Brief History of the Belgian Christadelphians

Brief History of the Belgian Christadelphians until 2024

The British religious leader Dr. John Thomas (April 12, 1805 – March 5, 1871) found a solution to prevent true believers from falling under arms during the American Civil War to pass them off as members of a Christian movement, namely the Brethren in Christ or Christadelphians.

Thomas was a dedicated Bible expositor and author of Elpis Israel, the first major writing to bring to light the subject of God Manifestation and the hope of Israel for future generations. In this work, he was able to draw on his understanding of Bible Prophecy to predict Israel’s return in the near future, which is what happened in 1948 with the Balfour Declaration.

Partly because of Dr. Thomas‘ importance on purity of doctrine and creeds at baptism, Thomas was expelled from Alexander Campbell‘s Restoration Movement in 1837. But he continued to find followers who wanted to go along with his way of thinking. After going to New York in 1846 to give a lecture series, he was able to find more followers in the United States. From 1848 to 1850 he lectured in the United Kingdom, where he converted Robert Roberts in Scotland.

Upon his return to America, Thomas moved from Richmond, Virginia to New York City and began preaching there. He spoke to the Jewish community because Dr. Thomas had come to believe that Christianity did not replace the law of Moses, but rather fulfilled it. He believed that Christians, though faith and baptism, must become the « seed » (or « descendant« ) of Abraham. From this point of view, a movement arose that began to appeal to certain Jewish groups and also made them join the group, while certain Jewish customs still remained in vogue. As such, the Hebrew Bible indicates that certain festivals have been given up by God and, for example, the Exodus from Egypt on Nisan 14 will be celebrated for eternity. In Belgium, for example, we still consider Nisan 14 to be the most important day of the year, commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus Christ and the deliverance from the slavery of the Egyptians, but also of the deliverance from the slavery of sin, through Jesus‘ sacrificial act on the wooden stake.

Distribution of the Christadelphian faith

From 1864 onwards the name Christadelphians began to be used, as members of the city of Christ and as a sign of brotherhood in Christ. That naming was important because there was a need for the movement to form a denomination to meet the strict legal requirements for conscientious objectors during the American Civil War. To do this, one had to register as a denomination under a fixed name.

Thomas died in 1871 and was succeeded by Robert Roberts. Both of these leaders are known in the movement as « the pioneers » and still hold a lot of prestige. Thomas never gave himself prophetic status, he saw himself as someone who rediscovered the Christian beliefs of the first century.

Under Roberts, the movement was consolidated and the emphasis shifted to accepting Thomas’s views as authoritative rather than to independent individual examination of the Bible. He also edited the magazine The Christadelphian and played a key role in the spread of the Christian beliefs in Australia and New Zealand, two countries that are important to this relatively small community in terms of membership.

Belgium

In the 19th century, several Bible Students had moved to the European mainland, where the Belgian Bible Students Association or « Belgian Bible Students » was founded in Belgium in 1830. In that religious group, people came into contact with the views of the English-speaking Christadelphians, so that their faith could also spread more here.

In the twentieth century, however, the number of believers began to decline drastically. By the last quarter of the 20th century, the Dutch Brethren had almost given up. But in 1995, Bible Student Marcus Ampe began to pay more attention to the Christadelphians, especially with the Australian branch. He was eventually rebaptized and founded the Belgian ecclesia Brussels-Leuven in 2005. Unfortunately, there were some disagreements between the various Christadelphian groups in Belgium, which meant that Marcus Ampe and Steve Robinson were the only ones left to allow the branch of Belgian Christadelphians to flourish.

It is through their contacts that a request arose to set up an ecclesia in Anderlecht in addition to the ecclesiae of Mons-Lille and Brussels-Leuven. In 2023, preparations began there to officially start the ecclesia Anderlecht from January 2024, where a service and follow-up in French and Swahili were provided.

Dutch version / Nederlandstalige versie: Korte Geschiedenis van de Belgische Christadelphians tot 2024