Exclusive Brethren

The Exclusive Brethren are a subset of the Christian evangelical movement generally described as the Plymouth Brethren. They are distinguished from the Open Brethren from whom they separated in 1848.^[1]

Sometimes broadly referred to as the Raven/Taylor Brethren who were found mainly in the English-speaking world and who constituted a more clearly definable group separate from the wider fragmented Exclusive Brethren movement. The so-called Taylor/Symington/Hales group of these Brethren is probably the most identifiable because they maintain the doctrine of uncompomising separation based on the Scriptural teachings of 2 Corrinthians 6 and 2 Timothy 2, believing that attendance at the Communion Service, the 'Lord's Supper', governs their relationship with others, including other Brethren groups and also other Christians. These brethren have one fellowship throughout the world; in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden, and also in Argentina, South America, but they are more numerous in Australia, New Zealand, UK, and North America ^[2][3] where they are referred to just as the Exclusive Brethren or Brethren.

Identity

It is extremely difficult for ecclesiastical historians and casual observers to identify some minority faith groups, especially when those groups themselves do not take denominational ground. It has become common to refer to such groups by their most publicly recognisable leaders. Some of these observations may be inaccurate or incomplete due to lack of knowledge or information of the designator. It is interesting to note, that for groups such as the so-called Raven/Taylor/Hales or Taylor/Symington/Hales group, they only call themselves Brethren, or Christian Brethren as a Scriptural definition of the relationship which they practically enjoy and that they maintain that this relationship is available to all Christians. Their teaching is that as members of the body of Christ they have responsibilities and obligations towards one another, which result from the bonds of fellowship. These responsibilities are based on Scriptural injunctions which govern both reception and discipline within the body. (1 John 1:7, 2:19, 3:9,10. 2 Peter 2:1-3. 2 John:10,11. 3 John 8-10. 2 Timothy 2:19-22. Titus 3:10,11. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

This group's beliefs are more universally defined than any of the other Brethren groups, and they hold a more fundamental, essentially uncompromising, doctrine. This group holds the open Scriptures, with the teaching of separation from evil and being joined to Christ, as the only basis of Christian unity.

Accusations

Critics of Raven/Taylor/Hales group have accused it of using cult techniques by controlling all aspects of its members' lives.^[4] The group's influence over its members is such that many who have left the group have had trouble adjusting to life outside. To help with this problem, several websites have been set up to assist people that have left the church to adjust back into mainstream society.^[5][6]

Among the various criticisms raised against the church are:

• Members who leave or who are expelled from the group have often been treated with what outsiders may regard as great cruelty.^[7]
• Leavers are shunned by members of the group because leavers are seen as having chosen the world and the devil against God, and because they could bring members into contact with the sinful world.^[7] The Brethren have been accused of using their considerable wealth and power to punish members who have decided to leave the church and to have allegedly actively used their influence to split families up in order to protect the organization's interests.^[8]
• For the most part, members who have left the Raven/Taylor/Hales group are completely ostracised. Members are not permitted to live with those who have left and this causes families to break up; remaining members do not speak, eat or otherwise socialize with those who have left the group's membership. To leave the group, either voluntarily or to be excommunicated, means to be asked to leave one's home, and the subsequent breaking of all normal family relationships with those who remain within the group.^[7]
• Since virtually all of the Raven/Taylor/Hales members work in other members' companies, to leave the group means also that they have to give up their jobs, in addition to their family and their home.^[7]
• Accusations by former teachers in Raven/Taylor/Hales group schools that the group "brainwashes" children^[4] in order to control everything that children do in life; a former teacher was quoted as saying "the children are told what jobs they will do and who they will marry. They were not being equipped to live in the outside world".^[4]

Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia, said in 2007: "I believe this is an extremist cult and sect," and "They split families and I am deeply concerned about their impact on communities across Australia.".^[9] Later actions appeared at odds with this statement, as was seen in the aftermath to the Black Saturday fires in Australia in February 2009. A book commemorating the response and sacrifice of the emergency services, was published by students from a Brethren school, and the profits from the sales of this book were given to CFA stations to help with the replacement of lost equipment. Kevin Rudd wrote the foreword for the book and described the Brethren school, as a 'resilient community coming together in response to this crisis'.^[10] Similarly in the recent Christchurch earthquake in February 2011, it was individual members of the Brethren who set up the first food tent for the Rescue teams in Latimer Square as nothing else was available in the first few frantic days following the devastating aftershock. This food tent proved to be vital in maintaining the operation and was manned day and night by Christian Brethren volunteers, attracting praise and appreciation from the authorities including John Key, the New Zealand Prime Minister, who sampled the excellent food while he chatted with volunteers.

David V Barrett in his Book on The New Believers expresses a counter view, "Family life is important to the Exclusive Brethren: they devote a lot of care and attention to their children, who are brought up within a consistently sound moral code." He refers to the group as a sect but not a cult, which he shows is an unwarranted pejorative term when used in general parlance.^[11]

General overview

At one time, all Exclusive Brethren groups believed that there was a necessary unity of the local church or assembly, but some who once were in fellowship with the Raven/Taylor/Hales group have become independent companies modifying their requirements for receiving members to suit individual conscience. Amongst such groups views concerning their way of life and relationships are frequently affected by the varying standards in the general community.

This is expressed practically in different ways by the different groups, but matters of fellowship and church discipline used to be generally not merely questions of local responsibility; such decisions would have been accepted in all meetings. Exclusive Brethren were therefore sometimes described as Connexional Brethren, as they recognised an obligation to accept and adhere to the disciplinary actions of other associated assemblies. For example, where one of their branches had excluded a person from Christian fellowship, that person remained excluded from all other branches, who must then treat the excluded person as a leper (according to the book of Leviticus Chapter 15). This is still the practice amongst the Brethren and no doubt would be claimed by other independent assemblies. In contrast, Open Brethren allow each assembly to make its own decision about fellowship. An exception to this is Needed Truth Brethren who are connexional (believing in the unity of all assemblies) even though they are historically associated with Open Brethren.

Excepting assembly unity, there are common threads throughout all Plymouth Brethren groups, most notably the centrality of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion) in the weekly calendar as well as the format of meetings and worship: the distinctions between the many groups are generally not well understood by non-members. The adjective exclusive has been applied to the groups by others, partially due to their determination to separate from and exclude what they believe to be evil. Exclusive Brethren usually disown any name and simply refer to themselves as Christians, brethren, those with whom we walk, those in fellowship with us, or the saints. However, the Raven/Taylor/Hales group being the most universally identifiable has attracted the term Exclusive Brethren and accepted its application to themselves as meaning, the exclusion of, or withdrawal from, evil.

Dissecting the history and branches of the Exclusive Brethren, particularly in the 20th century, can be a challenge as there has been no formal mechanism for documenting their movement's history.

Beliefs and structure

With the exception of Raven/Taylor/Hales group, Exclusive Brethren differ very little from the Open Brethren on theological issues, both holding the Bible as their sole authority in regard to matters of doctrine and practice and both groups relying heavily on doctrine held and propagated by John Nelson Darby. With few exceptions, particularly in regards to whom to accept into fellowship, exclusive brethren have continued to hold the same beliefs that inspired the Plymouth Brethren.

As mentioned earlier, the centrality of the Lord's Supper (Holy Communion) is one of the primary linking threads between the groups, however it is also one of the primary differentiators between the various Exclusive Brethren sub-groups: there are exclusive groups which receive all professing Christians to communion, and there are exclusive groups which restrict access to communion to those who are known to be in their fellowship. The Raven/Taylor/Hales group were generally regarded as having the most stringent and uncompromising views on this. However only two of their services are closed to those who are not members in good standing, the Lord's Supper and the monthly Care Meeting, with well disposed members of the public free to come in to Gospel Preachings and other meetings.

Most Exclusive Brethren groups have no formal leadership structure. As a result schisms can occur in the Brethren over disagreements about church discipline and whether other sister groups in other locations have authority to intervene in these disagreements. There are often global family connections due to the emphasis among members to marry within the Exclusive Brethren, and family connections often influences which side of the issue members will take. The Raven/Taylor/Hales Brethren avoid this trend by having a structured leadership with a central authority figure which has maintained unity through the upholding of a universal standard.

Hymns and music

Hymns are a vital part of the worship of Exclusive Brethren. Most branches of Exclusive Brethren use one of the many editions of the Little Flock Hymn Book. All editions come from the same source: J.N.Darby's hymnbook of 1881 which drew on earlier work by George V. Wigram.

Most singing is a capella though some meetings might use an organ or piano in the gospel preaching or for ministry meetings.

A recording of singing at Park Street (Raven/Taylor/Hales Brethren) can be found on open source audio

Numbers

There are perhaps 1,000,000 people who can be roughly classified as Plymouth Brethren worldwide, the majority of which belong to the Open Brethren.^[12]

Of the rest, it is difficult to number, with the exception of the Raven/Taylor/Hales group, of which there are approximately 40,000 meeting in 300 church assemblies in 19 countries, with strongest representation in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and North America.^[2][3]

Notes on the history of the group

The Plymouth Brethren split into exclusive and open brethren in 1848 when George Muller refused John Nelson Darby's view of the relationship between local assemblies following difficulties in the Plymouth meeting. Brethren that held Muller's view of independency became known as "Open", those holding Darby's 'connexional' view, became known as "Exclusive" or "Darbyite" Brethren.

Most Exclusive Brethren are described as "Darbyite" as they in the main adhere to the original doctrines and teachings of John Darby, and do not accept the concept of a doctrine that evolves through the teachings of successive leaders. Neither do they accept the concept that teachings of church leaders are authoritative, divinely sanctioned, and binding on those in fellowship, as is the belief of the Raven/Taylor/Hales Brethren.

The Raven/Taylor/Hales group have recognized a succession of leaders whom they believe are divinely ordained, unlike the other Exclusive Brethren groups. The Raven/Taylor/Hales group holds that John Nelson Darby's ministry was followed by that of F E Raven (1837–1903), James Taylor Sr (1870–1953), James Taylor Jr (1899–1970), James H Symington (1911–1987), John Hales (1922–2004), and, currently, Bruce D. Hales.

Teaching of these leaders has been upheld and maintained by the Brethren, although some have been attacked and are held to be heretical by not only other Brethren groups, but also some persons in mainstream Christianity. Among the questioned teachings are the teaching of Mr. Raven regarding eternal life; of Mr. Taylor Sr. regarding the sonship of Christ and the worship of the Holy Spirit; and the extensive socially radical teachings of Mr. Taylor Jr, including not eating with non-members, not being members in professional organizations, not living in apartment buildings, and not keeping household pets. There is information available to any interested enquirer to show the Scriptural basis of all the teachings.^[13]

Political activities

The Exclusive Brethren were accused of providing over half a million dollars to the campaign of George W. Bush, another half-million to the campaign of New Zealand National leader, Don Brash, and large amounts to the campaign of Australia's John Howard. The Brethren Church claims it has never engaged in political activity. Individual citizens have the right to express their concerns and encourage principles which they support or believe are right.

Australia

The media attention on the brethren has been particularly active in Australasia, due to the lobbying of a handful of disaffected persons. In 2007, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation current affairs television program 'Four Corners' aired an investigation into a claim of secret campaigning by the Exclusive Brethren alleging that church elders had met with both the then Australian Prime Minister John Howard and the Treasurer Peter Costello^[14] and had allegedly provided them with their support.^[15] The programme purported to reveal that the Brethren had a vigorous and largely untold political history going back at least to 1993, and claimed to provide evidence of a trail spelling out how its members have spent millions in state and federal elections and overseas, including the USA.

In the Australian state of Tasmania, tens of thousands of dollars was given in a campaign against the Greens in the Tasmanian State election claiming the Greens policies regarding transgender and inter-sex people would "ruin our families and society". This led to a complaint to the Anti-discrimination Tribunal and some private individuals issued an apology to partly settle that complaint. Further legal action regarding this complaint is ongoing. The published apology however was paid for by an agency acting for the Liberal Party which has led to calls by Senator Bob Brown for politicians to declare their relationships with the group and called for an anti-corruption inquiry into their influence.^[16][17]

New Zealand

In New Zealand, it was claimed that clandestine campaigning by the Exclusive Brethren was such that at one stage it had "threatened the Government" of that country.^[16] Ex New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark accused the sect of hiring a private detective to gather dirt on her and husband Peter Davis, who was photographed kissing one of the couple's oldest friends, Dr Ian Scott, who is gay.^[4][18]

References

1. ^ "Exclusive Brethren". Reachout Trust. 2008-01-09. http://www.reachouttrust.org/articleView.php?id=288. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Who are the Exclusive Brethren Christian Fellowship?". The Exclusive Brethren official website. The Exclusive Brethren. http://www.theexclusivebrethren.com. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Halpin, Tony (2005-03-21). "Top marks for sect schools that shun the modern world". The Times (London: Times Newspapers Ltd). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1534692,00.html/. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Denholm, Matthew (2006-09-25). "Exclusive Brethren school kids 'brainwashed'". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 2010-08-04. http://www.webcitation.org/5riXC3VFe. Retrieved 2010-08-04. 
5. ^ http://peebs.net/
6. ^ http://www.culthelp.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=3&id=15&Itemid=8
7. ^ ^{a b c d} http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/exclusivebrethren_1.shtml
8. ^ Bachelard, Michael (2009-06-28). "Ex-Brethren father loses battle for children". The Age (Melbourne). http://www.theage.com.au/national/exbrethren-father-loses-battle-for-children-20090627-d0lc.html. 
9. ^ "Fed: Exclusive Brethren "extremist cult", says Rudd" AAP General News Wire. Sydney: Aug 22, 2007. pg. 1 http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22288290-5003500,00.html
10. ^ FireStorm Black Saturday's Tragedy Dennis Jones & Associates PTY Ltd. 2009 ISBN 978 0 646 52130 5
11. ^ The New Believers A Survey of Sects, Cults and Alternative Religions Cassell & Co. 2001 ISBN 0 304 35592 5
12. ^ Abigail, Shawn. ""Plymouth Brethren" FAQ". http://www.brethrenonline.org/faqs/Brethren.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-19. 
13. ^ www.theexclusivebrethren.com
14. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2007/s2012520.htm
15. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2007/s2057172.htm
16. ^ ^{a b} http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2006/1624361.htm
17. ^ http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/08/21/2663292.htm
18. ^ Young, Audrey (18 September 2006). "Bitter Clark savages rumours". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10401769. Retrieved 30 September 2011. 

Further reading

• Behind the Exclusive Brethren by Michael Bachelard, published by Scribe Publications, ISBN 9781921372285
• “The Brethren”: A Current Sociological AppraisalPDF (116 KiB), The Origins And Development of the Brethren Movement-Bryan R. Wilson, Oxford 2000

External links

• BBC article on the history and main beliefs of the Exclusive Brethren
• The Exclusive Brethren Christian Fellowship: Raven-Taylor-Hales main website.
• The Bible Centre
• My Brethren – History and Ministry of the early 'Exclusive Brethren' (so-called) – their origin, progress and testimony 1827–1959 and onward
• CH Spurgeon critical of Darby Brethren, from June 1869 edition of Sword and Trowel
• Bible Counsel Christian fellowship showing some church history and distinction between so-called "Plymouth Brethren" sects.