Martin Boehm, 1725-1812

After arriving in Philadelphia from the Palatinate in 1715, Jacob Boehm, Martin’s father, went to Germantown, then Lancaster, and finally settled in Conestoga Township, Pennsylvania. Shortly after settling in Conestoga, Jacob married Barbara Kendig. Jacob must have showed an uncommon spiritual maturity. He quickly became a lay elder in the Mennonite Society. Soon after settling he bought a farm and built a house. Professionally Jacob was a blacksmith, the first in the region. On occasion, Barbara industriously worked side-by-side with her husband in the shop as well as met the domestic needs of the family. They were compassionate parents and grandparents and especially attentive to Martin’s son Henry one of her favorites. Henry would later become a prominent Methodist minister who traveled extensively with Francis Asbury. There must have been much sorrow in the family when Grandfather Jacob died in 1781.

There was a strict, conscientious and loving side to Martin’s parents. Rules, from Mennonite tradition, and discipline were important to Jacob and Barbara. On November 30, 1725 Martin, the youngest son of eight children, was born. After Martin, four more children followed. As a lad in this busy household, Martin, his brothers and sisters were likely taught the doctrine and discipline of the Mennonites. At the appropriate time Martin was baptized, took the Lord’s Supper and joined the church. Martin thrived in this dedicated Mennonite German speaking family and matured into a respected young man. At 28 he married Eve Steiner, nine years his junior, and they had eight children. After inheriting his father’s farm, it became their lifelong home.

Martin like his father had a spiritual countenance that quickly brought him to the fore of his Mennonist brethren. This must have pleased Jacob and Barbara to no end. Twenty-five years before he died, Jacob saw his son, at 31, chosen by lot to become his congregation’s preacher in 1756 then as bishop in 1759. Martin declared that he was not ready, but believing the cast lot was God’s will, he took the post. When he was chosen as minister, he was so unsure of himself that he asked what he should preach, and the word he received was to preach “repentance and faith.” He was petrified to speak in front of his new flock, but he labored and tried. This went on for months. Martin told Henry in an interview at the end of his life about this time in his life, “I was sincere and strict in religious duties” in the home, the congregation, and privately.

Sometime during the period between 1758 and 1761 while in the field plowing, Martin knelt in prayer at the end of one of the rows and had an epiphany. The Holy Spirit gave him the assurance he had been seeking, and for the rest of his life he preached “repentance and faith” with power and results. His preaching was mostly in German, his native tongue. Later in life, however, he had conquered English and was conversant in either language. The fervor of the preaching of this era cannot be overemphasized. Crowds were large; people were “swooning in the spirit.” Some were dancing in the spirit; drunkards were converted, and local toughs were crying; people were healed. The meetings were having their desired effects.

Martin’s preaching soon caught the attention of the surrounding area, and he saw thousands of people come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Martin preached his experience with forcefulness and passion like had never been heard in the Lancaster area. The scriptures came alive and he never had to search for a text again. During this time of revival and evangelism, he once said, “Now I am a servant and a child of God.” It was not long before Martin was selected as the bishop of the local Mennonite congregation. The preaching continued throughout the counties surrounding Lancaster. His preaching continued through the latter part of the Great Meetings of the 1700s and the early part of the 1800s. During this period, Martin occasionally hosted a 100 people in his home at one time. Preachers such as Jesse Lee and Francis Asbury frequently visited the Boehms. Regularly, ministers of various denominations were guests. He preached to anyone who would listen, to a crowd of 1,000 or in a seeker’s home mattered not. His goal was to win as many people as possible to his Christ. His notoriety spread throughout the region and neighboring towns, and in 1767 while preaching in Isaac Long’s barn, he met the man who would, with himself, launch the first denomination born in America. Martin scarcely realized that this revival and his desire to take the Gospel to all people would eventually lead to his excommunication as bishop in 1777. He was removed from the church for his experimental preaching (e.g. emotional, evangelical, and evangelistic), and perhaps, for associating too much with persons outside his church.

In many ways this Great Meeting at Long’s barn was the apex of his ministry. The crowds had gathered. The preaching had begun. People were moved and responded to the message of this humble man of God. Likely, Martin did not know who was in the audience of nearly 1,000. Philip William Otterbein, a prominent pastor and bishop of the Dutch Reformed Church was there, listening. Had he been invited to this service; was he visiting the town where years before he had pastored, or, was he in the crowd as a curiosity seeker, wanting to hear this man who had brought so many to Christ. No one knows why he was there, but it must have been providential. After this service Otterbein was so moved by the message that he went to the platform to meet Boehm and emotionally embraced him and said, “Wir sind bruder.” This meeting turned into a lasting friendship between the two and the formation of the United Brethren in Christ denomination.

During the formative stage of these revivals and evangelistic services, it was recognized that these new converts needed shepherding. Several conferences, perhaps most notably in 1789 and 1791, were called to discuss the assignment of preachers, and the structure and organization of this movement. Then in the 1800 conference when the denomination was formally born, Boehm and Otterbein were elected the first bishops. The meeting took place in Otterbein’s home in Baltimore. The bishops continued their evangelizing and discipling, and organized churches through much of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia.

Then on March 23, 1812, Martin Boehm, preacher, evangelist, bishop, and cofounder of the United Brethren in Christ died. A funeral sermon was preached in his honor by his longtime friend, Francis Asbury, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

by Robert E. Kaehr, 2008
Director of Library Services
Huntington University 

Works About: 

Boehm, Henry. Reminiscences, Historical and Biographical, of Sixty-Four Years in the Ministry. New York: Carlton & Porter, 1865. p. 375-386