Open Brethren - History

History

The separation of the independent or open brethren from the Exclusive Brethren occurred through the denouncing of Benjamin Wills Newton, the elder of the Plymouth assembly, at that time the largest of the Brethren assemblies, by John Nelson Darby who disagreed with him on matters of prophecy and church organisation. Having forced him to admit to theological errors, Darby then attacked George Müller and Henry Craik at Bethesda Chapel in Bristol for accepting two others of that assembly, even though they were not implicated in any of Newton's errors.

This led to a separation of Bethesda from Darby and a clear adoption of an independent or congregational stance by many of the assemblies. The statement of the assembly at Tottenham gives clearly the position of the Open Brethren:

We welcome to the table, on individual grounds, each saint, not because he or she is a member of this or that gathering or denomination of Christians nor because they are followers of any particular leader, but on such testimony as commends itself to us as being sufficient. We distincly refuse to be parties to any exclusion of those who, we are satisfied, are believers——except on grounds personally applying to their individual faith and conduct.

Unlike the exclusive Darbyites who "became more and more introverted and mystical as the years passed" the open brethren continued their development, with an emphasis on the "faith missions" pioneered by Anthony Norris Groves in India and George Müller with his orphanages in Bristol. In 1853 they started their first missionary journal, The Missionary Reporter. In 1859 the religious revival which reached Britain had a transforming effect on many of the assemblies and brought in new leaders such as Joseph Denham Smith. Ulster became one of the stronger centres and expansion occurred in Scotland and northern England. In London, Thomas John Barnardo began his rescue work with orphans. Dwight L. Moody from Chicago, on a trip to England to visit George Müller and Charles H. Spurgeon met a young man in a Dublin assembly, Henry Moorhouse who was to profoundly influence his preaching style when he preached at Moody's church, revolutionising his work as an evangelist.

This period led to the styling of many of the meetings as "gospel halls", many of which still exist.

In Barnstaple, one of the largest early brethren assemblies developed from the inspiring example of Robert Cleaver Chapman, who continued his ministry until the end of the century. He had made an evangelistic tour of Spain in 1838 and after 1869 the work expanded in Barcelona and Madrid and also in Portugal. In Italy, an indigenous development by Count Guicciardini linked up with T. P. Rossetti (the cousin of Dante Gabriel Rossetti) in England although the Protestant "Brethren" faced persecution and imprisonment by the Catholic church.

The movement soon spread with English-speaking emigrants to Australia and New Zealand as well as to the United States and Canada. Some 600 congregations were recorded in 1959 in the U.S. and 300 in Canada.