Faith-Based Service Tradition
Peter
Becker Community is committed to serving Older Adults of
all faiths in the tradition of our forefathers - with
compassion and Christ-like humility - and with a sense of duty
and service that the Church was founded on so long ago. The
vision of the community began as early as 1960 when a group
of Brethren met to discuss the need for a comfortable, secure
place where people could retire and be cared for when they could
no longer care for themselves. Their vision provided for "complete"
retirement services including residential living, personal care
and skilled nursing.
Original
Groundbreaking Photo from Newspaper Nov. 1969
Doors
Open 1971
In
1971, Peter Becker Memorial Home opened its doors with 37 nursing
beds and 35 "residential" beds on a 20.1 acre plot
adjacent to the old Klein Meetinghouse, an early Brethren Meetinghouse,
and Harley Cemetery in Harleysville. Today, the community sits
on 100 acres - all connected to that original plot.
The
origins of our name - Peter Becker Community
The
community was named after an early anabaptist minister who began
the Brethren Church in this country. His heart full of song,
love and concern for his fellows produced a vital church and
many dedicated followers. It is to his memory that we celebrate
our Mission today, amongst seniors of all faiths.
The
Peter Becker Story
Peter
Becker was an early anabaptist, who, longing for religious freedom
and liberty of conscience, withstood an arduous ocean voyage
from Germany and, along with twenty other families from the
Brethren Church, landed in Pennsylvania in 1719.
The
voyage was almost certainly blessed by the constant, fervent
prayer of its leader, Becker, who ministered to the sick with
tender meditations and sweet song. Becker was a gifted singer.
One can only imagine the songs he might have sung to his weak
and weary band of refugees as they endured the seemingly endless
days aboard ship.
But
their goal was freedom from the religious persecution they had
endured in Germany, where in 1648, the Catholic, Reformed and
Lutheran churches were declared the only official state churches.
Becker and his fellows were Pietists, as unwelcome as the Mennonites
and Schwenkfelders, and suffered imprisonment, torture, murder,
and exile into insane asylums.
The
first four years in their newly adopted country of America were
spent in Germantown, Philadelphia and the surrounding region.
Land was purchased and business and trade were established.
Becker himself was a weaver, but his love of Christ and dedication
to his church made him ever mindful of his duty and obligation
to the God who had saved him once from persecution and once
from the heartache of church division. He determined that he
would begin anew the Brethren Church in America and kept his
vow four years after arriving in Germantown.
Becker
traveled throughout the territory gathering together his flock,
preaching Christ, converting souls and organizing them into
congregations. Within a short time, Becker had established churches
not only in Germantown, but in Skippack, Falckner's Swamp and
Oley as well. |
