What the Brethren believe, and how they worship
Brethren assemblies and Bible chapels are independent evangelical congregations from the nineteenth-century Plymouth Brethren movement, marked by a weekly breaking of bread and leadership by elders rather than clergy; the separate Brethren in Christ come from Anabaptist and Wesleyan roots.
Brethren assemblies and Bible chapels near Fergus
What Brethren Christians believe
Two different movements use the word “Brethren” in Ontario.
The assemblies known as Plymouth Brethren, Gospel Halls or Bible Chapels began in Dublin and Plymouth around 1830, when believers from several denominations, John Nelson Darby among them, began meeting simply to break bread together without ordained ministers. They hold the standard evangelical convictions about the Bible, the deity of Christ and salvation by grace through faith, and teach that every believer is a priest: gifted men teach and elders shepherd, but no one is ordained. Baptism is for believers, by immersion, and most assemblies expect Christ’s imminent return. The movement divided in 1848 into “Exclusive” and “Open” assemblies; the Bible chapels and Gospel halls found locally are Open.
The Brethren in Christ, known in Canada since 2017 as Be In Christ Church of Canada, are a separate church with roots among the “River Brethren” of Pennsylvania in the 1770s. Their founders were Anabaptists “deeply affected by the revivals of the great awakening of the eighteenth century and the Pietistic movements”; a group came to Upper Canada by 1788. They later absorbed Wesleyan holiness teaching while keeping Anabaptist commitments to peace and believers’ baptism.
Worship: what a service is like
At an Open Brethren assembly the central meeting is the breaking of bread. Believers sit around a table with bread and wine; there is no set order and no leader, and any of the men may stand to announce a hymn, read Scripture or give thanks. Traditional halls keep head coverings for women. A second meeting, often called the Family Bible Hour, has hymns and a sermon like any evangelical service; Bible chapels are more contemporary, Gospel halls plainer. A Be In Christ congregation looks like a contemporary evangelical church.
How Brethren assemblies and Bible chapels are organized
Open assemblies are fully independent, governed by a plurality of elders, with no ties beyond fellowship and shared missions; full-time workers are “commended” rather than ordained. The Be In Christ Church of Canada is a denomination with pastors and a national office, part of a family found in more than thirty countries. Guelph Bible Chapel began as a Plymouth Brethren assembly in the late 1800s.
Compared with Reformed churches
Brethren and Reformed churches agree on the authority of Scripture, the deity of Christ and salvation by grace through faith. They differ on baptism (believers only, against believers and their children), church government (independent assemblies without clergy, against federated churches with ordained ministers), the Lord’s Supper (weekly and led by any brother, against a set form led by the minister), the end times (most Brethren are premillennial) and creeds (Brethren have no formal confession; Reformed churches subscribe to the Three Forms of Unity). The Be In Christ church adds Anabaptist non-resistance and Wesleyan holiness teaching.