Our way of life

We are Christians, and we seek to live a full, good life, as guided by the Holy Bible. We connect with our Community on a regular basis in simple Gospel Halls around the globe, and we come together every Sunday to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, which you may know as Holy Communion.  

We don’t believe ourselves to be superior to anyone else, and we live alongside people of other faiths and no faith every single day.  

Some people may refer to us as the ‘Exclusive Brethren ’; however, ‘exclusive’ isn’t a term that describes our Community.  

Contrary to what you might read:  

• we engage with society and seek opportunities to support local, regional and global initiatives with care and compassion  
• we pay our taxes 
• we are respectful neighbours and actively contribute to the local communities where we live, work and serve 
• we own and operate family businesses that employ more than 56,000 individuals not affiliated with the Church 
• we use mobile phones, laptops and the internet, just like everyone else 
• we don’t recruit new members, members are born into our Church 
• education is important, so much so that we created OneSchool Global, one of the largest networks of independent schools in the world
• no religious instruction takes place at our schools other than information about different religions, which is included in the curriculum
• students study online tertiary education degrees if they wish to do so 

We were established in the early nineteenth century in Plymouth, England, and we have grown to a Community of just over 54,000, with members in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, North and South America, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom. We refer to ourselves as the “Brethren” because we are a tight-knit community of families. 

We know that we do things a little differently, so we’ve answered your questions to help address some of the myths that exist about us and our way of life. If you still have questions about our Church, we welcome you to get in touch.