Methodist Men
Evangelical United Brethren Men’s Work – Its Heritage
The Otterbein Brotherhood
The men’s movement in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ began about 75 years ago. In 1909 the Board of Control elected a national director of the movement in the person of the Reverend Warren L. Bunger. He continued for only about a year, after which the movement was without leadership until 1913 when Dr. C. W. Brewbaker was elected General Secretary of Sunday School and Brotherhood Work. Through the work of Mr. Bunger and Dr. Brewbaker, the Brotherhood movement flourished in the church and many organizations came into being. Some of these organizations are still in existence and have carried on their work throughout the years.
About this time the Men’s Bible Class, with separate opening exercises, was flourishing in many Sunday Schools. This seemed to serve the purpose of the Brotherhood for awhile. However, the plan of having men’s meetings on Sunday morning during the Sunday School hour with opening exercises, gradually lost favor because they seemed to compete with the Sunday morning preaching service. Then mixed classes as part of a total adult department grew in favor and separate men’s work was retarded for a time.
In the meantime, the Laymen’s Association of the United Brethren Church came into existence and showed the possibilities of an organization in which laymen gave the leadership. These organizations were Conference-wide and accomplished great results for good.
When on June 25, 1929, the Reverend M. I. Weber was elected Adult Director of Christian Education, he assumed the responsibility of Brotherhood work, and under his dynamic leadership the Brotherhood flourished for nearly five years. His untimely death seemed to call a halt of the forward moving program of the Brotherhood. Ten years went by before anyone was chosen to take up the work where he had laid it down.
At a General Conference held at South Bend, Indiana, in 1941, a new Otterbein Brotherhood organization was authorized and effected. This organization was for United Brethren men. All of its officers were laymen. The new organization provided not only a national Brotherhood, but Annual Conference Brotherhoods. Under the direction of the Executive Committee, made up of laymen (except Dr. O. T. Deever, who was Executive Secretary of Christian Education), the Brotherhood movement made rapid progress.
In June of 1943, Dr. W. R. Montgomery, then pastor of the Brookside United Brethren Church in Indianapolis. Indiana, was called to give full time-leadership to the Brotherhood and Adult Work. The Board of Christian Education chose to name the Director of the Adult Department, the Director of Brotherhood and Adult Work. Thus a new emphasis was to be given to the organization of the men of the United Brethren Church.
The Albright Brotherhood
While for some years a number of unrelated men’s organizations of various types were found in local congregations of the Evangelical Church and while the General Board of Religious Education did have membership in the Interdenominational Council on Men’s Work, the rise of the present denomination-wide Council on Men’s Work, the rise of the present denomination-wide Albright Brotherhood is to be traced to the 30th session of the General Conference held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1930. The General Secretary of Religious, Dr. E. W. Praetorious, in his report, called attention to the new and vital interest that was being taken in men’s work in general and that the Brotherhood work in the various denominations had received a new impetus and was showing signs of life and vigorous growth. He pointed out that vast possibilities were stored up in the manpower of the church, which, if released, would mightily stir things within the Kingdom and that the Evangelical Church could profit by promoting, with greater earnestness and zeal, the men’s work of the church through men’s classes and Brotherhoods.
In connection with this report, the General Secretary submitted a proposed Constitution for the guidance of local Brotherhoods, but the only thing that was done about the Brotherhood at this session of the General Conference was the adoption of the following resolution by the laymen attending the General Conference:
“Resolved, That we sponsor the formation in each of our Churches and Annual Conferences of Men’s Leagues, Classes, Clubs, Lay Chapters or Brotherhoods, whichever seem best in their appeal to meet the local situation, whose aims and objects, however, shall be in accordance with the Constitution provided in the Quadrennial Report of the Board of Religious Education.”
Shortly after that session of the General Conference, a Brotherhood movement (without announcement or promotion) burst in upon the Evangelical Church. Brotherhoods were being formed in local congregations in many parts of the church and many calls continued to come for assistance in organizing and promoting the work of the Brotherhood. The General Board of Religious Education in 1931 crystallized this movement by creating the Albright Brotherhood of the Evangelical Church. The Board requested the officers elected by the laymen during and for the session of the General Conference held in Milwaukee, to serve as officers of the newly created General Albright Brotherhood. With the aid of these officers, the Board of Religious Education prepared Constitutions for the General, the Annual Conference, the District, and the local Brotherhoods, adopted an emblem, prepared a charter, and provided suggested monthly programs for the Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood of the Evangelical United Brethren Church
At the General Conference held at Johnstown, Pennsylvania (November, 1946), when the former Evangelical Church and the Church of the United Brethren in Christ united, thus forming the Evangelical United Brethren Church, a convention of the lay and ministerial delegates of the Uniting General Conference was called, and the Otterbein Brotherhood and the Albright Brotherhood were merged into a Brotherhood to be known in The Evangelical United Brethren Church as the Brotherhood of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. The Brotherhood then is the successor to the Brotherhoods of these two churches and as such, carried on the objectives and traditions of the Brotherhoods of these churches.
The first Convention of the Brotherhood of The Evangelical United Brethren Church was held at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, November 20, 1946, during the uniting General Conference.
Evangelical United Brethren Men
The new name for our men’s work program did not come by chance, but by long, hard process. It was not easy for the church to give up the name Brotherhood. The Albright Brotherhood and the Otterbein Brotherhood were significant names. They represented important experiences and lasting contributions to the total church program. When these two organizations merged in November of 1946, to form the Brotherhood of The Evangelical United Brethren Church, care was taken to preserve the values and the traditions of both former Brotherhoods.
With the growing concept of men’s work which gives it status as a total program for all of the men of the church, a General Conference held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in November of 1954, changed the name of the men’s work program from the Brotherhood to Evangelical United Brethren Men.
The change in name came inevitably. The word Brotherhood, meaning as it is, was not big enough for the growing concept of men’s work in the church. It was also in line with what was being done in other communions as they faced the problem of relating every man in the church to the total church program.
Our own Constitution points out the fact that the men’s work program embraces all men of the church who are above 16 years of age. The new name, Evangelical United Brethren Men, simply recognizes that relationship and indicates that every man in the church should be a participating member of the men’s work program. At the same time, Evangelical United Brethren Men does not take the place of any on-going program in which men are engaged. It becomes the comprehensive program for all men. It calls for a unified program so that the Men’s Class, the Brotherhood Class, the Usher’s League, and other men’s groups, are activities of Evangelical United Brethren Men.
Evangelical United Brethren Men, as the successor to The Brotherhood, moved out into a day in which there is a revival of the “Priesthood of Believers.” In the spirit of Bishops Albright and Otterbein, it took its place with men’s work programs in other Protestant communions as a part of the “new awakening” among the men of the church.
