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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Surviving small Christian denominations
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Percy B
Shipmate
# 17238
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Posted
13 August, 2012 23:04
When I look at church history especially in the UK, I am often surprised by the number of different small sects / denominations that there are / were.
Many of the smaller ones seem to be rapidly disappearing, and new house church / charismatic groups have sprung up.
The Quakers survive and make a special contribution.
Smaller groups though once stronger seem to be going. For example the Catholic Apostolic church has gone.
Have you encountered recently a small surviving sect?
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Mary, a priest??
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Percy B
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# 17238
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Posted
13 August, 2012 23:11
Ps I just discovered this thread comes up twice.
Why, I don't know. Sorry. Pse can one be removed / closed.
Thanks x
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Mary, a priest??
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Percy B
Shipmate
# 17238
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Posted
13 August, 2012 23:11
Ps I just discovered this thread comes up twice.
Why, I don't know. Sorry. Pse can one be removed / closed.
Thanks x
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Mary, a priest??
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
14 August, 2012 00:26
I closed the duplicate thread for you Percy B.
jedijudy
Heaven Host
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
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Squirrel
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# 3040
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Posted
14 August, 2012 01:45
There are a whole bunch of tiny spinoffs of Mormonism- sects that follow the teachings of Joseph Smith, but reject the authority of the LDS church. You can find some listed here.
And let's not forget the thankfully microscopic Westboro Baptist Church.
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"The moral is to the physical as three is to one."
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"Five to one."
- George S. Patton
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
14 August, 2012 07:13
The last Muggletonian died in 1979. As they didn't hold with evangelism, that was a possibly foreseeable outcome. OTOH, since they didn't/don't hold with religious activities per se, they may still be invisibly extant.
Celibacy similarly can be seen as foredooming the Shakers.
But I see The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion is still extant.
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venbede
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# 16669
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Posted
14 August, 2012 07:52
I did indeed come across a chapel of the Countess of Huntingdon' Connexion in the back street of St Ive's this January. You could throw a hymn book and hit the chapel of the Bible Christians as well.
I didn't know either survived.
The Strict and Particular Baptists had their chapel near me open when the Olympic torch was due to pass by and I went in and had a look round. They are aware that the name is a bit off-putting, and the building just says "Providence Chapel".
There's a number of threads on the Catholic and Apostolic Church.
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Sandemaniac
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# 12829
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Posted
14 August, 2012 10:53
There are, apparently, two surviving members of the Panacea society - thus says their website. I would describe them as charmingly barking, and well worth reading up (and were you aware that the second coming would be in Bedford?)
Sadly my near namesakes, the Sandemanians, are extinct. Mind you, I'd extinct pretty badly if I served my congregation kail soup...
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
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Percy B
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# 17238
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Posted
14 August, 2012 21:38
In John Dalton Street in Manchester Uk there is New Church House.
Are they Swedenborgians? I ask because the New Church, Swedenborgians website makes no mention of a Manchester congregation.
They are not a group I know anything about, but from the website appear inoffensive!
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Mary, a priest??
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
14 August, 2012 22:32
I used to live round the corner from The True Jesus Church.. It seems to have originated in the far east - Pentecostal with seventh-day observance and holding foot washing to be a sacrament.
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Percy B
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# 17238
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Posted
15 August, 2012 20:26
Googling around recently I came across the Orange Street Congregational Church which seems a rather curious body. I am not sure from its website if it is part of a bigger group. If I read it rightly it seems to have British Israelite connections.
The True Jesus Church seems fascinating, a little like seventh day Adventists. I do believe there is a small seventh day baptist denomination in the Uk, a remnant of old dissent, but I've not come across any of their churches.
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Mary, a priest??
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Tubbs
Miss Congeniality
# 440
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Posted
15 August, 2012 21:31
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
The last Muggletonian died in 1979. As they didn't hold with evangelism, that was a possibly foreseeable outcome. OTOH, since they didn't/don't hold with religious activities per se, they may still be invisibly extant.
Celibacy similarly can be seen as foredooming the Shakers.
But I see The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion is still extant.
Thank you!! We drive past one of her chapel's on the way to the in-laws and I've always wondered about them. Now I know.
Tubbs
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"It's better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it up and remove all doubt" - Dennis Thatcher. My blog. Decide for yourself which I am
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Percy B
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Posted
15 August, 2012 22:04
On holiday near Blackpool a few years ago I remember going into that great northern town and coming across a church which described itself as
Independant Methodist.
It seems this is a small denomination. Mainly found up north.
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Mary, a priest??
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Squirrel
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# 3040
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Posted
16 August, 2012 03:20
quote:
Originally posted by Percy B:
In John Dalton Street in Manchester Uk there is New Church House.
Are they Swedenborgians? I ask because the New Church, Swedenborgians website makes no mention of a Manchester congregation.
They are not a group I know anything about, but from the website appear inoffensive!
When I last looked into the topic there were at least three branches of the New Church, all of whom follow Emanuel Swedenborg's teachings. They're all small, but I believe the one based in Pennsylvania is growing in number.
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"The moral is to the physical as three is to one."
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"Five to one."
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Gee D
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Posted
16 August, 2012 04:42
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I used to live round the corner from The True Jesus Church.. It seems to have originated in the far east - Pentecostal with seventh-day observance and holding foot washing to be a sacrament.
There is a meeting house of the True Jesus Church in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta, not far from where Madame bought her car. We've not been in, but the exterior is best described as Edwardian Greek.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
16 August, 2012 04:55
There is a New Church in Roseville on Sydney's North Shore. They list eight Australian locations and one in NZ.
I think the New Apostolic Church was mentioned further up. There are about a dozen in Australia. The Sydney Church is in Lane Cove and has been there for very many years. Only their apostles can confirm the gift of the Spirit.
[ 16. August 2012, 03:56: Message edited by: Lothlorien ]
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W Hyatt
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# 14250
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Posted
16 August, 2012 05:56
quote:
Originally posted by Squirrel:
quote:
Originally posted by Percy B:
In John Dalton Street in Manchester Uk there is New Church House.
Are they Swedenborgians? I ask because the New Church, Swedenborgians website makes no mention of a Manchester congregation.
They are not a group I know anything about, but from the website appear inoffensive!
When I last looked into the topic there were at least three branches of the New Church, all of whom follow Emanuel Swedenborg's teachings. They're all small, but I believe the one based in Pennsylvania is growing in number.
I'm pretty sure the New Church House in John Dalton Street is Swedenborgian and is connected with the branch of the New Church based in the U.K. There are at least three other independent branches based in the U.S., of which two are based in the tiny borough of Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania just north of Philadelphia. Of these two, I believe the General Church of the New Jerusalem is by far the largest world-wide and is the branch to which Freddy and I belong, and yes it is growing, especially in Africa and the Far East. There are also several national organizations affiliated with this branch, including ones in Australia (which Lothlorien mentioned) and Canada. However, all branches combined still constitute a very small denomination, numbering in the tens of thousands (perhaps as many as hundreds of thousands).
There are also several non-church organizations devoted to Swedenborg's work, including the Swedenborg Foundation which publishes his books and related material. Their site includes a page of links which includes all of the organizations related to Swedenborg's work that I'm aware of. Apparently, the U.K. branch does not yet have its own website.
As for being inoffensive, uh ... er ..., I like to think so! ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif)
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A new church and a new earth, with Spiritual Insights for Everyday Life.
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SvitlanaV2
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Posted
16 August, 2012 12:46
Apparently the last Sandemanian (or Glasite) congregation in the UK was located in London in the 80s, and it closed during that decade. The church is also defunct in the USA. Michael Faraday, the famous physicist, was a Sandemanian.
The Seventh Day Baptists were founded in England in the 1600s. The first congregation, Mill Yard Church, was already very low on members in the early 19th c., but the Mill Yard story is interesting for what it contributes to the discussion of gender equality in the church. There are now only two Seventh Day Baptist congregations in England, according to Wiki. One of them is in my city. It probably grew out of American or American-influenced missions in the West Indies, and was then set up here by West Indian immigrants.
Small denominations have often had a great deal of influence on the mainstream, bringing new ideas and fresh enthusiasm to the life of the church and the country. Christianity would be much weaker without them.
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Penny S
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# 14768
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Posted
16 August, 2012 13:03
When I was teaching, there was a period when the local congregation of the Apostolic Fellowship met in our buildings. They are an offshoot of the Christadelphians, and have three congregations in Britain, Nottingham, Dartford, and a recent addition, Eton.
They give public lectures on Sunday evenings, with a bookstall, and I was once able to look at this in the afternoon. There was a history of the denomination, a succession of schisms, one of which, if I recall correctly, concerned the wearing of hats by women. (Ours did.)
On one occasion, a Sunday School workbook was left in my classroom - they specialised in one to one adult and child teaching - and it went into intense detail in analysing the meaning of every word in the part of the OT they were studying in a way I've never come across anywhere else. I can't remember an actual example, but a quick glance in Kings suggests the sort of thing- the number of eunuchs involved in the throwing down of Jezebel would be significant, that it was not one, or four. And not significant because of the practicality.
There was also a self published book about on Soloman's Temple and the meaning of every little detail of that.
They were nice people, and never caused any problems with demands for the modification of teaching of their offspring as others did. But odd. And I don't think the public ever attended the lectures.
[ 16. August 2012, 12:04: Message edited by: Penny S ]
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SvitlanaV2
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Posted
16 August, 2012 13:47
Penny S
I suppose if they weren't 'odd' they wouldn't be members of a small denomination. That stands to reason. But I think most religious people are a bit odd to those who are outside their particular religious group. I find aspects of Anglican church culture a bit strange to me, and of course, Anglicans come in several different types, so that means there are more things for me to find strange!
And we're all a bit odd to those people who have no religious affiliations.
[ 16. August 2012, 12:48: Message edited by: SvitlanaV2 ]
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Percy B
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# 17238
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Posted
16 August, 2012 13:51
I find all this very interesting and Svitlane V2 makes a good point. These churches often have an influence on the world of belief far greater than their size. Look at the Quakers today.
Some of course do not. They are the ones who are more sect minded, mor exclusive than others.
Many of the groups we've mentioned so far are biblically based groups. Do any more esoteric churches, on the edge of Christinaity, as it were, still exist. I know there were not ever many, but I wonder if there is a remnant.
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Mary, a priest??
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SvitlanaV2
Shipmate
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Posted
16 August, 2012 15:15
quote:
Originally posted by Percy B:
These churches often have an influence on the world of belief far greater than their size. Look at the Quakers today.
Some of course do not. They are the ones who are more sect minded, mor exclusive than others.
I agree with you about the social influence of the Quakers, of course, but I'm not sure about your last comment. The Pentostals could be described as exclusive and sectarian, yet they've had an enormous influence on mainstream Christianity, by the sheer number of new denominations created, and also via the charismatic movement that spread into existing denominations. Pentecostalism has been described as John Wesley's grandchild, thus propelling some of his ideas into the modern world while mainstream Methodism has often run out of steam. Ecumenically, even the non-charismatic mainstream now feels obliged to make overtures of friendship to Pentecostal churches, in recognition of their increasing presence in our cities, and their dynamism.
quote:
Many of the groups we've mentioned so far are biblically based groups. Do any more esoteric churches, on the edge of Christinaity, as it were, still exist. I know there were not ever many, but I wonder if there is a remnant.
The Unitarians still exist, of course. They've always been small, but they've had influence. They've moved further away from Christianity over time.
Apparently, there are still a tiny number of Branch Davidians left. We all hope they've not been too influential, but it should be remembered that they were a breakaway from the Seventh Day Adventists, now a large worldwide denominatination that wasn't deemed to be truly Christian until the 20th c., and that descended from the Millerites, a small group who themselves probably no longer exist.
There must be lots of schisms and offshoots that either flourish, remain marginal or completely disappear. And as with the Millerites and the SDA's, even small movements can give birth to something that grows much bigger than the parent body.
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georgiaboy
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# 11294
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Posted
16 August, 2012 23:36
There is in the US one remaining community of the Shakers (The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, officially) -- Sabbathday Lake. As of 2009 there were 6 members, IIRC.
This is down from a high point of some 6000 members in 20 communities in the mid-19th cent.
Celibacy and the attraction of the cities and government rules about adoptions led to the gradual decline.
The Wikipedia article seems to be mostly accurate, as far as I can determine.
So far as I know, there are no longer any Shakers in the UK.
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Sparrow
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# 2458
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Posted
17 August, 2012 07:25
And I thought this thread was going to be a survival guide ...
![[Ultra confused]](graemlins/confused2.gif)
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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OhSimone
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Posted
17 August, 2012 08:44
quote:
Originally posted by Percy B:
Many of the groups we've mentioned so far are biblically based groups. Do any more esoteric churches, on the edge of Christinaity, as it were, still exist. I know there were not ever many, but I wonder if there is a remnant.
We have a Christian Community church just up the road from us - I think it'd be fair to describe them as well towards the edge of Christianity. It's proving difficult to find an estimate on Adherents.com.
There's also a Steiner school close by. We must be the anthroposophical hub of the West Midlands.
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Mark Wuntoo
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# 5673
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Posted
17 August, 2012 11:15
I attended The Latter Rain Outpouring Revival Church a few times when I was working in London in the 1970's. They met in the East End (Islington?) and their pastor was Olive ? I vaguely remember that there were US connections and networks in UK, although probably not formal links with any other congregation.
I do not think they were / are associated with a similar church in South London.
One of their members was Revd Basil Meade, he of the London Community Gospel Choir.
Are any of these people still around? I often wonder about Basil Meade's current church connection.
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Blessed are the cracked for they let in the light.
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Mark Wuntoo
Shipmate
# 5673
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Posted
17 August, 2012 11:18
quote:
Originally posted by Percy B:
Many of the groups we've mentioned so far are biblically based groups. Do any more esoteric churches, on the edge of Christinaity, as it were, still exist. I know there were not ever many, but I wonder if there is a remnant.
You mean Pocomania or the Spiritual Baptists? I attended worship with each of them many years ago in the Caribbean. Say no more - I wish I'd been MWing in those days. ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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Blessed are the cracked for they let in the light.
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
17 August, 2012 11:24
quote:
Sparrow: And I thought this thread was going to be a survival guide ...
Stay close to the door.
quote:
Percy B: When I look at church history especially in the UK, I am often surprised by the number of different small sects / denominations that there are / were.
In Brazil, there's a lot. One of my favourites is a small wooden shack in a favela where we have a project. On a hand-painted sign it says: "Universal Church of the Wrath of the Fiery Throne. Worldwide Headquarters."
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
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Penny S
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# 14768
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Posted
17 August, 2012 12:08
I have a book on Sussex dialect (currently out of reach somewhere) which includes a reference to a group known as the Cokellers, a temperance-biassed sect which only drank cocoa. I suspect Cokeller was not their own name for themselves.
I have an impression that there was a period which spawned a lot of offshoots of various chapels, as people found problems with the one they worshipped in - you know the jokes about marooned people and chapels or synagogues they don't attend. A branch of my family was connected with building a small chapel at Halland in Sussex in some way. I think it is still functioning.
Annually, I take tea in Michael Church in Brixton, a Swedenborg connected church, when they are open in connection with a function at the Lambeth Archives over the road. It's an interesting building.
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Yerevan
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# 10383
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Posted
17 August, 2012 21:38
I have a soft spot for slightly eccentric Christian sects. My husband used to known someone who grew up amongst the Gospel Standard Strict Baptists, a tiny sect so Calvinist that they refuse to undertake any evangelism at all. They take their name from a magazine (here) so wonderfully old-fashioned that even the contemporary articles sound like they were written in 1815.
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Yerevan
Shipmate
# 10383
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Posted
17 August, 2012 21:46
quote:
On holiday near Blackpool a few years ago I remember going into that great northern town and coming across a church which described itself as
Independant Methodist.
It seems this is a small denomination. Mainly found up north.
I vaguely remember reading somewhere that a group of Independent Methodist churches in the north-west had recently opted to join the Baptist Union. IIRC they had gradually moved in a credobaptist and congregationalist direction over time. I don't know much about their origins though. I'm presuming they were just Methodist congregations who opted out of the various mergers which created the current Methodist Church. In the US Savannah, Georgia has a very impressive Independent Presbyterian Church in the old centre (oxymoron surely?)
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
17 August, 2012 22:15
quote:
Originally posted by Yerevan:
I have a soft spot for slightly eccentric Christian sects. My husband used to known someone who grew up amongst the Gospel Standard Strict Baptists, a tiny sect so Calvinist that they refuse to undertake any evangelism at all. They take their name from a magazine (here) so wonderfully old-fashioned that even the contemporary articles sound like they were written in 1815.
My sources say this is positively fervent in its evangelistic zeal compared to some other strict baptists. My father-in-law, who once pastored what I think was a Gospel Standard church in Lancashire (and who did evangelise), once went to another local church - that worshipped behind locked doors to ensure no unelect got inside. When he knocked and asked to come in, they said "eeh my, we'll have to ask the pastor" (he did eventually get in).
[ 17. August 2012, 21:16: Message edited by: Eutychus ]
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
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SvitlanaV2
Shipmate
# 16967
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Posted
18 August, 2012 00:16
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
And I thought this thread was going to be a survival guide ...
But smallness is risky. Large or growing institutions can withstand schism, or people growing indifferent and drifting away; they might even prefer to lose troublemakers. But small groups can easily lose critical mass, and end up fizzling out. They're more susceptible to changes in the surrounding culture, demographic patterns, etc.
Martyn Percy's book 'Clergy: The Origin of Species' takes the trajectory of the Independent Methodists and uses it as a way of illuminating the state of the parent body, the British Methodist Church in relation to the CofE. His basic point is that it's better for a small body with a purifying mission to remain within a larger body rather than trying to go it alone, where it's doomed to experience the same problems as its parent, but with less chance of success. We might not entirely agree, but it's instructive to consider the risks that small religious groups face. They don't survive easily.
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
18 August, 2012 22:50
I can't believe I'm the first to mention the newly-discovered
quote:
anfgli8can
denomination, which PeteC describes here as quote:
a new sect which now has two members
Surely a contender for the official Ship denomination?
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
19 August, 2012 19:43
How is this for small, the Inghamites.
Jengie
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Percy B
Shipmate
# 17238
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Posted
19 August, 2012 21:08
Fascinating Jengie. Only two remain of these Inghamites. I wonder what is / was distinctive about them.
From a quick google they seem now to be simply independent evangelicals, and have so perhaps lost what was distinctive about them.
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Mary, a priest??
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
19 August, 2012 21:59
There is slightly more on them at Cumbria County Council website. A mix between Methodist, Moravians and Sandemanians, sounds interesting to say the least.
I wonder what sort of soup they served?
Jengie
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Percy B
Shipmate
# 17238
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Posted
24 August, 2012 15:40
Talking of Moravians Jengie, they themselves are a small denomination in the UK. I am not actually sure how many churches, but I think historically they were found in some areas where German migrant workers settled.
Similarly, I guess, we may have , or may be we have it already, a phenomenon of new Europe immigrants brink gong their home denominations with them.
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Mary, a priest??
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
24 August, 2012 19:37
I think they are about the same size as the Lutherans are in the UK. They have a website and mainly train at the Northern College URC and Congregational in Manchester.
Their route here can be very complex, for instance they participate in this LEP but the Moravians who belong there are from the Caribbean rather than from Europe. My supervisors other doctoral student is an American Moravian but based on a Caribbean Island. So my experience is that I keep on coming across them despite their small size.
Jengie
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Percy B
Shipmate
# 17238
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Posted
24 August, 2012 23:18
The distribution map on the UK Moravian website is interesting. I had thought they had gone to mining communities, and maybe they have to a degree - but it looks like coal mining. There are none in Cornwall, for example. But nor are there any In south Wales.
I do know there used to be a congregation in Crook in County Durham.
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Mary, a priest??
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SvitlanaV2
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Posted
25 August, 2012 00:43
In Birmingham there is a joint Moravian/URC congregation. I think its members are mostly West Indian, or else mixed. Until a few years ago they had their own church, but are now sharing with a local Methodist congregation, and in the future they may enter into an LEP with the Methodists. Their minister occasionally preached at my own Methodist church. He seemed proud that the Moravian and URC elements in his congregation were more or less indistinguishable.
[ 24. August 2012, 23:44: Message edited by: SvitlanaV2 ]
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Kaplan Corday
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Posted
25 August, 2012 01:17
In India I worked with a colleague who shamefacedly admitted to having grown up in the Essex Peculiar people, or Plumstead Peculiars.
I understand they have since adopted much blander nomenclature - pity!
One of my favourites is the Cooneyites, a name given to them by outsiders, because they not only claim to be nameless, but have have no buildings or literature.
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Baptist Trainfan
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Posted
25 August, 2012 08:45
Back in the 1970s I sometimes worshipped with a Pentecostal Group called the "Bible Pattern" church. This was a group formed by "Pastor" George Jeffery in the ?1940s when he broke away from Elim over the issue of British Israelitism (and, probably, who was boss!) This church seemed entirely orthodox from a doctrinal point of view - indeed they sacked a minister because he was a"Jesus Only" man and not sufficiently Trinitarian.
On our honeymoon in St. Ives (Cornwall) in 1982 we worshipped with the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion.
[ 25. August 2012, 07:46: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
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FreeJack
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Posted
25 August, 2012 09:07
quote:
Originally posted by Yerevan:
quote:
On holiday near Blackpool a few years ago I remember going into that great northern town and coming across a church which described itself as
Independant Methodist.
It seems this is a small denomination. Mainly found up north.
I vaguely remember reading somewhere that a group of Independent Methodist churches in the north-west had recently opted to join the Baptist Union. IIRC they had gradually moved in a credobaptist and congregationalist direction over time. I don't know much about their origins though. I'm presuming they were just Methodist congregations who opted out of the various mergers which created the current Methodist Church. In the US Savannah, Georgia has a very impressive Independent Presbyterian Church in the old centre (oxymoron surely?)
Do you mean Free Methodist?
There are quite a few in Lancashire and the surrounding area, which were historically on the evangelical or charismatic side of English methodism. They joined us with a US-based led FMC with apostolic oversight from bishops, but are mostly credobaptist.
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Clodsley Shovel
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Posted
25 August, 2012 09:33
quote:
Originally posted by Yerevan:
I have a soft spot for slightly eccentric Christian sects. My husband used to known someone who grew up amongst the Gospel Standard Strict Baptists, a tiny sect so Calvinist that they refuse to undertake any evangelism at all.
I can confirm that although declining this outpost of all things 1850 still exists, as large parts of my wider family are still involved with it, my brother recently got married at one of their bigger churches in Luton, a service best described as 'dignified'!
Generally if a church becomes too 'evangelical' and horror of horrors starts attracting new members/putting on sermons that are mildly interesting they are 'delisted' a strategy so herocially suicidal in terms of future prospects you cant help but perversely admire it.
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Ramarius
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Posted
25 August, 2012 10:07
My late father used to dismiss JW's by telling them he was a Calathumpian . Seems there's quite a few of 'em.
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Diomedes
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Posted
25 August, 2012 10:23
For many years we had neighbours (3 elderly ladies) who were members of 'The Peculiar People'
Th PP were originally an Wesleyan offshoot founded near here, in Rochford (Essex), in the 1830s. They became particularly newsworthy at the time of the Diphtheria outbreak in 1910. Their policy of rejecting medical care from doctors or hospitals was widely reported in the local press. The organisation split into 'The Old Peculiars' who still refused medical treatment and 'The New Peculiars' who took a more moderate stance. Both branches were Conscientious Objectors as far as I know. There are still active PP chapels, mainly in Essex and East London.
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Distrust simple answers to complicated questions
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SvitlanaV2
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Posted
25 August, 2012 16:21
quote:
Originally posted by Clodsley Shovel:
quote:
Originally posted by Yerevan:
I have a soft spot for slightly eccentric Christian sects. My husband used to known someone who grew up amongst the Gospel Standard Strict Baptists, a tiny sect so Calvinist that they refuse to undertake any evangelism at all.
I can confirm that although declining this outpost of all things 1850 still exists, as large parts of my wider family are still involved with it, my brother recently got married at one of their bigger churches in Luton, a service best described as 'dignified'!
Generally if a church becomes too 'evangelical' and horror of horrors starts attracting new members/putting on sermons that are mildly interesting they are 'delisted' a strategy so herocially suicidal in terms of future prospects you cant help but perversely admire it.
A 'soft spot'? Well, I suppose such tiny groups are often quiet and self-absorbed enough to be unthreatening, which is isn't the case for so many more infamous denominations and sects today.
I can imagine that our wider society, with its fear of 'brainwashing', would be quite happy with a church that refused to evanglise.... Many people probably wish that all churches were like that!
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
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Posted
25 August, 2012 16:54
Actually the interesting thing is the more extreme Presbyterians in Scotland have much the same sort of attitude. I once characterised it as they saw no need for publicity, such things as noticeboards are heretical. If the Lord was calling someone to be among the elect they would know the time of service and the whereabouts of the building by divine inspiration.
The thing is if anything they are slightly growing.
I once detected one of their churches, it was a combination of the symbol on the ordnance survey map and the time the cars turned up that gave the game away. Given that they are also pretty strict Sabbatarians the use of cars must have been a concession to the distance some of them had to travel.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
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georgiaboy
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Posted
25 August, 2012 18:04
There was a sizeable immigration of Moravians to the US in 18-19th centuries, many to mining areas in Pennsylvania. IIRC, their church was/became known as Unitas Fratrum, or commonly as the Bohemian Brethren.
They became notable for their splendid choral tradition and for the excellence of the organs built for their churches (Tannenburg, etc.)
The present-day Moravian Foundation is centered in Winston-Salem, NC, their 'mother church' being the Home Church in Old Salem.
(I apologize if some of that is inaccurate, I'm quoting from memory.)
A colleague who had worked their said that their 'love feasts' and their early Easter morning 'tower music' were particularly memorable.
Wikipedia indicates that while they are not a large denomination, they are not exactly small, compared to some of the others mentioned above.
BTW, at least in the southern US, 'Independent Presbyterian' means affiliation with no synod, an important distinction given Presbyterian US history.
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You can't retire from a calling.
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