One of the lesser known movements of Christian history is the Brethren, also often known as Christian Brethren or sometimes (unhelpfully) Plymouth Brethren. They are known for his or her Bible knowledge, their commitment to global mission, and their belief that local churches (often called ‘assemblies’) can function perfectly well without the necessity for ordained clergy to steer them. But why do they often call their buildings ‘Gospel Halls’? What is the difference between Exclusive Brethren and Open Brethren? And why do some Brethren congregations prefer to not be often known as ‘Brethren’ in any respect?
The story begins early within the nineteenth century. Politically and socially, this was a turbulent period in Britain and Ireland – after the French Revolution many feared that similar events might occur here. The Industrial Revolution and later economic depression brought widespread unrest and hardship. It was a time of rapid change in all features of life. You have only to think in regards to the impact of the railways, also celebrating their bicentenary this 12 months.
Spiritually, unsettlement took the types of dissatisfaction with the perceived worldliness of the churches and a eager for more intense spiritual experience. Several renewal movements emerged from 1800 onwards and considered one of them was the Brethren. Their earliest meetings were in Ireland (Dublin especially, from 1825) and later Plymouth (hence ‘Plymouth Brethren’). Their aim was to supply a fellowship wherein all true believers in Christ could worship and study the Bible together as they gathered around the Lord’s Table, without being divided by differing denominational allegiances. Early leaders included:
– The Irishman John Nelson Darby (1800-82), considered one of many clergy who joined the movement
– George Müller (1805-98), famous for the orphanages he founded in Bristol to exhibit that God was a living reality and will provide for the needs of those that had no other source of help
– Anthony Norris Groves (1795-1853), a pioneer of Brethren mission from 1829.
The study of Bible prophecy quickly became a Brethren passion. They developed the concept that God’s dealings with humanity may very well be divided up right into a series of eras often known as ‘dispensations’. In every one, God offers a way of salvation through grace, and calls those that belong to him to be his people. But each ends with the failure of God’s people to fulfil their calling, and the commencement of a recent dispensation.
Furthermore, this approach distinguishes between God’s heavenly people – the Church – and his earthly people – the Jews. The Church is seen as a brief interruption in God’s purposes for Israel; it doesn’t replace Israel, whose restoration is promised in prophecy. But the Church on earth has also failed, and Brethren differed over whether the spoil was irreparable or whether its restoration along New Testament lines ought to be sought.
Numbers of significant and frustrated Christians left their churches to affix the Brethren. But from 1845-8 the movement experienced a catastrophic division. What became often known as Open Brethren asserted that every assembly had the correct to conduct its own affairs, as directly responsible to Christ. Exclusive Brethren followed Darby in asserting that ‘separation from evil’ was the one true basis for the unity of believers, and that this required assemblies to act together to maintain spiritual evil at bay.
Exclusive Brethren saw a succession of divisions. The largest and most controversial, now often known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, has developed in ways in which early Brethren couldn’t have imagined. Other Brethren groups, whether Open or Exclusive, mustn’t be confused with them.
Little love was lost between Open and Exclusive Brethren, but each saw sustained growth as they turned outwards and increased their commitment to evangelism. When revival affected the English-speaking world around 1859, Brethren shared within the harvest. Hundreds of mission halls got here into being, often often known as ‘Gospel Halls’. Whereas the movement’s first generation had been led by gentry and clergy, now evangelists and itinerant Bible teachers got here to the fore. New converts, slightly than members of other churches, formed an increasing proportion of those joining assemblies.
Theologically, Brethren have all the time been evangelical. But their prophetic beliefs, their rejection of a formally-recognised ministry, their categorisation of most members of existing churches as unsaved, and their tendency to say that the Church was irreparably ruined and that Christians should leave their churches to affix assemblies all helped to make Brethren ‘Public Enemy Number One’ within the eyes of many other evangelicals. Of course, opposition did nothing to make Brethren any more sympathetic to the churches!
After World War I, British Evangelicalism was largely demoralised: theologically weak, often poorly led, and on the defensive against the world and the religious establishment. But Open Brethren particularly offered a contrast: evangelistically lively, an emphasis on teaching, growing, and with a lay leadership that was often alert to the problems of the day. They experienced continued growth, especially in the brand new suburbs arising throughout Britain. It looked as if it would many who Brethren had the ball at their feet.
Sadly, expectations could be unfulfilled. World War II produced a questioning spirit in all areas of public life, from which churches weren’t exempt. Brethren engaged in vigorous evangelism, but many couldn’t understand why a lot of the blessing from Billy Graham’s visits to the UK in 1954/5 was experienced by churches which Brethren had tended to write down off as dead. This helped to stimulate a strategy of self-questioning. With that has come a bent for some individuals and congregations to reject their Brethren heritage, while others in response insist all of the more firmly on traditional understandings and practices. Open Brethren thus experienced increasing internal tension. They were having to answer rapid cultural change, the rise of Reformed theology, unfavourable media coverage of ‘Exclusives’, the Charismatic movement, and the more general decline of British Christianity.
Many Brethren have left the movement, reversing the early flow into it: some reject their past, but there are ministers and members in all denominations who speak of what they owe to their Brethren upbringing. Ideas which was once Brethren distinctives are actually widely accepted in other churches, equivalent to the idea that each member is presented by God to serve him and construct up the body of Christ. Brethren have thus contributed much to wider Evangelicalism. The Scot F. F. Bruce (1910-90), who became Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis on the University of Manchester, played a key part in the expansion of evangelical biblical scholarship. Other Brethren filled distinguished roles in public life, equivalent to the constructing contractor John Laing (1879-1978).
During the second half of the nineteenth century, Brethren had developed right into a remarkable missionary movement. It is claimed that no other Christian tradition, apart perhaps from the Moravians, has seen such a high proportion of its members change into cross-cultural mission employees.
My book, Brethren: A Brief Introduction, written to mark the bicentenary this 12 months, outlines the story and a few key Brethren principles and practices. Comprehending the sheer diversity of the worldwide Brethren movement was quite a challenge, but yow will discover out more about that in a web based publication, The Open Brethren: A Global Movement. This is freely available at www.brethrenhistory.org.
Brethren are actually present in 160 countries worldwide, sometimes in much larger numbers than in Britain. Membership globally is somewhere between two and three million. Like Anglicans, their centre of gravity now lies in the worldwide South. Yet the identical ‘big ideas’ which have motivated Brethren throughout their history are proving translatable in a variety of cultural contexts today.
Dr Tim Grass is a Visiting Scholar at Queen’s University Belfast and writer of Brethren: A Brief Introduction.
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