Brethren in Christ

The Brethren in Christ Church is a denomination headquartered in Pennsylvania, with Anabaptist roots back to 1767, originally known as River Brethren. Other groups have split from the BIC, including a small Calvary Holiness group based in Philadelphia, as well as the Old Order River Brethren, in Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa and Pennsylvania (and formerly in Ohio, Indiana and Ontario). The BIC have a private college in Mechanicsburg, PA known as Messiah College, founded in 1909, and a preparatory school called Niagara Christian Community of Schools, founded in 1932.

Plymouth Brethren connections

Doug Engle is a longtime editor with BrethrenPedia, and is a direct descendant of Jacob Engle, born in Switzerland, and is credited by Wikipedia's article on the Brethren in Christ Church as "sometimes considered the "founder" of the BIC".

Doug Engle's childhood church was Grace and Truth Gospel Chapel (1918-2010) just south of Abilene, Kansas. His father, Kenneth Ercil Engle, was commended by this assembly (along with Woodside Bible Chapel in the Chicago area) in 1951 to missions work in the Philippines under the mentoring of Cyril Brooks. Doug was also simultaneously involved in his youth with the Abilene Brethren in Christ Church, from early childhood with Awana later known locally as H.I.S. Club, then with youth group, both as a youth, and a volunteer leader. Many children with this youth group in Doug's college years were introduced to Kansas Bible Camp, an assembly camp near Hutchinson, Kansas. Among the several Brethren in Christ churches in the Abilene area are many alumni of the Gospel Chapel, including some who have served in leadership.

It is also worth noting that a cross-section of both Plymouth Brethren and Brethren in Christ have been instrumentally involved together in the early roots (2010's-2020's) in the Abilene area of a an interdenominational, global, family ministry, founded in South America, known as Men's Encounter (and a related Women's Encounter), including several alumni of the forementioned Grace and Truth Gospel Chapel, as well as other Brethren assemblies in Kansas including Wichita, Topeka, and Hutchinson.

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