Church discipline
A notable influence was Ernest Christopher Hochmann von Hochenau, a traveling Pietist minister. While living in Schriesheim, his hometown, Mack invited Hochmann to come and minister there. Like others who influenced the Brethren, Hochmann considered the pure church to be spiritual and did not believe that a highly organized church was necessary. By 1708, the date of the first Brethren baptisms, Mack had rejected this position in favor of forming a separate church with visible rules and ordinances—including threefold baptism by immersion, a three-part Love Feast (that combined communion with feet washing and an evening meal), anointing, and use of Church discipline steps as instructed in Matthew 18, culminating with the "ban" against wayward members.