While a church is not required to be a United Brethren church, it does need to agree to basic beliefs and values.

Although United Methodist practices and interpretation of beliefs have evolved over time, these practices and beliefs can be traced to the writings of the church's founders, especially John Wesley and Charles Wesley ( Anglicans ), but also Philip William Otterbein and Martin Boehm ( United Brethren ), and Jacob Albright ( Evangelical ).

The Ranters revived the Brethren of the Free Spirit's beliefs of amoralism and followed the Brethren's ideals which “ stressed the desire to surpass the human condition and become godlike .” Further drawing from the Brethren of the Free Spirit, the Ranter embraced antinomianism and believed that Christians are freed by grace from the necessity of obeying Mosaic Law.

The beliefs of the Schwarzenau Brethren include triune baptism, which provides that the candidate kneel in water and be immersed, face first, three times in the name of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit ; the New Testament as the infallible guide in spiritual matters ; communion service celebrated in the evening, accompanied by the love feast ; the ceremony of the washing of feet ; the salutation of the Holy kiss ; prayer and Anointing with oil over the sick ; and Nonresistance.

Brethren are noncreedal, but have summarized their beliefs in a variety of ways for the purpose of evangelical outreach.

The beliefs of Conrad Grebel and the Swiss Brethren have left an impression on the life and thought of Amish, Baptist, Schwarzenau Brethren / German Baptist, and Mennonite churches, as well as numerous pietistic and free church movements.

At that time the Brethren of the Free Spirit were causing controversy in the Netherlands and one of them, a woman named Heilwige Bloemardinne, was particularly active in Brussels, propagating her beliefs chiefly by means of popular pamphlets.

With few exceptions, particularly in regards to whom to accept into fellowship, exclusive brethren have continued to hold the same beliefs that inspired the Plymouth Brethren.

* BBC article on the history and main beliefs of the Exclusive Brethren

The religion of the region is predominantly a mixture of assorted local traditional beliefs ( chiefly ancestor worship, also animism and paganism ) with diluted forms of Christianity ( mostly Baptist and Catholic, but also lutheran and Charismatic ; the Church of the Brethren are also represented ).

The Ranters revived the Brethren of the Free Spirit's beliefs of amoralism and followed the Brethren's ideals which “ stressed the desire to surpass the human condition and become godlike .” Further drawing from the Brethren of the Free Spirit, the Ranter embraced antinomianism and believed that Christians are freed by grace from the necessity of obeying Mosaic Law.

It was founded in 1976 by Bryn Jones, one of the early Restoration / British New Church leaders, by an amalgamation of three small Bradford churches-a charismatic Brethren Assembly based at the Bolton Woods Gospel Hall, an independent charismatic church made up mostly of former Baptists who had been unable to continue in their church because of their charismatic beliefs, and the New Covenant Church, a fellowship originally under the apostolic leadership of G. W. North.

The beliefs are thought to have influenced the Brethren of the Free Spirit.

* Statement of Kerala Brethren beliefs

An example within Christianity is the Mennonite and the Church of the Brethren denominations.

Some fraction within Laestadianism has believed that the movement is a contemporary descendant of an unbroken line of living Christianity via the Moravian Church, Luther, the Bohemian Brethren, the Lollards, and the Waldensians all the way back to the primitive Church.

The Brethren of the Sword, a German military order, subdued the Curonians and converted them to Christianity in the first quarter of the 13th century.

" Unlike the Philadelphians, Brethren rejected Leade's embrace of direct revelation and emphasized early (" Apostolic " or " primitive ") Christianity as the binding standard for congregational practices.

Where people ceased to find the spiritual answers they sought from Rome, dissident movements like the Brethren sprang up all across Europe preaching an alternative view of Christianity.

This viewpoint is commonly held by Anabaptists and some Evangelical churches such as Baptists, many Pentecostals, Plymouth Brethren and segments of the Restoration Movement, but it is rejected by most branches of Christianity, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Church, the Church of the East, Independent Catholic Churches, Lutherans, Presbyterians and other traditional Calvinists, as well as the vast majority of Anglicans and Methodists, who variously affirm the doctrine of the real presence.

Other movements, such as the Waldensians and the pantheistic Brethren of the Free Spirit, which suffered persecution in the same area, survived in remote areas and in small numbers into the 14th and 15th centuries.

Traditional Mennonite and German Baptist Brethren Churches such as the Church of the Brethren churches and congregations have the Agape Meal, footwashing and the serving of the bread and wine two parts to the Communion service in the Lovefeast.

These groups include the ' Brethren ' ( often both ' Open ' and ' Exclusive '), the Churches of Christ, Mennonites, Primitive Baptists, and certain Reformed churches, although during the last century or so, several of these, such as the Free Church of Scotland have abandoned this stance.

Trinitarian Christian denominations that oppose infant baptism include Baptists, Christian Church ( Disciples of Christ ), Christian Churches / Churches of Christ, and Churches of Christ, Anabaptists such as Mennonite and Amish, Schwarzenau Brethren / German Baptists, Seventh-Day Adventists, some Methodists and most Pentecostals.

The word Unitarian had been circulating in private letters in England, in reference to imported copies of such publications as the Library of the Polish Brethren who are called Unitarians ( 1665 ), Henry Hedworth was the first to use the word " Unitarian " in print in English ( 1673 ), and the word first appears in a title in Stephen Nye's A brief history of the Unitarians, called also Socinians ( 1687 ).

Having influenced the Polish Brethren to a formal declaration of this belief in the Racovian Catechism, Fausto Sozzini involuntarily ended up giving his name to this Christological position, which continued with English Unitarians such as John Biddle's Twofold Catechism ( 1654 ).

Older Protestant churches, such as the Unitas Fratrum ( Unity of the Brethren ), Moravian Brethren ( Bohemian Brethren ) date their origins to Jan Hus in the early 15th century.

The German Baptist Brethren suffered a major division in the early 1880s, creating three wings: traditionalists such as the Old German Baptist Brethren, progressives led by The Brethren Church, and the conservatives, who adopted the name Church of the Brethren in 1908.

During the American Revolution and the American Civil War, Brethren required their members to abstain from military service, believing that obedience to Christ precluded such involvements.

Promoting the more liberal ideas — including changing the name of the church because it is seen to be exclusionary of women, acceptance of homosexuals as members and ministers, and increased social and political activity — are groups such as Womaen's Caucus, Voices for an Open Spirit, and the Brethren Mennonite Council on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Interests.

Still, the practice of plural marriage continues among the members of various fundamentalist splinter groups long disassociated from the main body of the church, such as the Apostolic United Brethren ( AUB ) and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ( FLDS ).

Fausto persuaded many in the Polish Brethren who were formerly Arian, such as Marcin Czechowic to adopt his uncle Lelio's views.

The next generation of Polish Brethren stabilized between these two positions, carrying wooden swords to follow the letter of the law, and allowing senior Socinians such as Hieronim Moskorzowski to vote in the Sejm.

Early English Unitarians such as Henry Hedworth and John Biddle retroactively applied the term " Unitarian " to the Polish Brethren.

Modern Socinians ( in Christological terms ) include the small number of " Biblical Unitarian " churches such as Christadelphians and the Church of the Blessed Hope, though these churches are not direct descendants of the Polish Brethren.

In April 1917 — days after the United States joined World War I by declaring war on Germany and its allies — a group of Quakers met in Philadelphia to discuss the pending military draft and how it would affect members of peace churches such as Quakers, Mennonites, Brethren, and the Amish.

Within the Plymouth Brethren, the concept is most usually evidenced in the lack of distinction between " clergy " and " laity ," the refusal to adopt formal titles such as Reverend or Bishop, the denial of formal ordination, and in some cases the refusal to hire any " professional staff " or paid Christian workers at all.

A form of meal referred to as Agape was introduced among certain eighteenth-century Pietist groups, such as the Schwarzenau Brethren and the Moravian Church, and was adopted by Methodism.

The confession of faith of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches ( held in common with the US Conference ) reveals the churches accept God in three persons ; the divinity, humanity, virgin birth, atonement, resurrection, ascension, and return of Jesus ; the Bible as the inspired word of God ; the fall of humankind and salvation through the atoning work of Christ ; the Lord's Day ( Sunday ) as a day of worship ; and the resurrection of all people, either to eternal punishment or eternal life with God.

Present-day Christian religious bodies known for conducting their worship services without musical accompaniment include some Presbyterian churches devoted to the regulative principle of worship, Old Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, Churches of Christ, the Old German Baptist Brethren, the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church and the Amish, Old Order Mennonites and Conservative Mennonites.

The Christadelphians ( a word created from the Greek for " Brethren in Christ "; cf.

The most notable Christadelphian attempts to find a continuity of those with doctrinal similarities since that point have been geographer Alan Eyre's two books The Protesters ( 1975 ) and Brethren in Christ ( 1982 ) in which he shows that many individual Christadelphian doctrines had been previously believed.

Much like the Brethren of the Common Life, he wrote that the New Testament is the law of Christ people are called to obey and Christ is the example they are called to imitate.

Most of the Taborites now went over to the party of the Utraquists ; the rest joined the " Brothers of the Law of Christ " () ( see Unity of the Brethren ; also Bohemian Brethren and Moravian Church ).

Some Christians believe insurance represents a lack of faith and there is a long history of resistance to commercial insurance in Anabaptist communities ( Mennonites, Amish, Hutterites, Brethren in Christ ) but many participate in community-based self-insurance programs that spread risk within their communities.

Alternative names of the order include the Christ Knights, Sword Brethren, and The Militia of Christ of Livonia.

There are a number of fundamentalist sects, the largest two being the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ( FLDS Church ) and the Apostolic United Brethren ( AUB ).

The largest Mormon fundamentalist groups are the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ( FLDS Church ) and the Apostolic United Brethren ( AUB ).

Groups within the Protestant tradition that reject infant baptism include the Baptists, Apostolic Christians, Disciples of Christ and the Churches of Christ, most Pentecostals, Mennonites, Amish, Plymouth Brethren, Seventh-day Adventists, most non-denominational churches, and other Arminian denominations.

Nevertheless, in 1842, he became so captivated by the doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ that he severed his connection with the Methodists and joined the Plymouth Brethren.

On April 23, 1968, the United Methodist Church was created when the Evangelical United Brethren Church ( represented by Bishop Reuben H. Mueller ) and The Methodist Church ( represented by Bishop Lloyd Christ Wicke ) joined hands at the constituting General Conference in Dallas, Texas.

* Church of the United Brethren in Christ

* United Brethren ( England ), a group of Methodists who later joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

* Brethren in Christ Church

* Church of the United Brethren in Christ