Every American Christian owes something to the small group of men in Zurich in 1525 who advocated, however unpopularly, that a church should be subject to God’s Word and not to the councils of men.
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As snow fell on Zurich’s narrow streets on January 21, 1525, a group of young Swiss reformers huddled inside Felix Manz’s home in the shadow of the Grossmünster cathedral. The air outside was frozen, but the room was filled with fervent prayer and intense discussion. This was a forbidden gathering. Zurich’s city council had prohibited these men from convening for Bible study.
The edict was to no avail. The smallest seeds of religious freedom had already been sown. By the end of the night, the first Reformation-era believers’ church was born.
