LIFE in a Somewhat Obscure Christian Group

 

JMP and Jesus Camp

 

Some of you know that I grew up in a little known British and Irish created Christian group, commonly known as the Plymouth Brethren. 

N.B. 1 -  There is no connection whatsoever with American denominations whose names include the word “Brethren”.

N.B 2 –  The Brethren were/are a fissiparous group, so  a Google search for “Plymouth Brethren” will most likely lead to the strictest and eccentric groups (sometimes called “Exclusive Brethren”)  .   The “Plymouths” and the “Exclusives”  have a common ancestry in Ireland and England, but have become almost Hatfield and McCoy like enemies.

The group I was part of usually referred to themselves as the Assemblies:  the Church becomes the Church when believers assemble

We met in what were usually called “Gospel Halls”: making the point that the building is a place where the Gospel is preached;  i.e.  the building is not the Church.

Each local Assembly is independent and autonomous. There is no hierarchy or denominational structure.  We were bound together by common belief and practice.  Each local Church is simply “in fellowship” with other like- minded Assemblies.

Similarly it is not possible to join, or become a member of a local assembly. After Baptism (upon a profession of faith, so infant baptism does not count) one is recognized as being in fellowship with believers in the local Church.

Assemblies have no ordained ministers.  The local Church has a group of male elders whose ministry is to have “oversight” of the believers, in other words not to govern, but to look over the congregation for its best interests.

(Incidentally, in the Episcopal Church the Bishop is not supposed to be “in charge”. He/she is called to have oversight for the good of the parishes). The very word Bishop is rooted in a N.T. Greek word which means “to look over”.

Back to the Brethren Assemblies. The Sunday morning gathering is always a sharing in the Bread and Wine of the Lord’s supper, known to them as the “Breaking of Bread”.

I was spiritually nurtured in an Assembly; we met at Chelsea Gospel Hall, less than a quarter of a mile from my home. I remember with fondness my earliest Sunday school teacher, one Miss Maud Kethro. Her class adored her.

I was in fellowship with two different Assemblies until my mid-twenties, when I became an Anglican.

 

 I no longer believed that the Brethren were the one and only true New Testament Church. I no longer accepted their strictures about the evils of “the world” which were to be avoided to the point of misery.  I no longer trusted their obsession with Biblical prophecy and the end of times; the Great Tribulation; and the second coming of Jesus.

I bear them no malice.  They introduced me to Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

And there were those Brethren sponsored glorious summer camps:  under canvas for six weeks ; three for boys and three for girls.  More about them tomorrow.

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