About the Brethren

Add to your understanding and appreciation of the facts . . .
There are Christian Brethren (Open Brethren),
Mennonite Brethren, Exclusive Brethren, Grace Brethren,

Lutheran Brethren,
Church of the Brethren etc.

all with the name Brethren but all are very

different churches and independent of each other -

just like many other Protestant churches these days.

 

The above helps you appreciate that ...

'everything is not always as it seems!'

 

* * *


AN EXPLANATION

The papers listed underneath the title:
"About the Brethren" (see left-hand column), were supplied in October 2002 by
Dr Peter J. Lineham - MA Cant, BD Otago, DPhil Sus. - Associate Professor,
School of Social and Cultural Studies, Massey University at Albany, Auckland.

The papers referred to are:

On these pages, you will read some comments and observations from a scholar whose life and training have been immersed in the facts of history. These papers do not necessarily reflect the views and position of all Christians associated with Open Brethren churches.

Enjoy them as well as the following paper by Dr John Hitchen ...


 

Who are we?
What do the Brethren have to offer today?

The first in a series of occasional papers presented by Pathways College, September, 2002.
Written by Dr John M Hitchen, Lecturer in Mission Studies at Pathways College of Bible & Mission and who with his wife Ann, fellowships
at Lincoln Road Bible Chapel.

The quest for self-identity runs deep in our current Kiwi culture – in churches as much as in society. Identity grows out of what we have to give as well as what we are in ourselves. Our contribution clarifies who we are. In the church world of today, significance and importance are often attributed to the new and unusual. Old movements, or worse, old institutions are simply regarded as old hat. There is not much joy in being part of something seen as past its prime …

* S o it's little wonder that issues of our heritage, identity and contribution as Christian Brethren churches have featured regularly in recent publications and at consultations like the 2001 Strength and Unity Conference. Self-consciousness – even a twinge of embarrassment or shame, seems to surface among us quite quickly when anyone asks the above questions. Perhaps I can be forgiven for a personal reflection. I joined the movement, or "came into fellowship" as we used to say, from biblical conviction in 1960. The Minister of the Methodist church in which I had been brought up had challenged me. Could I wholeheartedly endorse the doctrinal position of the Methodist Church in New Zealand as I sat the final exams to be registered as one of their local preachers? He pointed out that the church no longer officially endorsed the views I upheld about the authority and inspiration of the scriptures or believers' baptism.

It's necessary to find a church home where loyalty to the Sriptures is fundamental and wholehearted.

Much to the Minister's surprise I saw this as a call to act on my biblical convictions and move out of the Methodist church. I had looked carefully at Brethren pamphlets of the day setting out "Why we gather as we do". I had spent hours checking the biblical references and coming to personal convictions about the various theological issues at stake. For me, the issue was quite simple. Where could I find a church home where loyalty to the Scriptures was fundamental and wholehearted? I approached the Elders of the nearest Brethren local church and have been "in fellowship" ever since. That has meant forty wonderful years committed to learning, teaching and seeking to live the truths of the Scriptures in Papua New Guinea, Britain and back home in New Zealand.

What is more, the central truths that called me into the movement back then seem to me to have a freshness, and even greater relevance in the church scene today. Far from being embarrassed or ashamed I think our group of churches have an up-to-the-minute contribution to offer within post-modern New Zealand society. But I am not thinking about the outward set of practices that have come to characterise our movement and for which we are often best known. I'm not thinking about the bible carrying or the procession of whole families off to church each Sunday - unusual as that may be in many of our communities today. Nor am I thinking of the form of those meetings themselves. To me, the outward practices have only ever been particular time-bound attempts to apply vital underlying biblical teachings. Just as in 1960, I still see a set of biblical teachings as the basis of our identity today. And those teachings that brought our movement into being in the 1820s and 1830s still present a pointed challenge and fresh contribution to church life in New Zealand today.

What teachings do I mean? Let us reiterate some basic biblical truths that brought our movement into being and are still foundational for us today.

It's Jesus Christ who is important, for he is Lord of our lives.

* A fresh discovery of the reality of the direct Lordship of Jesus Christ over the local Church. We, and the Elders who guide us, are directly accountable to Christ Jesus, not to any other church personnel or church body – be it clergy, synod, council, or Pope. Christ rules directly in the midst of groups of believers as they function as a local church. We expect him to be present amongst us as we worship, serve, and live for him. This opens the door to each local gathering of Christians for freedom, flexibility and adaptation of patterns of church organisation and forms of meeting. This reality came to be summed up, in the minds of many, by the very practical and pragmatic phrase, "the autonomy of the local church". But "autonomy" is only a derivative idea. The foundation is the theological reality of the direct Lordship of Christ over his people. Christ is alive to work actively among those who seek to honour him in their church activities and worship This biblical teaching helps us avoid the danger of assuming "autonomous" means "independent" or "separatist". Where Christ is Lord there is inter-dependence between his people, never independence. Freedom, flexibility and direct accountability to Christ, yes. But separatism and independence, never. We do well, today, then, to re-confirm and invite others to enjoy this vital reality that the living Lord Jesus Christ is actively present to direct every aspect of our local church life and of our daily lives as his children.

* A new emphasis on the priesthood of all believers. Our salvation in Jesus Christ radically transforms our inner selves. We become God's chosen people, set apart to live for and worship him personally and directly. Again, we need no intermediary other than Christ Jesus himself to allow us to enter into direct worship in the presence of God by the agency of the Holy Spirit. Every believer today is a fully-fledged priest with two roles. We have the honour and dignity of coming into the presence of God to offer prayer, praise, worship, adoration, thanksgiving and intercession on behalf of other believers. We also represent God to our fellows by announcing and sharing his word with one another. Entering freely into the presence of God. Representing each other to God and God to each other. These are the hallmarks of the priesthood flowing from our faith in Christ. We repudiate the need for any church dignitary to mediate between our God and us. The death of Christ totally transformed the way of access into the holy presence of God. The Old Testament pattern of needing a few specially set apart priests to represent us in approaching God has been set aside. Now, in our New Testament age, each believer enjoys that free and open priestly privilege. Because we have each tasted his gift of new life, we each have open access in and out of God's holy presence. Our church worship patterns aim to express and cultivate the use of that freedom.

It's nothing to do with gender, ethnicity or wealth - God sees all believers as equals in Christ.

This commitment to the priesthood of all believers is a basic resource for addressing a number of issues challenging Christians in modern Aotearoa, New Zealand. The reality that we all stand equal before our Lord and Saviour is good news indeed for our sadly divided communities. Divisions based on ethnic differences are tearing at the heart of our national unity. Each local church has the opportunity to demonstrate in their locality that race and cultural background do not hinder anyone from the same open welcome and free, full, participation in our local churches as equals with every other believer. The priesthood of all believers provides a solid foundation for mutual respect, acceptance and cooperation in worship and Christian service across any and all ethnic boundaries. We still have a long way to go to make this the norm in our local churches but we have the biblical foundation firmly in place.

Likewise, this reality of every believer being a New Testament priest called to bring offerings of praise and adoration to Our Lord means socio-economic distinctions also count for nothing among us as we worship. Those in the humblest circumstances are as much at home and free to contribute in worship as the most affluent of our members – and equally respected. Historically, those who have come to Christ from lower socio-economic backgrounds through our churches have usually become upwardly mobile as their life-styles and work habits have been transformed by the gospel. But the concept of the priesthood of all believers challenges any tendency to every form of social snobbery or economic elitism amongst us as Christians.

Space forbids exploring the third category of common division that our commitment to the priesthood of all believers addresses pointedly - gender inequities (cf. Galatians 3:28). Regardless of our gender, ethnic identity or socio-economic standing, the truth of the priesthood of all believers offers a stimulating personal purpose, significance and identity. In our present-day society it is often in precisely these areas that divisions arise and we marginalize one another. So a fresh dose of this foundational Brethren teaching hits the mark today.

It's accepted that each church and its activities is the responsibility of its members.

A number of other basic beliefs are closely related to this priesthood theme.

* Our movement was initially motivated strongly by rediscovering the reality that every believer also shares in the Holy Spirit's distribution of gifts for service. Our forefathers reacted strongly against the idea that only a special class of Christians could take leadership responsibility in the church. The division between clergy and laity was firmly rejected. Just as, on the basis of our common priesthood, any believer can give thanks for, or share in distributing, the bread or cup at communion, so we should expect every one in line with their particular gifts, to have a contribution in the evangelism, pastoral care, teaching or other practical service ministries of the church. Biblical study shows that New Testament churches enjoyed leadership by a "plurality of Elders". "One man ministry" – where a specially ordained clergyman controlled the life of a local congregation – was also rejected as unbiblical. Since every believer shares in the "ordination of the pierced hands" we expect to find several believers in each local church suitably gifted to guide and lead the local fellowship. The value of shared leadership has lost none of its relevance over the years – as is increasingly commonly recognized amongst other church groupings today. Moreover, commitment to plural leadership offers an important corrective in our dangerously individualistic world of authoritarian church leadership. The down side of the way we have applied this truth has been our poor track record in opening doors amongst us for those whom Christ has equipped particularly to build up local churches – with gifts for pastoral or teaching ministries. But our problems in this area have been largely pragmatic – our theology ought to make it easy to welcome and respect such gifted persons alongside all the other varieties of gifting we expect in any local church. Thankfully, we are making progress in this area. The days are well past when all we offered those sensing a call to full-time Christian service amongst us was either the proverbial mobile home or overseas mission ticket!

It's in prepared hearts and focussed minds that the Holy Spirit works to encourage true worship.

* Also closely linked to the priesthood of all believers was new emphasis on the leading of the Holy Spirit in our worship meetings. Our movement had stressed the importance of worshipping together as a body of believers. As priests with direct access to God we depend wholeheartedly on the Holy Spirit to be at work amongst us, guiding our expressions of worship and making them acceptable to God. So, during our times of communal worship we seek to be sensitive to the way the Spirit is directing the thoughts being expressed in worship. We expect the Holy Spirit to prepare our hearts and bring ideas and insights for worship to our minds as we prepare before coming to the worship meeting and even as we participate in it. We expect the Holy Spirit to bring continuity and harmony between the contributions different people make to the worship. We recognise developing themes, fresh perspectives on the same truth, and an inter-relationship between the content of prayers prayed and hymns chosen as evidence of this guidance of the Spirit. We recognise a concentration and focus on fresh aspects of the person and work of Christ as a sign of the Holy Spirit leading the worship. We question the appropriateness of any contributions that are in any way self-centred or pandering to human pride, for those are not the ways of the Spirit. We welcome sincere and gracious thanksgiving as evidence of the Spirit's presence in the manner and content of words shared and encouragement brought during the worship. When music, words, songs and prayers draw us into an awareness of the presence of God we rejoice that the Spirit is drawing us together as a local expression of the "Temple of God". We cherish the fact that God dwells in and with his church - the body of all those who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and have received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

This combined focus on the priesthood of all believers, the diversity of gifts of the Holy Spirit shared amongst all Christians and the active presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, along with the closely related priority given regularly to remembering the central reality of the death and resurrection of Christ in the Lord's Supper, are the foundation of our distinctive patterns of worship. We can express these biblical teachings in a range of practical ways – from complete spontaneity to various levels of structure. But it is the regular expression of the biblical truths, not any particular way or form of expressing them, that is foundational for our churches.

We are surrounded by a society craving precisely what these truths offer. A foundation for personal significance within a meaningful community is what post-moderns are seeking. That is what the priesthood of all believers offers. Embracing the reality of the spiritual realm is the yearning behind the New Age quest. That is a vital aspect of what the gifts and leading of the Holy Spirit achieve in worship.

* Openly expressing the unity of all believers in Christ, and enjoying fellowship with other believers without any additional conditions other than a common life in Christ, are two further biblical teachings foundational to our movement. We know that common faith in Jesus unites us both with Jesus Himself and with all other believers. Christ creates our unity with other Christians by his act of saving us. We do not need any other membership process in order to enter and belong in the fellowship of our churches. New birth as members of the family of God is just as essential for our own children as for anyone from our increasingly pagan and ungodly world. But, as soon as we are joined into Christ by personal faith we are already one with every other Christian. In him we are already incorporated into his Body, the church. This is why we repudiate any requirements for formal membership before full participation in our fellowships. That is why "all who love the Lord" are welcome to share communion in our churches without any other prior conditions.

It's our common faith and love for Jesus Christ that unites us as members of God's family.

This commitment to the unity of all believers is, of course, one strong strand under girding the sense of family pervading our movement. This awareness of our common faith and common love for Christ is of prime importance. This sense of family life is a hallmark of both our strength and unity. But this sense of family is a derived, rather than fundamental, identifying mark of our movement. It arises from the prior reality of our unity as believers and our joint participation in Christ.

Grasping and expressing the unity of all believers and our sense of family in Christ Jesus create an inherent difficulty. Historically this truth has freed some of us, as Christian Brethren, to be fully involved in serving widely with Christians from other church groupings. Members of our churches have made a huge contribution to interdenominational evangelism, mission and bible teaching both in New Zealand and internationally. Many of us have participated freely in inter-denominational work to demonstrate our commitment to the unity of all true believers in Christ. But at the same time others in our movement, while still committed to the unity of all believers, have withdrawn from such involvement with other denominational allegiances. These brothers and sisters have been genuinely concerned lest they be wrongly associated with those who have no living faith in Christ. They have a healthy fear lest believers become yoked with unbelievers, and ignore the warning to "come out from among them and be separate". This same common teaching, strongly upheld by both groups, is still a source of inner tension amongst us. We agree on the unity of all believers. We differ, and argue about whether others rightly deserve the name of Christian believers.

Here the inter-relationship between two of our foundational truths becomes vital. We need to hold together both the reality of Christ's direct Lordship over each local group of believers and the reality that all believers are one in Christ. The first truth warns us against judging other people. They stand or fall before their living Lord who is their only judge. But we also need to decide whether or not other people are in Christ so that we can fulfil our obligation to accept them as already one with us in him. This is an ongoing, and healthy dilemma, although it has been the cause of much pain throughout our history. How well we hold these two realities together could well be crucial in confirming our future as a movement – and our credibility in impacting the world around us.

It's every believer's responsibility to expose what they hear and learn to the light of God's word - the Bible.

* Underlying each of these teachings is the further reality of a lively commitment to the Bible as the all-sufficient Word of God. Sufficient not only for life and faith, but also as our guide for church order and practice. We recognise no other doctrinal statements or creeds as having authority in our churches. The Bible itself is our rule of faith. Other credal statements only have validity in so far as they summarise the clear intent of the Bible itself. They must point us back to the Bible as our standard and authority. Any outline of basic teachings, such as this article, is only helpful in so far as it accurately reflects the balance of biblical teaching. Within the Christian Brethren movement we expect every believer to become a serious theologian – in the true sense of that word – as students of the ways of God revealed in the scriptures. We refuse to hand the task of understanding the scriptures over to any group of experts amongst us. Every believer tests and weighs all teaching to ensure, like the Bereans, whether or not what the speaker says is true to the Word of God. At the same time our movement has always been heavily dependent upon those among us who have devoted themselves to the full-time study of the Word of God. A comparatively large proportion of the first generation of Brethren were well-trained biblical scholars. Many brought into the movement – and continued to build on – credible theological degrees. The contribution of some like G.V.Wigram and S.P.Tregelles to philology and "textual criticism" is still respected in academic circles today. This dependence on those who have offered their biblical scholarship in the service of our churches has continued – though often publicly deprecated – right up to today. W.E.Vine and F.F.Bruce are household names to my generation, not only to those who are Christian Brethren but also to evangelical households - globally. The recent calls for a return to the study of our biblical roots highlight the importance of all of us –especially the full-time bible teachers amongst us – digging deeper in serious study of the scriptures once more. The swing in New Zealand during the 1980s and 1990s to a merely subjective personal spiritual experience has proved inadequate as a foundation for effective faith. We are witnessing a fresh hunger for the objective, but personally experienced, teaching of the Word of God to give some depth to spiritual claims. This is an open invitation to re-present for the good of the whole Christian community what we claim to have known as central in our movement since the beginning.

I could go on to highlight the centrality of Christ's atoning work we hold in common with other evangelicals; or to our heritage of intense devotional response to the Lord Jesus Christ; or to our expectation that each of us will actively witness to our faith in Christ and look for evangelistic opportunities; or to expand on our commitment to the belief that there is always fresh light to be gained from the Scriptures (1) But the above are key formative truths to which Christian Brethren churches have been committed and which have a special relevance in our society today. The name is not foundational. But the biblical principles are. We could do well to consider fresh names more appropriate to present-day language and gender sensitivities. (2)I warmed to the idea raised at the 2001 Strength and Unity Conference that we use the phrase, "A Partnership Church" as a by-line beneath whatever current name we use on our local church buildings or letterheads. But name changes alone will prove inadequate as the basis for either our identity or a fresh contribution to our current needy world. Our commonly held biblical teachings alone can carry that weight.

OUR CHALLENGE TODAY is to reconfirm that these biblical beliefs are fundamental to our identity. Then we need to express them afresh in consistent and relevant ways in our present-day society. Now is the time for us unashamedly and humbly to offer anew these central foundational truths as the basis for our distinct contribution to Christian testimony in our post-modern world.


John M. Hitchen

Pathways College of Bible and Mission
June 2002

1 Some of which I have done in the brief note, "What Should Characterise the Brethren?" - in CBRF Journal 114, 1988:5,6.
2 As Christian Brethren churches are doing in Britain. Perhaps we could even develop a Kiwi version of the logo associated with that phrase in Britain.




Click here to read the information Dr Lineham has contributed.