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    Charis Alliance

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    Charis Alliance is a Christian denomination formed in 2015 that is associated with the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition. It was formed by delegates from Grace Brethren ministries around the world who adopted a common identity statement. The denomination believes in evangelical theology and Believers' Church principles. According to a 2023 census, it has 200 churches in the United States and Canada.

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    Charis Alliance

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    Charis Alliance is a Christian denomination formed in 2015 that is associated with the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition. It was formed by delegates from Grace Brethren ministries around the world who adopted a common identity statement. The denomination believes in evangelical theology and Believers' Church principles. According to a 2023 census, it has 200 churches in the United States and Canada.

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    Charis Alliance is a Christian denomination formed in 2015 that is associated with the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition. It was formed by delegates from Grace Brethren ministries around the world who adopted a common identity statement. The denomination believes in evangelical theology and Believers' Church principles. According to a 2023 census, it has 200 churches in the United States and Canada.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    5 views3 pages

    Charis Alliance

    Uploaded by

    richardson99
    Charis Alliance is a Christian denomination formed in 2015 that is associated with the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition. It was formed by delegates from Grace Brethren ministries around the world who adopted a common identity statement. The denomination believes in evangelical theology and Believers' Church principles. According to a 2023 census, it has 200 churches in the United States and Canada.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Charis Alliance

    Charis Alliance is a Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau


    Charis Alliance
    Brethren tradition. The word charis is Greek in origin, meaning
    "grace."[1] Orientation Anabaptist
    Theology Schwarzenau
    History Brethren
    Origin 2015
    For the early history see Church of the Brethren. Official website charisalliance.org
    (http://charisallian
    The Great Schism ce.org)

    The Brethren (at the time called German Baptist Brethren) suffered a three-way division early in the 1880s,
    and the more progressive group organized the Brethren Church in 1883. Led by charismatic leader Henry
    Holsinger, they maintained the standard Brethren doctrines, but wanted to adopt new methods, and desired
    more congregational autonomy and less centralization. These more progressive Brethren moved into the
    direction of the mainstream of Christian evangelicalism in America. Several events in the late 19th century
    and early 20th century, including the Bible Conference movement, emphasis on foreign missions, and the
    rise of fundamentalism, affected the church. The Foreign Missionary Society of the Brethren Church was
    formed on September 4, 1900, in Winona Lake, Indiana.

    Fundamentalism rising

    But, also in the early 1900s, two different viewpoints began to emerge. As Robert Clouse writes about this
    event "the Progressives showed considerable agreement in what they opposed, but were less united in what
    they wished to create."[2] The Brethren Church had rejected classical liberal theology in 1921 with "The
    Message of the Brethren Ministry", written by J. Allen Miller and Alva J. McClain. However the
    aggressive approach of fundamentalism, led by Louis S. Bauman and McClain, conflicted with the drawn
    out approach of traditional Brethrenism. The fundamentalists desired strongly worded statements of faith,
    the traditional Brethren stressed non-creedalism. The classic dispensationalist belief held by the
    fundamentalists largely disregarded the Sermon on the Mount as a law for an earlier age, while the
    traditional Brethren statement "the New Testament is our Rule of Faith and Practice" placed a high
    emphasis on this passage in Matthew 5–7.

    Division from the Brethren Church

    This tension finally erupted in 1936–37 with a growing controversy at Ashland College. Although the
    school was under the control of the Brethren Church, it was transitioning from a Christian denominational
    school to a secular school with a more regional focus. Because of a push to enlarge non-Brethren
    representation on the board of trustees and establish a "double standard" of conduct for regular college
    students and pre-seminary students, Bauman and Charles Ashman, Sr. (1886–1967) resigned from the
    Ashland College board of trustees on June 1, 1937. The next day, professors Alva J. McClain and Herman
    Hoyt were fired from Ashland Seminary due to increasing tension between the college group and the
    seminary group. At a prayer meeting in the home of J.C. Beal that evening Grace Theological Seminary
    was born, where after prayer Bauman announced "I want to give the first gift to the new school."[3]
    In the next two years two groups emerged in the Brethren Church: those sympathetic with Ashland College
    and those sympathetic with Grace Seminary. Traditional Brethren, in part because of their drawn out
    approach and in part due to their distaste for fundamentalist theology, sided with Ashland College, while
    the fundamentalists led by Bauman and McClain, sided with Grace Seminary. In 1939, the Grace Seminary
    group formed the National Fellowship of Brethren Churches.[4][5][6] The Fellowship incorporated in 1987
    as the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.[7]

    Departure of the Conservative Grace Brethren

    Another division occurred in 1992, involving a coalition of


    fundamentalist pastors who were troubled by the continuing "neo-
    evangelical" drift that they perceived taking root within the larger
    body of the FGBC, ultimately resulting in the formation of the
    Conservative Grace Brethren Churches, International (CGBCI). Charis Fellowship USA logo
    The immediate issue of dissension concerned the question of open
    membership in regard to individuals who had not been baptized by
    trine immersion (the historic Brethren standard, which the Brethren traditionally believe is taught in the
    language of Matt. 28:19). The Conservative pastors (so called because they desired to "conserve" Biblical
    truth) ultimately saw the broader issue as one involving Biblical Fundamentalism vs. an unduly pragmatic
    neo-evangelicalism, and ultimately withdrew from the larger body as a matter of conviction.

    Charis Alliance

    In 2015, delegates from ministries in all the countries who associate with the Grace Brethren gathered in
    Bangkok, Thailand and formed the Charis Alliance. The Global Charis alliance adopted the Charis
    Commitment to Common Identity. [8]

    Beliefs
    The denomination has a confession of faith based on evangelical theology and the Believers' Church
    beliefs. [9]

    Statistics
    According to a denomination census released in 2023, it claimed 200 churches in the United States and
    Canada.[10]

    References
    1. Fellowship, Charis (2018-07-23), the Charis Fellowship (in one minute) (https://vimeo.com/2
    81277877), retrieved 2018-09-18
    2. Clouse, Robert G. (1988). "Brethren and Modernity: Change and Development in the
    Progressive/Grace Church". Brethren Life and Thought. 33: 205–17. OCLC 45189112 (http
    s://www.worldcat.org/oclc/45189112).
    3. Homer A. Kent, Sr., Conquering Frontiers: A History of the Brethren Church. Winona Lake:
    BMH Books, 1972.
    4. Donald B. Kraybill, Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites,
    JHU Press, USA, 2010, p. 92
    5. Todd Scoles, "A Household Divided", in Restoring the Household: The Quest of the Grace
    Brethren Church. Winona Lake, BMH Books, 2008
    6. Martin, Dennis. "What Has Divided the Brethren Church". Brethren Life and Thought. 21 (2):
    107–19.
    7. George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States,
    Volume 5, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 875
    8. Charis Alliance, What is the Charis Alliance? (https://charisalliance.org/en/about/),
    charisalliance.org, USA, retrieved June 5, 2023
    9. Charis Alliance, Charis Commitment to a Common Identity? (https://charisalliance.org/en/do
    cuments/primary-documents/), charisalliance.org, USA, retrieved June 5, 2023
    10. Charis Fellowship, We are the Charis Fellowship (https://charisfellowship.com/who-we-ar
    e/), charisfellowship.com, USA, retrieved June 5, 2023

    Literature
    David R. Plaster: Finding our Focus: A History of the Grace Brethren Church, Winona Lake,
    IN: BMH Books, 2003.
    Todd S. Scoles: Restoring the Household: The Quest of the Grace Brethren Church, Winona
    Lake, IN: BMH Books, 2008.
    Frank S. Mead, Samuel S. Hill, & Craig D. Atwood: Handbook of Denominations
    Norman B. Rohrer: A Saint in Glory Stands: The Story of Alva J. McClain, Founder of Grace
    Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1986.

    External links
    Charis Alliance Web Site (https://charisalliance.org/)
    Grace College and Seminary Web Site (http://www.grace.edu/)
    Encompass World Partners Web Site (https://www.encompassworldpartners.org/)
    Grace Brethren Investment Foundation Web Site (https://www.gbif.com/) Archived (https://we
    b.archive.org/web/20200227214550/https://www.gbif.com/) 2020-02-27 at the Wayback
    Machine
    Eagle Commission Web Site (https://eaglecommission.org/)
    Inspire: Charis Pastors Network web site (https://eaglecommission.org/)
    Women of Grace web site (https://eaglecommission.org/)
    CE National (http://www.cenational.org)
    BMH Books (http://www.bmhbooks.com)

    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charis_Alliance&oldid=1186815029"

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