Brethren and River Mennonites. The Canadian denomination is called Be In Christ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missionary Church</span>

The Missionary Church is an evangelical Christian denomination of Anabaptist origins with Wesleyan and Pietist influences.

Bible Fellowship Church is a conservative pietistic Christian denomination with Mennonite roots centered in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Its denominational leader Donald T. Kirkwood described the denomination as "reformed in theology, Presbyterian in polity, creedal immersionists."

The Rosedale Network of Churches is a Christian body of Mennonite churches in the Anabaptist tradition. Rosedale Network of Churches was originally formed in 1910 by a group of Amish Mennonites to promote unity while preserving autonomy of the local congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mennonite Church Canada</span> Anabaptist denomination

Mennonite Church Canada, informally known as the General Conference, is a Mennonite denomination in Canada, with head offices in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is a member of the Mennonite World Conference and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alliance of Mennonite Evangelical Congregations</span>

The Alliance of Mennonite Evangelical Congregations (AMEC) is an association of conservative evangelical Mennonite churches. The organization was officially formed in 2002 over concerns relating to the merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church.

The Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches (FEBC) is a small evangelical Christian denomination with an Anabaptist Mennonite heritage. Most of the denomination's approximately 5000 members are in congregations located in the U.S. and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches</span> Anabaptist denomination

The Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (CCMBC) is a Mennonite Brethren denomination in Canada. It is a member of the Mennonite World Conference and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anabaptist theology</span> Theological tradition reflecting the doctrine of the Anabaptist Churches

Anabaptist theology, also known as Anabaptist doctrine, is a theological tradition reflecting the doctrine of the Anabaptist Churches. The major branches of Anabaptist Christianity agree on core doctrines but have nuances in practice. While the adherence to doctrine is important in Anabaptist Christianity, living righteously is stressed to a greater degree.

Amish Mennonites came into existence through reform movements among North American Amish mainly between 1862 and 1878. These Amish moved away from the old Amish traditions and drew near to the Mennonites, becoming Mennonites of Amish origin. Over the decades, most Amish Mennonites groups removed the word "Amish" from the name of their congregations or merged with Mennonite groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protestantism in Ukraine</span> Aspect of religious life in Ukraine

Protestants in Ukraine number about 600,000 to 700,000 (2007), about 2% of the total population. Nearly all traditional Protestant denominations are represented in the country. According to Christianity Today magazine, Ukraine has become not just the "Bible Belt" of Eastern Europe, but a "hub of evangelical church life, education, and missions". At present, the country is a key supplier of missionaries and a center of evangelical training and press printing for all the countries of the former Soviet Union, where the legal environment is not so favourable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amish</span> Group of traditionalist Christian church fellowships

The Amish, formally the Old Order Amish, are an ethnoreligious group with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. Consisting of several Anabaptist Christian church fellowships, they are closely related to Mennonites, a separate Anabaptist denomination. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, Christian pacifism, and slowness to adopt many conveniences of modern technology, with a view neither to interrupt family time, nor replace face-to-face conversations whenever possible, and a view to maintain self-sufficiency. The Amish value rural life, manual labor, humility and Gelassenheit. As they rarely accept converts, maintain a separate language and culture from surrounding populations, and hold their faith in common, they have been described by scholars as an ethnoreligious group, combining features of an ethnicity and a denomination.

Conservative Mennonites include numerous Conservative Anabaptist groups that identify with the theologically conservative element among Mennonite Anabaptist Christian fellowships, but who are not Old Order groups or mainline denominations.

Belize Evangelical Mennonite Church is a church denomination of the Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches in Belize.

Over the years, as Amish churches have divided many times over doctrinal disputes, subgroups have developed. The "Old Order Amish", a conservative faction that withdrew in the 1860s from fellowship with the wider body of Amish, are those that have most emphasized traditional practices and beliefs. There are many different subgroups of Amish with most belonging, in ascending order of conservatism, to the Beachy Amish, New Order, Old Order, or Swartzentruber Amish groups.

The Noah Hoover Mennonites, called "Old Order Mennonite Church (Hoover)" by the Mennonite World Conference, and sometimes called "Scottsville Mennonites”, are a group of very plain Old Order Mennonites that originally came from the Stauffer Mennonites and later merged with several other groups. Today it is seen as an independent branch of Old Order Mennonites. The group differs from other Old Order Mennonites by having settlements outside the US and Canada and by attracting new members from other groups on a larger scale. They have more restrictions on modern technology than all other Old Order Mennonite groups. They are rather intentionalist minded than ultra traditional.

Brethren is a name adopted by a wide range of mainly Christian religious groups throughout history. The largest movement is Anabaptist.

References

  1. Churches, Fellowship of Evangelical. "Contact". Fellowship of Evangelical Churches. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Churches, Fellowship of Evangelical. "Our Churches". Fellowship of Evangelical Churches. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Churches, Fellowship of Evangelical. "Our History". Fellowship of Evangelical Churches. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  4. Fellowship of Evangelical Churches at Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online.
  5. Miracle Camp and Retreat Center
  6. Life Change Camp and Retreat Center
  7. Salem4Youth
  8. Christian Service Foundation