A release from the Dunker Church Service Planning Committee
On Sunday, Sept. 14, at 3 p.m. (Eastern time), the 55th annual Dunker Church Service will be held at the Dunker Church on the Antietam National Battlefield. Often noted as one of the most remarkable landmarks on this battlefield, the church has long stood for peace and love even during one of the most brutal confrontations of the Civil War.
The afternoon will begin with a tribute to Edward Poling, who passed away in January 2025. He pastored several Church of the Brethren churches in the area, was a board member for the Hagerstown Area Religious Council (HARC), and was a past chair of the Dunker Church Service Planning Committee.
Steve Longenecker, emeritus professor of history at Bridgewater (Va.) College, will bring the message for the service, which also will include a traditional call to worship, hymns, sharing of scripture, special music, readings, and prayers. Longenecker taught for 32 years, served as a department head, and chaired the college’s Forum for Brethren Studies.
The modern-day Church of the Brethren evolved from the German Baptist Brethren, who also were known as Dunkers. The name Dunker came from the practice of baptism by full immersion into the water, therefore “dunking.” The Brethren movement began in Germany in 1708.
“For 55 years, people have made a pilgrimage to the Dunker Church on the Sunday closest to the anniversary of the battle of Antietam,” said Paul Mundey, chair of the Dunker Church Service Planning Committee. “As they do, they seek an alternative to the conflict, animosity, and violence that mark so much of human history—seeing in the meetinghouse a people of peace and the possibility of shalom and well-being for all.”
About the Dunker Church:
This unadorned house of worship was built by Dunker farmers in 1852. During the Sept. 17, 1862, battle of Antietam, the Dunker Church was the focal point of a number of Union attacks against the Confederates. When the battle ended, Confederate soldiers used the church as a temporary medical aid station. The church sustained hundreds of bullet marks in its walls and artillery seriously damaged the roof. By 1864, the structure was repaired and regular services were held there until the early 1900s. A storm destroyed the church in 1921. Sharpsburg resident Elmer G. Boyer bought the land and salvaged the undamaged church material. The property was sold two more times, with the Washington County Historical Society purchasing it in 1951. They donated the site, with just a foundation of a building, to the National Park Service. The church was restored for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam in 1962, on the original foundation with as much of the original materials as possible. The current structure is simple with plain wooden benches and no electricity, just as it would have been in 1862. The Dunker Church is likely one of the most well-known churches in American military history.
Contact the Dunker Church Service Planning Committee via chair Paul Mundey at pmundey@gmail.com
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