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m together they did not have any liturgy order of service or even any ministers in their view since their guide was the bible alone they sought to do it according to their own interpretation of the biblical text early theology edit an important early stimulus was the study of prophecy which was the subject of a number of annual meetings at powerscourt house in county wicklow starting in 1831 lady powerscourt had attended henry drummond s prophecy conferences at albury park and darby was espousing the same pre tribulational view in 1831 as edward irving 8 many people came to these meetings who became important in the english movement including benjamin wills newton and george müller the two main but conflicting aspirations of the movement were to create a holy and pure fellowship on the one hand and to allow all christians into fellowship on the other 9 believers in the movement felt that the established church of england had abandoned or distorted many of the ancient traditions of christendom following decades of dissent and the expansion of methodism and political revolutions in the united states and france people in the movement wanted simply to meet together in the name of the lord jesus christ without reference to denominational differences 10 establishment in great britain edit the first meeting in great britain was held in december 1831 11 in plymouth england it was organised primarily by george wigram benjamin wills newton and john nelson darby 12 the movement soon spread throughout the united kingdom and the assembly in plymouth had more than 1 000 people in fellowship in 1845 13 they became known as the brethren from plymouth and were soon simply called plymouth brethren when the term darbyites is also used when especially when describing the exclusive branch which has a more pronounced influence from darby many within the movement refuse to accept any name other than christian schism edit a plymouth brethren meeting hall and congregation in 1845 darby returned from an extended visit to switzerland where he had achieved considerable success establishing churches he returned to plymouth where newton was in control and he disagreed with some details in a book that newton had published concerning the tribulation that was coming he also objected to newton s place as an elder in the plymouth meeting but several attempts to settle the quarrel in the presence of other brethren failed to produce any clear result 14 two years later darby attacked newton over a lecture that newton had given on the 6th psalm and an exchange of tracts followed newton retracted some of his statements but he eventually left plymouth and established another chapel in london darby had instituted a second meeting at plymouth and in 1848 he complained of the bristol bethesda assembly in which george müller was prominent he was concerned because they had accepted a member from ebrington street newton s original chapel bethesda investigated the individual but defended their decision and darby was not satisfied he issued a circular on 26 august 1848 cutting off bethesda and all assemblies who received anyone who went there this defined the essential characteristic of exclusivism which he pursued for the rest of his life 15 two movements exclusive brethren and open brethren edit from 1848 the brethren continued as two separate main movements the exclusive brethren led by darby and the open brethren led by müller and others darby visited exclusive assemblies in america seven times between 1862 and 1877 16 itinerant preachers from scotland and ireland established most of the early open brethren assemblies in america in the second half of the 19th century 17 the exclusive brethren experienced many subsequent splits scatterings and recombinations the open brethren also suffered a split concerning the autonomy of assemblies which occurred at different times in different parts of the world nevertheless both continued to expand their congregations in the united states between 1916 and 1919 exclusive brethren membership increased 33 to 3 896 while open brethren membership increased 25 to 5 928 the census also recorded three smaller movements with sizeable congregations 18 branches and distinctions edit this section needs more citations please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources unsourced material may be challenged and removed find sources plymouth brethren news newspapers books scholar jstor january 2026 learn how and when to remove this message both open and exclusive brethren have historically been known as plymouth brethren that is still largely the case in some areas such as north america in some other parts of the world such as australia and new zealand most open brethren shun the plymouth label this is mostly because of widespread negative media coverage of the plymouth brethren christian church the most hardline branch of the exclusive brethren and the only numerically significant exclusive group in either country which most open brethren consider to be a cult with which they do not wish to be misidentified 19 terminology which sometimes confuses brethren and non brethren alike is the distinction between the open assemblies usually called chapels and the closed assemblies non exclusive called gospel halls contrary to common misconceptions those traditionally known as the closed brethren are not a part of the exclusive brethren but are rather a very conservative subset of the open brethren the gospel halls regard reception to the assembly as a serious matter one is not received to the lord s supper but to the fellowship of the assembly this is important because the lord s supper is for believers not unbelievers 19 some chapels on the other hand will allow practically anyone to participate who walks in and says that they are a christian based on the newcomer s profession of faith such assemblies are said to have an open table approach to strangers gospel hall brethren on the other hand generally believe that only those formally recognised as part of that or an equivalent assembly should break bread most closed and some open brethren hold that association with evil defiles and that sharing the communion meal can bring that association citation needed their support text is from 1 corinthians 15 33 do not be deceived evil communications corrupt good manners among other distinctions the gospel halls would generally not use musical instruments in their services whereas many chapels use them and may have singing groups choirs worship teams of musicians etc the gospel halls tend to be more conservative in dress women do not wear trousers often although they can and there is no scriptural objection in doing so but most do not wear them in meetings and always have their heads covered while in most chapels brethren women may wear whatever they wish though modesty in dress serves as a guideline and many continue the tradition of wearing a head covering taught in 1 corinthians 11 2 13 open brethren churches are all independent self governing local congregations with no central headquarters although there are a number of seminaries missions agencies and publications that are widely supported by brethren churches and which help to maintain a high degree of communication among them citation needed henry k carroll performed an analysis of united states census data in 1912 to assign roman numerals to various brethren groups for example brethren iii is also known as the lowe brethren and the elberfeld brethren 20 carroll s initial findings listed four sub groups identified as brethren i iv 21 but he expanded the number to six 22 and then to eight 23 arthur carl piepkorn expanded the number to ten 24 25 those who have attempted to trace the realignments of the plymouth brethren include ian mcdowell and massimo introvigne 26 27 the complexity of the brethren s history is evident in charts by mcdowell and ian mckay 28 29 open brethren edit main article open brethren a plymouth brethren chapel in broadbridge heath west sussex england the best known and oldest distinction between open assemblies is in the nature of relationships among their local churches 30 31 open brethren assemblies function as networks of like minded independent local churches brethren generally feel an obligation to recognize and adhere to the disciplinary actions of other associated assemblies conversely open assemblies aware of that disciplining would not automatically feel a binding obligation to support it treating each case on its own merit reasons for being put under discipline by both the open and exclusive brethren include disseminating gross scriptural or doctrinal error or being involved in unscriptural behavior being accused of illegal financial dealings may also result in being put under discipline another less clear difference between assemblies lies in their approaches to collaborating with other christians many open brethren will hold gospel meetings youth events or other activities in partnership with non brethren evangelical christian churches more conservative brethren tend to not support activities outside their own meetings ibcm edit international brethren conferences on mission ibcm were founded in 1993 in singapore by unions of churches from various countries 32 according to an ibcm network census released in 2020 they claimed 40 000 churches and 2 700 000 members in 155 countries 33 exclusive brethren edit main article exclusive brethren exclusive brethren have remained attached to darby s doctrine 31 they are more interdependent more conservative with a propensity for a dress code very attached to the spontaneity of worship and preaching they form several more or less compartmentalized circles of communion from the most moderate to the narrowest the movement has a protestant theology and recognizes infant baptism 34 around 40 000 worldwide in 2012 close brothers are often referred to as darbyists but rarely refer to themselves as such 35 plymouth brethren christian church edit main article plymouth brethren christian church there are a number of exclusive brethren fellowships such as the lowe brethren glanton brethren and alte elberfelder brethren 36 though the secular media often uses the term exclusive brethren to describe one separatist group known as taylor hales brethren who now call themselves the plymouth brethren christian church pbcc which claims 50 000 members worldwide in 2023 37 known for a particularly isolationist interpretation of separation from evil and definition of what constitutes fellowship in their view fellowship includes dining out business and professional partnerships membership of clubs etc rather than just the act of communion lord s supper so these activities are done only with other members there are several unquantified but sizable branches unaffiliated with the raven taylor hales group since initial divisions in the 1880s and more recent secessions in the 1960s 1970s 38 that prefer being referred to as closed or careful rather than exclusive brethren to avoid any connection with the more strident group leadership edit one of the most defining elements of the brethren is the rejection of the concept of clergy their view is that all christians are ordained by god to serve and therefore all are ministers in keeping with the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers the brethren embrace the most extensive form of that idea in that there is no ordained or unordained person or group employed to function as minister s or pastors brethren assemblies are led by the local church elders within any fellowship historically there is no office of pastor in most brethren churches because they believe that the term pastor ποιμήν poimen in greek as it is used in ephesians 4 11 describes one of the gifts given to the church rather than a specific office in the words of darby these gifts in ephesians 4 11 are ministrations for gathering together and for edification established by christ as head of the body by means of gifts with which he endows persons as his choice 39 therefore there is no formal ordination process for those who preach teach or lead within their meetings men who become elders or those who become deacons and overseers within the fellowship have been recognized by others within the individual assemblies and have been given the blessing of performing leadership tasks by the elders 40 an elder should be able and ready to teach when his assembly sees the call of god on his life to assume the office of elder 1 timothy 3 2 brethren elders conduct many other duties that would typically be performed by the clergy in other christian groups including counselling those who have decided to be baptized performing baptisms visiting the sick and giving spiritual counsel in general normally sermons are given either by the elders or by men who regularly attend the sunday meetings but again only men whom the elders recognize as having the call of god on their lives for that particular ministry visiting speakers however are usually paid their travel costs and provided for with sunday meals following the meetings open and exclusive brethren differ in how they interpret the concept of no clergy the open brethren believe in a plurality of elders acts 14 23 15 6 23 20 17 philippians 1 1 men meeting the biblical qualifications found in 1 timothy 3 1 7 and titus 1 6 9 this position is also taken in some baptist churches especially reformed baptists and by the churches of christ it is understood that elders are appointed by the holy spirit acts 20 28 and are recognised as meeting the qualifications by the assembly and by previously existing elders generally the elders themselves will look out for men who meet the biblical qualifications and invite them to join them as elders in some open assemblies elders are elected democratically but this is a fairly recent development and is still relatively uncommon officially naming and recognizing eldership is common to open brethren cf 1 thessalonians 5 12 13 whereas many exclusive brethren assemblies believe that recognizing a man as an elder is too close to having clergy and therefore a group of leading brothers none of whom has an official title of any kind attempts to present issues to the entire group for it to decide upon believing that the whole group must decide not merely a body of elders traditionally only men are allowed to speak and in some cases attend these decision making meetings although not all assemblies follow that rule today the term elder is based on the same scriptures that are used to identify bishops and overseers in other christian circles 41 and some exclusive brethren claim that the system of recognition of elders by the assembly means that the open brethren cannot claim full adherence to the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers 42 open brethren consider however that this reveals a mistaken understanding of the priesthood of all believers which in the assemblies...