by David Smart

“Lay ministry at its best,” is how the Very Rev. John Ross, Dean of St. John’s Cathedral, describes the activities of the members of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew.

To Wade Frye, a founding member of the chapter, the Brotherhood offers an opportunity for the men of the church to share their ministries with others. “We saw one another on Sundays,” he said. “Maybe we had a cup of coffee together in the parish hall after the service. In many cases we didn’t know how deeply others were involved in various ministries in the church and community. When we started coming to Brotherhood meetings, going on retreats, and working together on projects, we began to learn how deeply other men were involved in ministries that many of us were unaware of,” said Frye.

The Brotherhood offers a “safe place” for men to open up to one another, to share, and to talk about a topic many men have difficulty discussing—their personal spirituality. This view was repeated by Dean Ross, Frye, and current chapter president, Richard (Rick) Clark, III. “Men seem to be more open when hammering, cooking, or breaking bread together,” said Clark. “Participating in an activity together seems to make it easier for men get beyond surface conversation,” agreed Frye.

The St. John’s chapter of the Brotherhood was formed in the fall of 1997. There are about 26 active members in this group who range in age from the 30s to the 70s. In addition to meeting twice a month, they also work on many projects throughout the year. One of these projects involves delivering Advent wreathes to home-bound parishioners. Members of the Brotherhood, acting in teams of two, deliver the wreaths the first week of Advent. In addition to delivering the wreath, they lead an Advent prayer and light the first candle. They return each week of Advent to pray and light the next candle. This project proved to be popular with home-bound parishioners and members of the Brotherhood as well. Bonds formed during those Advent visits grew into friendships that led many of the men to continue their weekly visits after Advent ended.

Another project teams some Brotherhood members with members of the youth group to cook breakfast for homeless people on the 2nd Sunday of each month. They start cooking at 5 a.m. The food, which is prepared in the kitchen at St. John’s, is then transported to the Volunteer Ministry Center where it is served.

In addition to the two previously cited examples they also sponsor several other service projects and popular fellowship activities for the parish.
A potential project in the planning stage is the sponsoring and construction of a Habitat for Humanity house. There is also the possibly that the Brotherhood may lead a group on a work mission to Honduras to help in the rebuilding of that hurricane damaged country.

The group as a whole does not wait for the clergy to ask for help. Instead, they actively look for ways to serve their parish. When they identify a need in the parish or community, they work to develop solutions. Then they go the clergy and say, we would like to help with this and here are the ways that we think our service can be helpful. In doing so they are not only benefiting the parish, but they are also living out one of the three tenants of the Brotherhood, service.

The other two tenants of the Brotherhood are prayer and study. Members of the Brotherhood practice these individually as well as in groups. “Don’t join a Brotherhood chapter thinking that it is just a men’s social or service organization,” Clark said. There is a level of commitment that must be met, which includes all three tenants. It is easy to offer specific examples of the service aspect of the Brotherhood. However, daily prayer and study are equal to service in importance.

“Many men have stopped being involved in church except for attending services on Sunday,” said Wade. Membership in the Brotherhood has helped some of them become more active in the parish, “to join us in beginning to accept some of the responsibilities we dropped years ago,” said Frye. “Discipleship and bearing witness is a major part of our development,” Clark added.

In summation, Dean Ross said, “It [the Brotherhood] has been and continues to be a tremendous asset to the parish.”

Members of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew chapter at St. John’s are willing and eager to talk with other men in the diocese who are interested in learning more about the Brotherhood. Please contact Wade Frye (423-691-5428) or Rick Clark (423-971-4426) for more information.

The Brotherhood of St. Andrew is an international ministry of men within the Anglican Communion. The primary method by which the Brotherhood implements its ministry to men is through the establishing of a Chapters within individual Anglican and Episcopal churches. Chapter members are called Brothers Andrew and are required to accept and observe the Brotherhood Disciplines of: prayer, study and service.

The Brotherhood grew out of a prayer and Bible study group under the direction of James L. Houghteling at St. James Church, Chicago, Illinois. Recognizing a need in their parish and the community, they received permission from their rector, the Rev. W. H. Vibbert, to form a Brotherhood of St. Andrew. The purpose was to minister to men following the example of Andrew in bringing his brother Peter to meet Jesus when he learned He was the Christ. They soon became such a spiritual force in the parish that news of what they were doing spread very quickly so that by 1886 there were over 100 Brotherhoods of St Andrew across the U.S. and Canada.

A sister organization exists that limits membership women, The Daughters of the King, shortly after the brotherhood began.

In 1886 the Brotherhood of St. Andrew introduced the Lay Reader Program to the Episcopal Church. Lay Readers at that time reached out to establish new Missions in communities nearby parishes with a Brotherhood Chapter. They went door to door to generate interest in having an Episcopal Mission and then met with the people to read Morning and Evening Prayer on Sundays. They then arranged for a priest to celebrate the Eucharist and perform Holy baptism at the Mission. Hundreds of parishes now exist as a result of that Brotherhood ministry.

In about 1898 the Brotherhood of St. Andrew implemented a program of daily devotions and Bible study for Brotherhood Chapters. Today this program is carries on by an independent corporation known as the Forward Movement Publications.
A program for parish renewal, FAITH ALIVE, was started by the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. Its development was the result of a recognized need for an Episcopal and Anglican style program to help awaken parishes. FAITH ALIVE is now a separate corporation.