STARTING YEARS FOR VARIOUS DENOMINATIONS

1693 AMISH

1693 MENNONITES

1708 GERMAN BAPTIST BRETHREN

1780 RIVER BRETHREN

1860 OLD ORDER AMISH

1860 AMISH MENNONITES

1862 BRETHREN IN CHRIST

1872 OLD ORDER MENNONITES

1881 OLD GERMAN BRETHREN

1883 BRETHREN CHURCH

1907 OLD ORDER AUTOMOBILE

1907 OLD ORDER HORSE

1926 DUNKARD BRETHREN

1927 BEACHYAMISH

1939 GRACE BRETHREN

1960 NEW ORDER AMISH

OLD WORLD ORIGINS

1525 Conrad Grebel rebaptizes George Blaurock as the first convert to Anabaptism

1527 Swiss leaders draw up the Schleitheim Confession, identifying seven distinctives of Anabaptist belief

1529 Melchior Hoffman joins Anabaptists and proclaims Strasbourg the "New Jerusalem"

1535 A second 'New Jerusalem —Münster— fails miserably, sparking widespread persecution of Anabaptists

1536 Menno Simons leaves the Catholic Church to become the Anabaptists' foremost theologian

1618-1648 Thirty Years' War rages

1632 The Dordrecht Confession unites Mennonites around 18 articles of faith

1660Tieleman Jansz van Braght compiles the Martyrs Mirror

1675 Philip Jacob Spener pens his Plo Desideria, giving new impetus to the Pietist movement

NEW WORLD ORIGINS:
AMERICAN SETTLEMENT

1683 Mennonites and Quakers establish Germantown just north of Philadelphia at William Penn's invitation

1693 Jakob Ammann breaks fellowship with Swiss Anabaptists over church discipline

1698 Mennonites appoint William Rittenhouse to pastor the first Anabaptist congregation in America

1708 Alexander and Anna Margareta Mack and others gather at the Eder River in Germany for baptism, birthing the Brethren movement

1719 The first group of Brethren arrive in America aboard the ship Allen

1732 Georg Conrad Beissel breaks off from the Brethren to establish the Ephrata Cloister

1749 Jacob Hertzler becomes the first Amish bishop to arrive in America

1775 American Anabaptists meet with revolutionary authorities to offer humanitarian aid rather than fight the British

MODERNITY:
ASSIMILATION AND REACTION

1860s Amish Mennonites split from Old Order; Amish over their determination to blend better with English' society

1872 Old Order Mennonites reject changes brought about by contact with revivalism

1881-1882 The Brethren split over revivalistic methods into Old Order German Baptist Brethren, conservative, and progressive factions

1907 Old Order Mennonites split over adoption of the automobile

1927 Moses M. Beachy refuses to shun those Amish who joined the Mennonite church, and thus parts from the Old Order Amish

1946 Mennonite Mutual Aid is organized to help young men returning from Civilian Public Service camps

1967 The National Amish Steering Committee forms to resolve disputes with the government over issues of nonconformity

1972 In Wisconsin v. Yoder, the U.S. Supreme Court permits Amish youth to end their education in Amish-run schools after eight grades

Copyright © 2004 by the author or Christianity Today/Christian History magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Christian History.