Our Story

As early as 1899, voices for a Church of the Brethren in Oakland, Maryland, began to be heard. In 1900, a committee had already studied the situation and reported to the District Meeting. Their findings revealed much interest and $1,000 was pledged. However, the District Meeting voted not to establish a mission at Oakland in 1900. 

A few decades later, the probing mind of a moutaintop Brethren pioneer began to entertain notions of a Church of the Brethren at Oakland. The pioneer was Rev. Jonas Sines, and as the years went by, his probing notions evolved into convictions. In the later years of the 1940's he began to quiz members of the General Brotherhood Board in an attempt to ascertain interest and sharing of conviction. Finally it all resulted in the meeting of a few interested families. That historic meeting was in the home of Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Spoerlein, south of Oakland. It was that June 7, 1953, meeting that severed the thread of history and inserted the new chapter which tells the warm and glowing story of a new congregation.