History of Bryan First Brethren

The Bryan First Brethren Church began in 1888. Brother J.H. Swihart began the church with a group of less than a dozen people during August meeting in a Disciple Church building. The mission congregation began to grow and Brother Swihart eventually guided the group in establishing itself as a formal organization on April 1, 1889. The small group became an official Brethren congregation in 1893. They soon built a building on the corner of Main and Wilson Streets in Bryan and remained there with later additions until 1970.

Ministry at the Bryan First Brethren Church continued through a series of pastors and continual blessings from the Lord. The church often held revival services, paid continual  attention to its children’s ministry, and even hosted a radio program in the 40’s and 50’s every Sunday morning on a Defiance radio station. The church was proud of its large choir and used the choir as a means for serving the Lord at the church, leading others in worship.

In the Fall of 1967, the congregation’s numerical growth reached a peak and plans to relocate the church to a larger facility began. Property on County Road C was given through a generous donation and plans to build a building for worship and Christian education were made. The current building was dedicated on April 26, 1970 and the final mortgage payment was made on September 29, 1980. The church celebrated God’s provision and faithfulness with a Mortgage Burning Service held one week later.

Ministry has since continued. The children’s ministry has continued to take priority in the church’s educational ministry including consistent VBS programs.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the church began a youth ministry program with the hiring of a Youth Director who was one of only a few in Bryan at the time. The ministry met the needs of several churches that lacked a paid youth leader and our church found itself with a relatively large youth group. This encouraged the adults in the congregation to look again at how ministry was being done. In 2002, under the leadership of Pastor Troy Cummins, the church began to reorganize itself for effective ministry in today’s society. In 2003, a mission statement was constructed after a leadership group of nearly 25 members had spent months in careful study of the Scriptures and dedicated time in prayer.

Today, we continue the work begun with reorganizing the church’s ministry structure and still seek to follow the Lord’s Will for this congregation, continuing the ministry of our fellow Brethren from generations past. We are currently very active in finding new ways to serve our community and make a difference in the people’s lives around which we live. In 2008 we set a congregational record for the most amount of money spent on serving the community in our entire 120 year history. Each year we continue to look for different ways to serve others. We are now committed to helping people connect God and others, grow in their relationships and their understanding of God, and serve God and others. We seek to be externally focused and internally strong for this reason.

We hope that our history can soon become your history as well.