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Ernest John Swalm was born in 1897 on a farm in Duntroon, Ontario, about 60 miles north of Toronto. His father, Isaac, was a Brethren in Christ pastor and bishop. His mother, Alice Sammons, was Mennonite Brethren prior to her marriage to Isaac.Ernest grew up with the teaching of nonresistance...read more
On May 3, 1903 from her post at Matopo Mission in Southern Rhodesia in southern Africa, H. Frances Davidson ((For biographical information see Morris Sider, “Frances Davidson,” in Nine Portraits: Brethren in Christ Biographical Sketches (Nappanee, IN: Evangel Press, 1978), 159-214.)) penned a letter to three of her sisters, Ida Davidson Hoffman,1 Lydia...read more
I was about to enter the eighth grade in the summer of 1939 when the German blitzkrieg rolled across the Polish border on the first day of September. Two days later Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. Little did I realize that the United States would become involved,...read more
The joys and merits of research I love research. Of course, I am aware that not everyone enjoys it as much as I do. I enjoy the reward of finding out the details of people’s lives and the nature of their passions: David Moyo’s political inclinations or Myron Taylor’s compulsion...read more
My parents were converts to peace and holiness. My father grew up in a family that was anything but peaceful. Growing up my father told many stories about his family. On one occasion, after my grandmother received a black eye from my grandfather, my father and uncle warned Grandpa Yeatts:...read more
Foreword My mother, Harriet Catherine Bohen Bert, would be amazed and probably a little embarrassed to find her memories being read by such a large audience! I seriously believe that she wrote this record for herself more than for others. It was her way of processing her life. In the...read more
Janice Holt Giles (1905-1979) has more to say about the Brethren in Christ than any other novelist or popular writer; in fact, she stands alone. Her 25 books, written from 1950 to 1975, sold four million copies in her lifetime, and some remain in print and have recently attracted renewed...read more
Samuel, age five, came to Mother one day and asked if they could pray for a little sister for him. Mother said, “All right,” but she did not immediately follow through because she had already been praying earnestly for some time. She thought that perhaps it was not God’s will...read more
Author’s Note: On April 24 and 25, 2004, I interviewed Anna Taylor Grissinger and Mabel Frey Hensel, both widows in their early nineties, in their homes at Messiah Village, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. They had been missionary kids, the children of pioneer missionaries to Africa, Myron and Adda Taylor and Harvey and...read more
The Global Anabaptist Profile (GAP) is a multi-nation research project led by John Roth (Goshen College) and Conrad Kanagy (Elizabethtown College) on behalf of Mennonite World Conference. The Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism (ISGA) at Goshen College. sponsored the project. The results of the project were shared at...read more
If I could choose an alternative title for this article, it would be: “The Nones, the Priests, and the Future of the Church.” The reason for this change will become apparent in a bit, but for now let us start with “nones.” No, I’m not misspelling the word nun—although given...read more
The world of the first Jesus followers was a world of “us and them.” The Scriptures present this first of all as the language of the people of God, Israelites and eventually Jews, who knew the rest as the “nations,” or “Gentiles.” Of course, Greeks and Romans also saw the...read more