USA > Pennsylvania > Two centuries of the Church of the Brethren in western Pennsylvania, 1751-1950 > Part 5
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The officers of the Sunday School Association of the West- ern District on December 30, 1923, agreed to purchase Camp Harmony for $8,000.00, and the deed was delivered on Febru- ary 5, 1924. A corporation was formed to hold the property in trust for the Church of the Brethren, and at the suggestion of the Southeastern Pennsylvania representative, the mem- bers of the board of trustees were selected from the Western
CAMP HARMONY TRAINING SCHOOL. INC. SUNDAY SCHOOL ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN PENNA. CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN
District. The charter was granted on March 3, 1924, by the Somerset County court. The first trustees were H. B. Speicher, M. J. Brougher, W. J. Hamilton, Blanche Wingard, and Lois Detweiler (Mrs. Glen Nor- ris). The name of the cor- poration was Camp Har- mony Training School, Entrance to Camp Harmony Training School, Incorporated and the purpose outlined in the charter was to "pro- vide adequate facilities for and the conducting of camp confer- ences for the training of church and Sunday school workers in the Church of the Brethren, and such other activities as may be in harmony therewith."
This transaction was unique in that it was the first venture as such in the Brotherhood. The Middle District was closely associated with the camp program from the beginning, but not until December 6, 1944, did the district become a legal part of the said corporation. The trustee board, since the joint ownership was effected, consists of eight members, four trus- tees from each district.
The first camp manager was W. J. Hamilton, who was then the fieldworker for the Western District. Four or five years later H. B. Speicher became the manager and continues at the present time. Over one hundred twenty-five churches are located in this camp area.
The camping program is in the direction of revitalizing the
First Dining Room at Camp Harmony, 1924
"The Founders," Older Girls' Camp, 1924, Who Returned in 1925
The "Trail Blazers," Older Boys' Camp, 1924, With Their Leaders
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warmth of spirit and religious fervor which accompanied the early church. It is a worthy attempt to satisfy the yearning of the spirit to get away from formal church organization and into closer touch and fellowship with nature and God. These desires are as fundamental as the soul itself.
The first Older Girls' Camp Conference, known as the Founders, began on July 21, 1924, and lasted ten days. There were seventy-five campers besides the counselors and the teach- ers. Those of the class who returned for the second year are in the picture (see cut). The dean of the older girls in 1924 was Mrs. Lucile G. Heckman. She was assisted by Esther N. Swigart, Anna Ruth Graybill, V. Grace Clapper, and others.
The first Older Boys' Camp Conference, which followed in August 1924, had George C. Griffith as dean, with Dr. C. C. Ellis, William M. Beahm, Foster B. Statler, Perry L. Rohrer, and others as leaders. The older boys took the name, Trail Blazers (see cut).
The curriculum in these early years included Bible courses in the Life of Christ and Old Testament Studies, Principles of Teaching, Builders of the Church of the Brethren, Training the Devotional Life, Missions, and Vocational Guidance.
The second year, 1925, a camp for intermediate boys was held. We will let our pioneer missionary tell you the story:
A DIARY LEAF On Camp Harmony, July 31, 1925, Friday Night By Wilbur B. Stover This Camp is in the Western District of Pennsylvania, not far
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First Intermediate Boys' Camp, 1925
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from Johnstown, the one District that has almost trebled its mem- bership in twenty years. I wanted to be invited here, so as to ask the Brethren some questions. This week the boys from 12 to 14 years of age are here. I have arranged to be with them today and tomorrow, and then to return to Cleveland. It is good here. Brother Pittinger's family, Brother Hamilton, Brother Foster Statler, Brother Brougher, Brother Sollenberger, Brother Speicher and oth- ers-what stout leaders for these thirty-eight boys for a week. But then, they are all busy. And next week after these boys have gone, the place will be overrun with about seventy-five girls with a pro- gram of study in the forenoons, outings a plenty in the afternoons, assemblies by the fireside in the evenings.
Do you wonder that every one who has come this year wants to return next year? And the leaders fill them with stories, good, clean, inspiring stories of men who have made good, and stories of some who have made a failure, stories of the church, and of the Book, stories that have the challenge in them; why, every "guy" wants to go back home and make good for the Lord and the church. Just this night one who had been the object of much prayer, and several others, gave their hearts to the Lord-and this alone made the cost and effort to maintain the camp well worth while.
-Cleveland, Ohio.
"Music Makers," Intermediate Boys, About 1936
THE PASTORS' CONFERENCE
We believe the First Training School for Pastors and Adult Leaders held at Camp Harmony in the year 1925 was the beginning of a great and glorious end. Under the virgin oaks, amidst the sing- ing of birds, with the open canopy of heaven above us, we studied the Word of God.
Second Adult Leadership Training School and Pastors' Conference Leaders, 1926
Western Pennsylvania Day, Camp Harmony, 1924 (upper pictures), 1925 (lower) Estimated three thousand (above). Sister Ida C. Shumaker in the Ford (below right)
First Younger Girls' Camp, 1926 Esther Swigart, dean; W. J. Hamilton, camp director The two pictures on this page are parts of one photograph.
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How we were filled with a desire to drink copiously of the Word and be made more efficient workers in His Vineyard! To all of us the week was all too short, and when the parting came on Saturday, though we had been much refreshed, we all felt sad to leave this place where God seemed so near and so real.
-M. J. Brougher, Dean
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA DAY
"A trip to Camp Harmony on Western Pennsylvania Day sometimes called 'Visitors' Day' is becoming an annual affair with thousands of people."-From Camp Harmony Year Book, published in 1925. (See cut.)
The Pastors' Conference and the Adult Training School de- veloped into the Harmony Assembly. Other age groups began to be served; junior boys in 1932; junior girls in 1933; co-ed young people in 1934; co-ed junior high youth in 1944; and co-ed juniors in 1949.
The attendance of campers grew steadily from one hundred twelve in 1924 to one thousand in 1945, which was the banner
Western.
Pennsylvania
Eastern .Pennsylvania
1927 CAMP CONFERENCE
OLDER
BOYS'
-----
Middle Pennsylvania
Eastern Maryland
Southeastern
Penn' &#
1927 Older Boys' Camp Conference
The Tabernacle, Sponsored by the Men of Walnut Grove
year. Lately the attendance has dropped to eight hundred fifty. One-week camps seem to be the best for good attendance in later years.
The camp site consists of nineteen acres of land partly cov- ered with tall and stately oaks. Large and small evergreens and several apple and cherry trees bring variety to the scene. Lo- cust trees are also found. Wildlife consists of squirrels, "pineys," deer, rabbits, and many kinds of birds. Wild flowers give ample specimens for nature-study classes.
Originally there were two buildings-Leaders' Hall and the Administration Building. To these have been added many others: Bethesda, many cabins, and, in 1947 the $25,000.00 Auditorium, replacing the Tabernacle. The names of some cabins give the key to the builders: Founders, Trail Blazers, Juniata College, Walnut Grove, Roxbury, Scalp Level, Ephrata, Middle Pennsyl- vania Ministers, Western Pennsylvania Ministers, Conemaugh Valley Ministerium, Love-Waterford, Waynesboro, Esther N. Swigart, Woodbury, Martinsburg, Circuit 4-Middle Pennsyl- vania, Maple Spring, and Westmont. Some others have not yet been named. One of the first four built by the trustees was named Princess, after Sister Bertha Butterbaugh, dean of the junior high girls' camp in 1930.
Harmony Avenue Looking Toward the Swimming Pool
AVENUE
Three wells and two springs furnish water for the camp, including the thirty-by-seventy-foot ce- ment swimming pool. There are many recreational fa- cilities on the grounds, be- sides the many scenic
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"Biscuits on a Stick"
Older boys on Quemahoning lakeshore; Dan West, dean (center right)
vesper spots off the grounds; "Sunset Summit" and "Little Round Top" overlook the beautiful Quemahoning Lake, less than a mile from camp.
Financially, the assets of the camp approximate $100,000.00, but the camper family is large and scattered all over the world. Who can estimate the true spirit of such a large venture except our heavenly Father, "who doeth all things well"?
New $25,000.00 Auditorium, Erected in 1947
Teen-age, Coeducational Camp, 1949; M. Guy West, Dean
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THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY, 1948
The camping program of the summer of 1948 included a pageant depicting the early history of the camp. Mrs. Wilma Lewis and Mrs. Ruth Statler directed and adapted the pageant written by Perry L. Huffaker. Many of the young people of both camp districts took part in the celebration.
The closing scene was a campfire. Here the songs of cam ? and church were sung. The speaker challenged the group with the Potter's Prayer, Jeremiah 18. The parable of the potter is what God wants to do with people. It begins with the melting process, then the molding, filling, and using. So they sang through the years this fourfold prayer-"Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me," and to that end we have implored the Spirit of the Living God to fall afresh on us.
-H. B. Speicher and W. J. Hamilton
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CHAPTER 10. FRATERNAL RELATIONS
A problem in economic environment in 1882
"All the things advocated have since come to pass" Incidents in building a Brethren fellowship
This chapter is intended as a friendly approach toward a closer fellowship between the Brethren Church and the Church of the Brethren. There is one text in the New Testament which we want the reader to keep in mind, as you consider this chapter. It is found in Christ's prayer for believers, John 17: 20, 21: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one."
It is with profound sadness that we record this portion of our history. Yet without it the story would be incomplete. In many communities of our district, churches that bear the name of Brethren and which in principle and doctrine are essentially parallel, fellowship with one another only across denominational walls. These churches stand as mute testimony to the frailty of the human heart.
The first schism in our area was of small consequence to the entire district, however serious the effect was in the immediate territory. About 1837, two brothers, Isaac and George Shoemaker, lived in the
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same community near the border of Fayette and Westmoreland coun- ties, in the bounds of the Jacobs Creek congregation. A difficulty oc- curred between them, and George broke away from the body of the church, taking with him a considerable number, including some of his brothers who lived on Red Bank Creek in Armstrong County. On his brother Peter's farm they built a meetinghouse, and that locality became the headquarters of the new organization, officially known as the Brethren in Christ, but often called the Shoemakerites, or the Georgeites.1
They were similar in all respects to the mother church except that they dispensed with the supper in connection with the communion service. The cleavage had a serious effect on the Red Bank and Jacobs Creek churches. However, within several decades the new sect had entirely disintegrated. Some of the members united with the Free Will Baptists, others united with the Winebrennerians, and a few came back to the Brethren.
The division which proved to have more effect on our frater- nity in the district took place in 1883, after the Annual Meeting of that year closed the door, finally, to reconciliation between the progressive groups and the more conservative groups by re- fusing to take any action whatsoever on the problem. The tenta- tive organization that the progressive group had effected the previous summer at Ashland, Ohio, thereafter became perma- nent, and has remained so until the present.
There were various factors which contributed to this divi- sion, not the least of which were the personalities most deeply involved. Many sincere, honest persons were deeply concerned about the removal of the "ancient landmarks of the fathers." The writings of Elder Peter Nead perhaps played no small part in molding the pattern of thinking of many in the Brother- hood. His four hundred seventy-two page book, Nead's The- ology, was published in 1850. Concerning this volume, Elder J. H. Moore wrote as follows:
For our first widely read and generally accepted book, the Brethren are indebted to Peter Nead. There were several pam- phlets dealing with the claims of the church before brother Nead appeared upon the scene, but none of these became standard pub- lications. . .. It remained for Elder Peter Nead to give to the Brotherhood her first doctrinal book of special merit.2
The following statement came from S. Z. Sharp: "Peter Nead ... was an honored member of our general church coun- cils, and in other church work, as well as an author and pub-
1 See editorial by James Quinter in the Primitive Christian under date of No- vember 7, 1882.
2 J. H. Moore, Some Brethren Pathfinders, published in 1929. Page 181.
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lisher of books. At one time Nead's Theology could be found in almost every family of our Brethren."3
Following is a portion of a letter written by J. G. Royer to his son, Galen B. Royer:
Home, Wednesday December 22, 1909
My Dear Galen:
I am glad I can let you have the book you ask for-Brother Nead's N. T. Theology. Your father and mother both read it when about 16, and it was the means of helping me to accept my Savior. I suppose the same was true in mother's case.
There were not so many books and papers in the farmer's home as there are now, and so we read and re-read until it became a part of one's being.
[Signed] Father
The volume had a number of pictures (see cut of the anointing), portraying the "Fashion" of both the brethren and the sisters of that day and generation (1850). Although for a hundred fifty years previous the church had no established form or "order of dress," when these young folk came up to the age of leadership, quite naturally these mental pictures had a great influence on their minds and decisions. Along with this, the content of the book itself was very definite in its teaching. In fact, the biographers of Peter Nead say:
His great concern was the purity of the church, and hence any- thing that had any tendency to depart from the ways of the fathers was not countenanced at all. . .. He was largely instrumental in starting the Vindicator, the monthly organ of the Old German Baptist Brethren Church.4
On the other hand, the first church periodical, the Gospel Visitor, had made its appearance in 1851 under the editorship of Henry Kurtz. Brother Kurtz was born and educated in Ger- many, affiliating himself with the German Baptist Brethren after his arrival in America. He felt deeply the loss by the church in the lack of educational facilities, and perhaps by too much veneration of the "landmarks" which seemed to him of lesser importance. He was keen in his judgments and forward looking in his perception, and his editorial policies planted ideas in the fertile minds of many. With these conflicting ideas in the minds of the church leaders of that day, it is not sur- prising that one group of elders were very technical and intol- erant of the other group, who desired to go forward in the paths of progress.
3 S. Z. Sharp, Educational History, Church of the Brethren. Page 42.
4 D. L. Miller and Galen B. Royer, Some Who Led, 1912. Page 40.
During the first year of the publication of the Gospel Visitor, a young man found his way into the printing office in Po- land, Ohio, where he served a year's appren- ticeship to learn the printer's trade. Henry R. Holsinger was a Dunker by heritage, and had on his paternal side a father and a grandfather who were elders. His grand- mother was a great- granddaughter of Alex- ander Mack. He was also a Dunker by choice, hav- ing been baptized at the mature age of twenty- two. Just how much in- fluence the year this young man spent with Henry Kurtz had upon the future events would be difficult to calculate. It cannot be readily dis- counted, at any rate. And young Holsinger, being the sort of person he was, ANOINTING. came upon the scene "Anointing" when the church was al- ready having within its Taken from Peter Nead's New Testament Theology body tremendous forces which presaged impor- tant changes. It would be difficult to say what brought these forces into existence, but certainly not among the least were the effects of the emerging industrial revolution upon the lives of those within the church-leaders such as H. R. Holsinger not excluded.
Howard Miller, who was a close personal friend of Henry R. Holsinger, wrote of him in the memorial number of the Brethren Evangelist, March 29, 1905, the following:
It would be hard to find another person, or to name one, who has so marked the Brethren Church at large. He was about forty
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years ahead of his surroundings. He was not a scholarly man in the sense of schools. He was a fighter. If he thought a thing ought to be done, his plan was to do it, and, like all such people, he generally got the worst of it. He was nearly always in hot water in the church, and if he had his dues, as the world construes such things, he would have a monument for what he did. . . . nor was Henry a good waiter. He was too impulsive a Peter for that.
Thus it was that Henry R. Holsinger had visions of what he wanted his church to become. And all of the things which he advocated have since come to pass-the supported ministry, education, and lack of stress on uniformity in dress. The dic- tatorial power of "bishopry" has also been curbed. These things were coming to the church slowly but surely when the division occurred.
That a reformation was needed at the time was apparent to the majority at Annual Conference. A committee was al- ready at work on the revision of Annual Meeting minutes. J. T. Myers, formerly of Somerset County, in an article in the Primitive Christian, February 21, 1882, wrote:
But this much we want to do and . . . say, that the Book of Minutes must be thoroughly revised and abridged, its obsolete de- cisions cancelled or expunged, or the future of the Brethren Church will yet become more beclouded with the fogs and mists that now already envelope her. Far-seeing and sober-thinking Brethren all over the Church are more or less baffled as to the course we had better pursue, when looking at and soberly contemplating the pres- ent aspects of our beloved Brotherhood; and as a ship that is fog- bound and wind-tossed at sea moves slowly and carefully, so it becomes the duty of the Church to inaugurate no rash measures in the adjusting of our present troubles.
H. R. Miller, Sr., felt the deep need for reformation where the power of bishops was concerned. In the Brethren at Work of February 9, 1882, in writing of a more efficient way of doing the work at Annual Meetings, he wrote the following:
To do this most effectually, it would be best to have each church send one delegate to Annual Meeting . . . a lay member if the church chooses. . .. This was the way our fathers had the churches represented. . .. In this way it will place the work more in the churches, and will give the churches more interest in the Annual Meeting. And it will give more brethren some experience in doing the work necessary to govern the Brotherhood. Another advantage in it is ... that it brings up the laity and gives them an interest in our councils, and gives the benefit of their work, as many of them are our best councilors. This would put more power in the churches and laity, and less power in the ministry, which we think is neces- sary to the safest form of government.
In the minds of many was the question of the authority of the decisions of Annual Meeting. Up until the Annual Meet-
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ing of 1882, according to the minutes, the decisions were only advisory. It concerned many that, since this was true, commit- tees sent by Annual Meeting to churches to settle problems did their work on the basis of irrevocable law, pending, of course, the approval of the body which sent them.
The church papers at that period were full of articles deal- ing with the problem. Some of the best minds in the church expressed themselves pro and con. On it there was a wide difference. However, after the report of the Berlin Committee was approved in the Annual Meeting of 1882, a query was submitted to the Conference from Maryland asking that all decisions of Annual Meeting be made mandatory.5 The temper of the meeting was such at this time that the query was readily adopted. However, its passage remained the concern of many leaders for months to come. Many wrote their misgivings in papers such as the Primitive Christian and the Brethren at Work. Others commended the action of the meeting. Senti- ment, however, was on the side of caution, and the following Conference in 1883 modified the measure somewhat.
Many of the leaders, who were concerned about the "an- cient landmarks," were exceedingly impatient with the im- petuosity of this young and outstanding leader in the ranks of the church, Henry R. Holsinger. And many of the "landmarks" were of more recent planting. The following words of the church founder, Alexander Mack, had eluded their memories: "Let us not at all rest upon long usage, but let the Word of our Lord be our only rule and guide."
Alvin G. Faust, in his thesis,6 quotes more fully what Benjamin Franklin in his autobiography chose to call "articles of their belief, and the rules of their discipline." When writing of the sect of Dunkers, Franklin gives the excerpt as he re- ceived it from Michael Wolfhart, a member of the Dunker sect:
When we were first drawn together . . . it had pleased God to enlighten our minds so far as to see that some doctrines which we once esteemed truths, were errors and that others which we had esteemed errors, were real truth. From time to time, He has been pleased to afford us further light and our principles have been im- proving and our errors diminishing. Now we are not sure that we are arrived at the end of this progression and at the perfection of spiritual or theological knowledge, and we fear that if we should
6 D. P. Saylor was the author of this query. See Holsinger's History of the Tunkers and the Brethren Church. Page 216.
6 Alvin G. Faust, Cultural Patterns and Social Adjustments in the Church of the Brethren with Special Reference to an Allegheny Tableland Community. A Ph. D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1942. Pages 259 and 260.
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once print our confession of faith, we should feel ourselves as if bound and confined by it, and perhaps be unwilling to receive further improvement, and our successors still more so, as conceiv- ing what we, their elders and founders, had done, to be something sacred, never to be departed from.
Adherence to this admonition would have solved many of the problems amicably. One of the "landmarks" of less ancient vintage was uniformity of outward appearance. In the Primi- tive Christian of April 11, 1882, on "Christian Apparel," Elder James Quinter wrote:
There seems to be a difference of opinion among the brethren in regard to the uniformity that has been considered the order and practice of the church. . . .
It is well known by all whose knowledge of the Brotherhood extends back forty or fifty years, that there have been brethren in different congregations in our fraternity, who made no change in the particular style of their dress after they came to the church for years, and perhaps not at all, but because they did not seem to be proud and vain of their dress, and showed no inclination to follow the fashions of the world, and tried to do right, they were retained in full fellowship; and the fact that they were thus fellowshipped, shows that our brethren looked more to principles and conduct than to form.
The first Brethren were intellectual giants, well trained academically and in things of the spirit. The fact that they held education of great importance in their lives was evidenced by the establishment of a grammar school in Germantown in the middle of the eighteenth century. Of them Brother Otho Winger wrote:
The founders of the Church of the Brethren were intelligent men, some of them college-trained. They were strong preachers and leaders. They brought from Europe a great love for learning. No colonial press was more productive of works of learning than that of the Sowers at Germantown. Christopher, Jr., who had been educated under private teachers, became the leading person in organizing and directing the Germantown Academy. A select school was supported by the Brethren at Germantown. Sister Sarah Douglas conducted this school in the parsonage. The course of study not only included the rudiments of knowledge, but also some of the industrial arts.7
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