Bible Fellowship Church
Template:Short description Template:Infobox Christian denomination 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<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> described the denomination as "reformed in theology, Presbyterian in polity, creedal immersionists."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
19th century
Bible Fellowship Church (BFC) was founded as the Evangelische Mennoniten Gemeinschaft (Evangelical Mennonite Society) on September 24, 1858, in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Seven Mennonites influenced by revivalism, elder William Gehman, bishop William N. Shelly, preachers Henry Diehl and David Henning, and deacons David Gehman, Jacob Gottschall, and Joseph Schneider, refused to surrender to the pressure from their bishops to give up their evangelism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> They responded by forming the new society, which combined Mennonite doctrine with enthusiastic evangelism.
In November 1879, the Evangelical Mennonites of Pennsylvania consolidated with the United Mennonites to become the Evangelical United Mennonites in November 1879.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1883, the Brethren in Christ Church in Ohio merged with the Evangelical United Mennonites to form the Mennonite Brethren in Christ.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
20th century
In the 20th century, the Pennsylvania Conference of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ grew substantially. Membership doubled between 1900 and 1920 and again between 1920 and 1940.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref> Since 1879, the Pennsylvania Conference held annual camp meetings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The first location was Chestnut Hill outside Coopersburg, Pennsylvania.
In 1910, the denomination purchased land near Allentown, Pennsylvania, called Mitzpah Grove.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Located in East Allentown, the camp was located behind present-day Mosser Elementary School between Ellsworth Street at Walnut Street to Ellsworth Street and, inside the camp grounds, to Fairview Street.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Between 1942 and 1945, during World War II, the annual camp meetings ceased but resumed again in 1946 following the war's end.<ref name=":2" />
In the 1940s, the relationship of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ Pennsylvania Conference with the other Mennonite Brethren in Christ conferences was strained. Disagreements existed over doctrine and ecclesiology, and these were intensified by personality differences.<ref name=":2" />
In 1947, the General Conference of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ changed the name of the denomination to the United Missionary Church. The Pennsylvania Conference disagreed with the name change, and was allowed to continue under the old name.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Five years later, in 1952, the Pennsylvania Conference officially voted to separate themselves from the other conferences of the United Missionary Church and form their own denomination. The cause of the separation included differences of opinion over church government, the doctrine of holiness, education, foreign missions, and financial autonomy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Pennsylvania Conference also objected to an expected merger with the Missionary Church Association—which would occur in 1969 creating a new consolidated denomination known as the Missionary Church.
In 1959, the Pennsylvania Conference of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ adopted its present name, 'Bible Fellowship Church,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and approved new articles of faith, which included dropping the practice of feet washing. The church government's structure was gradually changed to a more Presbyterian style. Local elders rule individual Bible Fellowship churches, and each of the individual churches sends their elders and pastors to the annual conference.
In the mid-20th century, the denomination's core soteriological viewpoint gradually changed from its early Anabaptist and Arminian perspective to its current Reformed Theology focus.
In 1968, the Bible Fellowship Church sold its Mizpah Grove property in Allentown, and acquired Pinebrook Bible Conference in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania as the site for its annual camp meeting.<ref name=":2" />
In an address at the 1962 Annual Conference in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, Donald Kirkwood noted that, "historically we were Arminian; gradually but progressively we became Dispensational; presently we are in transition. There are remnants of Arminianism, and Dispensationalism, also an active Calvinism."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
21st century
In a departure from many other reformed churches, Bible Fellowship Churches continue the Anabaptist practice of believer's baptism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It also holds to Premillennialism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
BFC maintains its headquarters in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania. Its ministries include the Bible Fellowship Board of Missions, Church Extension Ministries, Fellowship Community, a home for the aged, and Victory Valley Youth Camp.<ref name="Yearbook">Template:Cite web</ref> Most of BFC's churches are located in eastern Pennsylvania. There are also churches in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia.
As of 2023, there were 6,687 members in 67 congregations with a total church family size of 14,412.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Pinebrook Ministries
Pinebrook Junior College
In 1950, the Pennsylvania Conference of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ supported the opening of Berean Bible School in Allentown.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> When the Bible Fellowship Church purchased the Pinebrook Bible Conference in Stroudsburg in 1968, the Allentown campus of the Berean Bible School was sold. The next year, the school reopened as Pinebrook Junior College on the Stroudsburg property.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> It began granting associate degrees in 1970.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1976, the college relocated to Coopersburg, Pennsylvania to a property that formerly housed a school and orphanage run by Sisters of the Sacred Heart that had closed in 1974.<ref name=":1" /> In 1992, the junior college ceased operations due to declining enrollment causing inadequate finances.<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In response, the Bible Fellowship Church created the Pinebrook Educational Foundation in 1994 to provide financial aid to Christian students studying at Christian post-secondary institutions.<ref name=":0" /> In 2014, the former Coopersburg property was destroyed to make way for a new residential condominium development.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Pinebrook Bible Conference
Pinebrook Bible Conference is a Christian camp and conference center in the Pocono Mountains in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1933 by Percy Crawford, an evangelist who led a radio ministry in Philadelphia, Pinebrook hosted prominent speakers and musicians, including Billy Graham, Jack Wyrtzen, J. Oliver Buswell, William Bell Riley, William Henry Houghton, Robert T. Ketcham, Cliff Barrows, and George Beverly Shea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1968, Pinebrook came under the umbrella of Bible Fellowship Church.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On October 17, 2018, Spruce Lake took over stewardship of Pinebrook, while Bible Fellowship Church continues to offer events, retreats, and conferences at the property.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Notes
References
- Encyclopedia of American Religions, J. Gordon Melton, editor
- Handbook of Denominations in the United States, by Frank S. Mead, Samuel S. Hill, and Craig D. Atwood
- History of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ, Jasper Huffman, editor
- The Bible Fellowship Church: formerly Mennonite Brethren in Christ, Pennsylvania Conference, originally die Evangelische Mennoniten Gemeinschaft von Ost-Pennsylvanien, by Harold Patton Shelly