The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist and Pietist denomination tracing its origin to a group of believers baptized together in 1708 in Schwarzenau, Germany, who emigrated to Pennsylvania in the 1720s. Its US headquarters is in Elgin, Illinois. Along with the Quakers and Mennonites, it is counted among the three historic peace churches for its long-standing commitment to nonviolence and conscientious objection.