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| Church of Brethren | |
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| Církev bratrská | |
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| Classification | Protestant |
| Orientation | Evangelical Bohemian |
| Polity | Congregationalist |
| Associations | International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches Conference of European Churches |
| Headquarters | Prague,Czech Republic |
| Origin | 1880 |
| Merger of | Czech Free Evangelical Church andFree Reformed Church |
| Official website | portal.cb.cz cb.sk |
Church of the Brethren (Czech:Církev bratrská) is anevangelicalfree church in theCzech Republic andSlovakia. It was formed in 1882 as the Free Reformed Church by merging the Czech Free Evangelical Church based in Bystré nearNáchod, and the Free Reformed Church, which was formed by AmericanCongregationalist missionaries inPrague.[1] In the Czech Republic, the church reports having over 11,000 in almost 80 congregations.[2] In Slovakia, it is organized in 22 congregations.[3] The church is member ofInternational Federation of Free Evangelical Churches and the ecumenical councils of churches in their respective countries.[4][5]
TheFree Reformed Church (later: Church of the Brethren) was formed in 1882 by a merger of theCzech Free Evangelical Church (established in 1868 nearNáchod) and theFree Reformed Church, which was founded in 1880 from the operation of Boston Mission Board missionaries in Prague. From the beginning, it was formed under strongCalvinist andevangelical influences.After 1918, the church rejected the merger with the newly createdEvangelical Church of Czech Brethren and named itself theUnity of the Czech Brethren, to manifest the spiritual heritage of the originalUnity of the Brethren. In 1951, after the1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, the SlovakAssociation of the Blue Cross and theSociety of awakened Christians inTěšín with predominantly Polish members merged with the church. In 1967, the church adopted the new nameBrethren Church to express the inclusion of non-Czech members. In 1993, following theVelvet Divorce the church legally separated into two independent churches, which closely cooperate on international level. The two churches organize an annualGeneral Conference of the Church of the Brethren.
The church is based upon semi-independent congregations, made up of members, who elect their own representatives into thecouncil of elders ("staršovstvo"). Each congregation is also administered by an ordained pastor, and is subject to all the binding documents of the whole church. Individual congregations are regionally grouped intoseniorates (Presbyteries), led by aseniorpastor, who is also an ordinary pastor of a congregation.[6] Officially, the church includes features of bothCongregationalist andPresbyterian polities.
