HISTORY

For two thousand years God’s Holy Spirit has been working within local contexts to raise up followers of Jesus who will proclaim his gospel to the world.

Such are the beginnings of the Apostolic Christian Church, which emerged out of the spiritual ferment, political upheavals, and industrialization of mid-1800s Europe to expand outward into the Americas and beyond. God has been faithful from the first to the present generation, and we look forward with great hope and expectation to the future.

Background in the Swiss Reformed Church

In the 1820s, a young pastor-in-training named Samuel H. Froehlich grew dissatisfied with his spiritual education. Liberal rationalism prevailed at the elite Swiss institutions he attended, and this seemingly scientific approach to the Bible failed to speak to the conviction of sin that was deepening in his soul. As he neared ordination, it became clear to him that he was learning the ministry “more as a trade than as a vocation.”

During his time of spiritual crisis, Froehlich encountered a preacher who was part of one of several renewal movements then spreading across Europe. This person spoke clearly enough into Froehlich’s spiritual condition that in 1825 Froehlich finally confessed and repented of his sin. God used this prolonged period of sorrowful introspection to impress on Froehlich’s mind the need for true personal transformation as he began his pastoral duties.

As he began his pastoral duties, he could not help but preach passionately about the need for a radical rebirth. This created a great awakening in his congregation at Leutwil, and spread to neighboring Swiss villages, much to the displeasure of state church authorities.

By 1831, his spiritual fervor provoked the Swiss state church to such a point that they banned him from its pulpits. Inspired by, but not totally satisfied with, the zeal of his evangelical contemporaries, Froehlich began to strike out on his own. He wanted to see lives transformed and lived fully for Christ, and felt that the practice of child baptism, the doctrines of reformed theology, and blending of church, state, and society were hindrances.

Such convictions proved attractive to many others of various religious backgrounds. Leaders and laypeople allied with Froehlich to propagate this spiritual renewal. Converts became missionaries and zealously took the message across Europe, often in the face of violent opposition from governmental and spiritual authorities.

Within 35 years of Froehlich’s first missionary journey, there were 110 congregations throughout Europe where the church was known as Evangelical Baptist.

Anabaptist Background

Anabaptists were particularly attracted to Froehlich and his fellow believers. Anabaptism itself had been a vibrant, even radical, renewal movement during the 1500s Reformation. Anabaptists yearned to recapture the faithfulness of the Early Church in following Jesus Christ as interpreted by the Apostles.

Unusual for the European church-state setting, Anabaptists believed that nobody should be coerced into any Christian society or forced to believe any creed. Non-resistance came to be an Anabaptist distinctive.

By the 1800s, persecution had driven many Anabaptist groups into isolationism, discouraging some within the movement. When these Anabaptists encountered Froehlich and his like-minded believers, they were attracted to the spiritual convictions and zeal of those in this new burgeoning movement in central Europe. In turn, Froehlich himself was influenced by Anabaptist viewpoints.

Early Doctrinal Distinctives

The first generations of the Froehlich congregations had doctrinal distinctives which precluded a uniting of efforts with other fellowships, even those that had also separated from the state church and practiced believer’s baptism. The understanding of baptism as a defining event in the life of a believer, much more than a symbol or obligation, was recognized as a clear dividing line from the other contemporary renewal movements. Froehlich’s followers had a high view of the nature of the reborn believer and the Christian church, expecting a level of individual and congregational life that exemplified the Spirit’s power. Some around them mocked them as perfectionists or overzealous enthusiasts; this hostility made for a rich internal fellowship that could  tend toward isolation.

Spread of the Movement in Europe and Beyond

Such were the workings of the Spirit in the religious lives of the young community of believers. But there were other conditions that affected its future. The 1800s were a time of political revolution and social conflict. War and politics were democratized: new and unstable republics drafted young male adults into military service on behalf of the state. Most men of our religious heritage refused to lend their allegiance to anyone but Jesus, the Prince of Peace, and refused to bear weapons. For this they were thrown in jail. Persecution and the same economic need that drove millions of other Europeans to migrate to the Americas in the 1800s inspired many of our forefathers to join them. 

Starting in 1847, European missionaries worked tirelessly alongside local converts to plant congregations across America. As the movement quickly spread from New York to Oregon, and then from California to Florida, allegiance to the German language and other ethnic identifiers dissipated and in the early twentieth century, the church in America formally took the name of Apostolic Christian Church.

Missionary efforts resumed in the late twentieth-century and expanded the fellowship across the seas again. Today Apostolic Christian congregations can be found in Canada, Mexico, Japan, and the United States. The church oversees a flourishing gospel and medical mission in India, and Apostolic Christian missionaries are serving in Jamaica and Haiti (among other places). We have ties to congregations across Eastern and Western Europe and in Australia.

Today and Tomorrow

As with any community of believers, this growth has not occurred without its stresses and setbacks. Schisms brought on by differences in practice (sometimes arising from the cultural diversity of a rapidly spreading movement) and doctrinal controversy have diluted and splintered Froehlich’s successors. Still, the church seeks to faithfully confront all of the challenges of a changing world. We respect our past, which roots us in God’s faithfulness over centuries and shows us how Christ has continued to build his Church. We appreciate the legacy we have inherited of adapting to new social contexts, adherence to the Bible, and submission to the Spirit. We have been baptized into Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection, his life and his cross, and his mission to save souls out of the world and into the fruitfulness of his Kingdom.

"To me, my life in itself is not precious. However, I rejoice if the Lord, through me, does
things for the comfort and well-being of the brethren; for the church is everything to me and for her I will present what I am able to do and I also would be presented as a sacrifice if it is the will of our Father in Heaven." 

- Samuel Froehlich