Brethren in Christ Church in Canada

The Brethren in Christ have their headquarters in Pennsylvania. The Brethren in Christ trace their denomination back to a group of Mennonites who lived just north of Marietta, Pennsylvania, on the east side of the Susquehanna River. As they met to study the Bible and to experience God in the 1770s, the people of this group who became known as the River Brethren developed a conviction that believer's baptism by triune immersion was the scriptural form of baptism. The River Brethren of the 18th century also held to a firm reliance on the centricity of Scripture. As their lifestyles and beliefs continued to develop, they began to distance themselves from other Anabaptist denominations, such as the Mennonites and German Baptists, of which groups they had previously been a part. During the American Civil War, when required by the Union government of the United States to register as a body that held non-resistance values, the name "Brethren in Christ'" was adopted. "River Brethren" remained the popular usage into the 20th century for the American members of the denomination while "Dunkers" was the popular moniker given to the Canadian denomination members until the 1930s.