1924 General Conference

By the 1860s Henry Kurtz, who founded the first Brethren periodical, saw the need for an index to the Annual Meeting/Annual Conference minutes. No doubt this was because he had served for many years as clerk of Annual Meeting. In 1867 Kurtz published The Brethren’s Encyclopedia, Containing The United Counsels and Conclusions of the Brethren at their Annual Meetings... (Columbiana, Ohio: by the author, 1867). Kurtz arranged the minutes by topic, such as “Conformity to the World,” “Deacons,” “Feet Washing,” “Prayer Meetings,” etc. Thus he had produced an index whereby the minutes on a given topic were brought together.

After Kurtz’ groundbreaking work, Brethren continued to publish indexes to the minutes—sometimes in the form of classified minutes, which were arranged by topics, and sometimes in the form of chronological minutes with extensive subject indexes at the end. The last attempt to publish an index to all the minutes was in 1909 with Minutes of the Annual Meetings of the Church of the Brethren Containing All Available Minutes from 1778 to 1909 (Elgin, Brethren Publishing House, 1909). This presented the minutes in chronological order with a thirty-four page index at the end. There were some revised minutes published later in the twentieth century, but revised minutes, while arranged by subject, do not contain the complete minutes.

The Brethren Historical Library and Archives is pleased to present this index to the Annual Conference minutes. This is the first index to all the actions of Annual Conference in nearly one hundred years. The indexing was done by Jonathan B. Keeney when he was a high school student. Indexing requires careful organization and analysis and many hours of work. But most of all it requires determination. Jonathan is to be commended for all his hard work and the excellent index he has created. His work will serve Brethren for years to come.

Kenneth M. Shaffer, Jr.
Director
Brethren Historical Library and Archives

Recognizing the vast quantity of counsels and decisions of our Annual Conference and the great difficulty of locating statements on varying topics within the minutes of these meetings, it was agreed that an index to the minutes was necessary. Therefore, the following index is presented to the Brethren as the result of much time and effort. It is not an index of every word or name in the minutes—there are times when the word in the index is not even in the minutes—nor does it include every subject referred to in the minutes. It is an index of the topics discussed by Annual Conference as listed in the minutes.

The index follows the general format of topic, year, and page [Oaths: 1785(10)]. The page numbers indicate the page of the minutes where the topic begins. Page numbers in this index are from varying sources. For the years 1778-1909, the pages numbers refer to the Minutes of the Annual Meetings of the Church of the Brethren (Elgin, IL: Brethren Publishing House, 1909). For the years 1910-1969 the minutes of the individual years were used. From 1970 onward the following five-year compilations of minutes were used:

Minutes of the Annual Conferences of the Church of the Brethren, 1970-1974, compiled and edited by William R. Eberly (Elgin, IL: Brethren Press, 1975).

Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren, 1975-1979, compiled by Phyllis Kingery Ruff (Elgin, IL: Brethren Press, 1980).

Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren, 1980-1984, compiled by Phyllis Kingery Ruff (Elgin, IL: Brethren Press, 1985).

Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren, 1985-1989, compiled by Annual Conference Office (Elgin, IL: Brethren Press, 1990).

Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren, 1990-1994, compiled by Annual Conference Office (Elgin, IL: Annual Conference, 1995).

Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren, 1995-1999, compiled by Annual Conference Office (Elgin, IL: Annual Conference, 2000).

Minutes of the Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren, 2000-2004, compiled by Annual Conference Office (Elgin, IL: Annual Conference, 2005).

In the case of the Special General Conferences of 1846 and 1918, the individual minutes were used; however the 1848 special meeting minutes have only been found in the footnotes of the 1909 compilation. All special meetings are listed with an “S” before the number of the year.

Only those meetings for which minutes have been found were indexed. Even without access to the compilations, the actions in question may still be found by searching the minutes for individual years. When an item was discussed for several years, only the final year is listed in the index. Generally the entire history of the item is given in the minutes of the final year, but any information that is not included follows the final year in italics as a see also.

Terminology generally follows the most current and common usage, although Annual Conference has in some cases recommended newer language. For the sake of simplicity, all references to Yearly Meeting, General Council, Annual Conference, or other combinations of these words are listed under Annual Conference. Other conferences are listed under their appropriate descriptor. The names of people, congregations, and districts were indexed only when an action was primarily focused on that particular subject.

An attempt was made to provide a distinction in large categories between Main Statements and Small Statements. These distinctions are intended to be an aid to those seeking general and deliberate statements of the Conference. Also, the use of 10pt. Courier New font indicates that the topic was referred to within the article but is not the main topic.

Two primary types of cross-references are used—“see” and “see also.” “See” is used to indicate that another word/term was used for this topic. For example, “Nonresistance: (see Peace)” means the word peace was used instead of nonresistance when indexing. “See also” (when not in italics) is used to indicate other related topics. For example, “Ordinances: (see also Anointing, Baptism; Love Feast)” means the topics of anointing, baptism, and Love Feast are related to the topic of ordinances. A third type of reference is indicated with the use of the Courier font. This font is used to indicate that while the topic is found in the citation to follow, it is not the primary topic of the statement cited.

I am aware of flaws, misinterpretations, and inadequate division of categories. Despite all shortcomings, it is my hope that this index may prove useful to those who wish to know the counsels of our dear Brethren in Annual Conference. With thanks to God, I humbly submit this for the benefit of all.

Jonathan B. Keeney
May 2005

Note: The citations in this index are not yet linked to Annual Conference statements found on the Annual Conference website.