# Christian Funk and the Revolutionary-era separation 1778–1851 · Overview Christian Funk was a bishop in the Franconia fellowship in Pennsylvania. During the American Revolution he supported accepting the new government and contributing toward its cause. Other Mennonite leaders believed these steps compromised their peace convictions and refusal of political oaths. The dispute led to the separation remembered as the Funkite division of 1778–1779. The division endured after the war. Attempts at reconciliation in 1804 and 1806 turned on whether Funk must acknowledge wrongdoing and whether the ministers ordained within his group would be recognized. His own memoir, Mirror for All Mankind, records his understanding of the conflict and forms part of the evidence preserved by the Mennonite Heritage Center. The separate congregations gradually diminished after Funk’s death in 1811, with members joining other local churches. The Heritage Center records a final communion in 1851 at the Franconia meetinghouse. This explains the chart’s approximate ending around 1850 without turning a gradual dissolution into a single universal date. - [Supplied branch chart, IMG_9377](https://github.com/trueChristian/history.truechristian.church/blob/main/sources/church-history/photos/IMG_9377.jpg) - [Mennonite Heritage Center: Funk family history and Christian Funk’s memoir](https://mhep.org/our-immigrant-heritage-funk/) --- Page: https://history.truechristian.church/en/events/christian-funk-separation/ [Contribute a correction or addition](https://github.com/trueChristian/history.truechristian.church/issues/new?title=Correction%3A+Christian+Funk+and+the+Revolutionary-era+separation&body=%23%23+Page+or+topic%0AChristian+Funk+and+the+Revolutionary-era+separation%0A%0APage%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fhistory.truechristian.church%2Fen%2Fevents%2Fchristian-funk-separation%2F%0A%0ARecord%3A+christian-funk-separation%0A%0ADate+currently+shown%3A+1778%E2%80%931851%0A%0A%23%23+Correction+or+addition%0A%0A%0A%0A%23%23+Sources+and+evidence%0APlease+include+book%2Fpage+references%2C+archive+links%2C+or+first-hand+documentation.%0A%0A%0A%0A%23%23+Image+credit+%28if+applicable%29%0ACreator%2C+source%2C+and+permission+or+public-domain+basis.%0A%0A%0A%0ASubmitted+for+review%3B+this+issue+does+not+publish+changes+automatically.)