GUILDERLAND, N.Y. — They travel in pairs spreading the Gospel, they quietly worship with their families in people's homes every Sunday. As members of the unchanging faith known to others as "The Two-by-Twos," they have no formal church.
Every year, there are 85 gatherings of this little-known religious group, also known as "The Way" or "The Truth," across the United States. At a convention in mid-August at the Knaggs Farm in Guilderland, a rural community near Albany, 500 members gathered for a four-day retreat.
Since the 1920s, followers of this secretive sect have been meeting at this 165-acre former dairy farm at the invitation of the Knaggs family, who are also members.
"We believe our heavenly father is the greatest name there is, so that is why we don't give ourselves a name," said Charles Sniffen, the group's quasi-leader and spokesman.
Through smaller weekly gatherings, members are encouraged to get back to the Bible, using it daily to get through life's trials and tribulations and constantly fight the devil's temptations, Sniffen said.
The faith seems to borrow from many others, including adult baptism, common in the Southern Baptist faith; simplicity and tranquility, associated with the Quakers; and heavy emphasis on the Bible, which is found in many fundamental faiths.
Founded by evangelist
William Irvine was a Scottish evangelist who founded the group in Ireland in the early 1900s because he opposed organized religion like the Catholic Church. Their low-profile or anonymous characteristics stem from a schism between members of the early group, including some who thought the world was ending and stopped bringing in new members.
Since that time, the faith has taken on a quiet life of its own, gathering people from many different ethnic groups and taking on an almost cultlike following. There are no official numbers for enrollment and no literature or pamphlets — only the King James version of the Bible.
Despite their conservative teachings, their children attend public schools, but they are advised at home that much of what they are taught contradicts their religious teaching.
Usually very little attention is drawn to the group, but this year Guilderland town officials found their dwellings failed health and safety regulations. As a result, members were not allowed to stay on the farm in tents and camping vans, as at past conventions, or cook on the premises in a large kitchen.
So food was catered under huge tents with warming trays, which were more reminiscent of an outdoor wedding than a simple religious gathering.
Meetings on farms
Besides the Guilderland convention, members meet in the Northeastern United States at farms in western New York and in Milford, N.H.
On one day of the retreat, members gathered with handmade quilts and black leather-covered Bibles to listen to hours of low-key preaching and tearful testimonials about God's handiwork in their lives.
Extended families sat together as the children played at their feet. Mothers wear their long hair in buns, a symbol of their modesty, as well as pretty, flowing summer dresses.
There are no musical instruments for singing, but the group carries a song from their little red hymnal books, which seems to sum up their faith:
Patiently continuing in the way of Jesus.
Joyfully obeying the Father's blessed will;
mid sin's angry billows
hearken to Him calling.
Over the water, saying,
"Peace, be still."