The Church in Your Back Yard

The Arlington Congregation, founded in 1953, is one of eight Church of the Brethren congregations in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Today the Arlington Congregation is itself in the midst of a bustling, eclectic neighborhood. Its members work to provide a calm center amid the busy lives common to those who live and work in a large urban area.

We are a group of individuals from a variety of backgrounds and experience who seek and lend spiritual and emotional support and who strive to celebrate our mutual understandings about God, faith, love, peace, and human compassion. We open our doors to all who wish to participate.

Church of the Brethren Background

In the New Testament, the word brethren describes the kinship of men and women who chose another way of living: the way of Jesus.

The Church of the Brethren, begun in 1708 in Germany, still draws people who want to continue Jesus’ work of loving service. Today, some 150,000 members in more than 1,000 congregations across the United States carry on the denomination’s early tradition of living peacefully and simply and sharing in a vital faith community.

For guidance, Brethren look to the Christian scriptures rather than to doctrine. Brethren work locally and worldwide to help victims of war, poverty, and natural disasters believing that following Christ means another way of living.