Each year on Christmas Day we celebrate the remarkable events that took place two millennia ago. That holy night, a sacred birth, the incarnate Son of God arriving to redeem a fallen world!
Did you know that Christmas Day holds a special place in the story of the Charis Fellowship for an additional reason? If not for the events that took place just over 300 years ago on December 25, 1723, the story of our Fellowship may never have come to be!
It had only been 15 years since Alexander Mack helped to found our family of churches in Germany. Around half of them had recently migrated to Pennsylvania to escape persecution, and for a few years the movement was scattered and broken. Below is a brief description (derived from our historical archives) of a remarkable scene that took place on another Christmas Day long ago…
It was a typical winter’s day, the air crisp and cold, the sky clear, the ground hard and frozen, with a thin covering of snow. The small procession on their way to the creek was reinforced by some others attracted by curiosity, so that by the time the party arrived at the banks of the frozen stream the company was quite a goodly one—witnesses who were to assist by their presence at what was to be the founding of a new denomination in America.
When the party reached the banks of the Wissahickon the afternoon was already well advanced so little time was lost. Clear above the sound of the rushing waters and the rustle of leafless branches rose the solemn German invocation and the singing of the baptismal hymn “Count the Cost” composed by Alexander Mack.
After the reading of a passage from Luke chapter 15, Peter Becker, chosen to be the first elder of the church in America, entered the water through the thin ice, leading by hand the first candidate. There stood the administrator deep in the cold water. Before him knelt Martin Urner, the first candidate, and thrice was he immersed under the ice flood. His wife, Catherine, was the next candidate, followed by the other four people, the same scene being repeated in each case.
Long before the solemn rite was ended the winter sun was well down over the hills and the sky covered with leaden clouds. The party then proceeded to the house of one of the members where dry clothing was provided. In the evening the love-feast was held, the rite of foot-washing was observed, followed by the breaking of bread and the administration of the Holy Communion, partaken of by twenty-three in all. That day the first congregation in America (of what would become the Charis Fellowship) began.
I wonder how many of us today would willingly be baptized in a frozen stream! As they gathered on that day, this small band of believers had no idea that their small steps of devotion and obedience would grow and spread and flourish into a movement of Jesus followers, planting new churches and ultimately impacting the lives of countless thousands of people worldwide with the life-changing power of the Gospel!
As we conclude the year and begin another, my heart is once again filled with thanksgiving to God for the gift of Jesus, for all that God has accomplished over this past year through the ministry of the Charis Fellowship, and also for the remarkable story of how our Fellowship of churches came to be. May the Lord continue to use us mightily as we work together to share the most important message of all, and may this next year be filled with new stories of more lives surrendered to Jesus!
Written by Tim Hodge, Charis Fellowship Coordinator