Gathering to His Name: The Story of Open Brethren in Britain and Ireland.
Wood, Richard E.
Gathering to His Name: The Story of Open Brethren in Britain and
Ireland. By Tim Grass. Studies in Evangelical History and Thought.
Milton Keynes, U.K.: Paternoster, 2006. xx + 593 pp. 29.95 [pounds
sterling]; $49.99 paper.
This nicely written and detailed survey of Open Brethren history
from its beginnings in the late 1820s to the present is sympathetic
enough to appeal to insiders, but also supplies balance, critical
analysis, and solid scholarship. Noting that Brethren were a part of a
significant and growing evangelical movement in the early nineteenth
century, Grass characterizes them as radicals for whom even most other
seceders from the Anglican Church seemed too worldly. After sketching
the early leaders around whom the sect coalesced and analyzing the great
division between Exclusive and Open Brethren in the late 1840s, the
author presents mainly the history of the latter in three additional
eras, whose story he tells in topically organized chapters.
Grass first analyzes the period of growth and identity
clarification, 1850-1914, in which the movement generally maintained a
definite separation from the surrounding world. He then turns to the
next era concluding at the end of World War II, during which these
Brethren shared in the pessimism of the fundamentalist movement, but
edged toward greater participation in the political arena. Since 1945,
Open Brethren have reduced their distance from other evangelicals, but
since the 1960s they have been less fruitful evangelistically in an era
of secularism and prosperity. Polarization has intensified conservatives
who maintain distinctiveness even at the expense of growth and
"progressives" who sometimes gain in numbers by adopting the
practices of other denominations, but in certain instances have dropped
their Brethren identity entirely. Overall membership numbers have
declined dramatically in the last twenty years to about 40 thousand;
however, Open Brethren still support foreign missions proportionately
more than other British evangelicals do.
As the only detailed account covering Open Brethren in Britain and
Ireland from its beginnings to the present, this study will stimulate
further research. The book covers home support of foreign evangelism,
but provides no detail on the missions themselves nor statistical
estimates of Brethren membership elsewhere in the world. The 507 pages
of text include numerous footnotes at the bottom of most pages and 67
helpful illustrations plus 11 tables. There are also 21 pages of
appendices, a list of abbreviations, a 44-page bibliography with 26
pages of primary sources, and a good index.
Often labeled by outsiders as "Plymouth Brethren," they
have preferred such designations as "Christian Brethren," or
simply "Brethren." Through Bible study, members aspired to
restore the spirit and principles of the New Testament church and to
welcome other Christians who embraced this ideal. But Grass concludes
that they ultimately became a denomination with distinctive beliefs and
practices, reading certain publications, channeling missionary support
through common agencies, and maintaining lists of assemblies (local
congregations) with whom they tended to associate. In the schism of
1848-49, Open Brethren insisted on the freedom to receive in membership
any applicant they believed to be "sound in faith and godly in
life." The other faction, here designated as Exclusive Brethren,
screened out applicants regarded as "linked in fellowship with
teachers of erroneous doctrine" (3).
From the beginning, Brethren celebrated the Lord's Supper each
Sunday without ordained clergy during a spontaneous service in which any
male member could offer prayer, begin a hymn, or exhort others present.
During the first generation, men of means or education furnished much of
the leadership. One or more individuals sometimes settled in a given
location to provide spiritual nurture without an agreed-upon salary.
Among the best known of these early leaders was John Nelson Darby,
foremost of the Exclusives after the separation, of whom the author
provides a careful and evenhanded analysis, in contrast to Darby's
treatment by more partisan Open Brethren historians. Scholars of the
later fundamentalist movement have elsewhere noted Darby's
premillennialist and dispensationalist eschatology, which long continued
to influence Open Brethren as well. Prominent among early leaders on the
"Open" side were Anthony Norris Groves and George Muller, a
preacher who beginning in 1836 founded six orphanages supported by
prayer and without direct appeals for financial contributions.
Open Brethren in the period 1850-1914 solidified their identity and
expanded through evangelism in Britain and Ireland and on foreign
mission fields. Considering themselves to be primarily citizens of
heaven pending the imminent return of Christ, they avoided involvement
in politics, even voting. However, their sympathies followed the
conservative formula "pray, pay, and obey": pray for
government leaders, pay taxes, and comply with the law. Growing through
the interdenominational revivals of 1859 and during the British campaign
from 1873-75 of American evangelist Dwight L. Moody, they adopted some
songs of his partner Ira Sankey but otherwise minimized their contacts
with other evangelicals. Despite the independence of local assemblies
and the lack of a central bureaucracy, foreign missions thrived.
Inspired by missionary conferences and periodicals such as The
Missionary Echo, 1872-75, and its successor, Echoes of Service, funding
reached as many as six hundred Brethren missionaries by 1909. Their
concept of "living by faith" also came to characterize such
interdenominational groups as the China Inland Mission, for which
Brethren assemblies provided important financial support and some
personnel.
Tim Grass breaks much new ground in the final 230 pages covering
the period since 1914. Among the topics surveyed are noncombatant
service in World War I and the periodical debates about Christian
pacifism. He notes the impact of blackouts and flying bombs on local
assemblies in World War II. For the years since 1945, the changing role
of women in the movement, increasing social concern, decreasing emphasis
on and greater diversity in eschatology, the influence of the
charismatic movement, and the increasing impact of higher education are
among the issues addressed. The relationship between Open and Exclusive
Brethren also receives attention. However, there is no coverage of
prominent assemblies over the last hundred years, nor a sociological
study of the membership. Still, this is an excellent volume, which is
also well bound.
Richard E. Wood
Seminole State College
