The PBCC

 The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren originated in 19^th century Plymouth England. A small gathering of dissatisfied Anglicans began gathering and forming their own fellowship. They claim to have rejected the ecclesiastical arrangement or the clerical hierarchy and focus on personal relationships with God. So far, they have had seven leaders or “Men of God”. They have a variety of other terms for these men elect vessel, beloved brother and Man of God. These men claim to have, as I like to put it, a direct line to God. The man in charge when I left was Bruce D Hales. The words of these men are put into print and are called ministry. The first print is usually a small white book, aptly named a white book. Once they have enough of these printed, they will be combined into a larger volume of meeting prints. Each Man of God has a different color of book the most recent being brown books. They also have reference books and indexes so you can search by topic or by scripture.

The members of the PBCC are expected to attend church ten times per week. On Sunday or as they call it the Lords Day, they have the Breaking of Bread which is like Communion. The locality as they call it, splits into smaller groups and goes to one of the local rooms. The brothers sit in the inner most row of benches or chairs and the sisters sit behind them in the second row. In the center of this circle is a basket with a circular loaf of bread, a simple chalice filled with wine or port, and an empty basket. It starts with one man standing to pray over the bread which he then breaks in half and passes to the nearest sister. It goes around the circle and the last sister passes the bread to the man in front of her. The bread then is passed around the inner circle. Each person takes a piece and eats it. As you pass the bread on you must make eye contact with the person you are passing it to. The last brother with the bread puts it back on the center table. This process is repeated with the chalice. After the chalice is placed back on the table the empty basket is passed around and each person present places their weekly donation into the collection basket. Once children are able to reach for these items, they are considered old enough to partake. The result is children younger than a year-old drinking wine. This is followed by hymns and prayers. Each sister picks a hymn and says the number aloud, usually a man will repeat the number into the mic and start the hymn, which is sung acapella, women join in the singing. Hymns and prayers are mixed. Each brother stands and prays.

The next meeting is the reading. This meeting takes place at the city hall and all the brethren from the locality attend the meeting. There is also usually an interchange the closest locality to your own will visit or you visit them. Again, the men sit in the inner rows of the circle with the women in the rows behind them. The meeting starts off with a sister giving out a hymn which a brother announces in the mic and another brother starts. All singing in PBCC church meetings is done acapella. The hymn is followed by a prayer from a brother. Then a brother is asked to “take the meeting” this involves him reading a scripture or series of scriptures. He then initiates a conversation based on these scriptures. Only brothers are allowed to take part in these conversations. The meeting ends with another hymn and is immediately followed by a series of three preachers otherwise known as a preaching. The first preacher stands in the center of the room and prays, he then reads his scripture or scriptures and gives a speech about them usually fifteen minutes in length. The next two preachers do not pray but read their scriptures and give a speech on them. Preachings sometimes also involve ministry from the past and/or current leaders. The meeting ends with another hymn and prayer. There are another two sets of preachings each with three preachers. This makes for a total of four meetings on a Sunday.

Monday is a Prayer Meeting this meeting is again in local rooms. The sisters and brothers sit in the same formations as in the Breaking of Bread, but this time there is no table in the center of the room. The meeting starts with a hymn given out by a sister and announced and started by a brother. All the brothers then take turns standing to pray for things such as the health and safety of the Man of God and his wife and family, the removal of opposers, and other current affairs including but not limited to government issues. The meeting is then ended by another sister giving out another hymn which is announced and started by another brother.

Tuesday is a Ministry Meeting this meeting is held in the city room with only local brethren attending unless there are visitors in which case they also attend. The meeting starts with a hymn and a prayer. Two brothers stand one after another in the center of the room and read a scripture usually one referenced in recent ministry and speak about and expand on the recent ministry. The meeting ends with another hymn and prayer.

Wednesday and Thursday are City Readings in the city room, depending on the locality there is occasionally interchange on these nights. The are similar to the Sunday Reading but are not followed by preachings, they instead end in a hymn and prayer.

Friday is three Addresses or another City Reading. Three brothers in a row stand in the center of the room and read scriptures and speak about them.

Assembly meetings are held on days where there is no interchange. Only local brethren are present, and these occur before a regular meeting. Generally, leading brother will announce before we start we have a matter to bring to the brethren’s attention. They will say who this is in reference to and a vague description of what they are doing wrong. They ask the priests on the case to confirm this is true and they have visited or tried to visit the person. The leading brother would then say they need to confine or withdraw from the person based on 2 Timothy 2 v 19 “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity.” At the end they ask if the brethren are in agreement and all the brethren say amen.

Who are priests? Priests are men in the church who are “in the clear” or have nothing currently on their conscience. A few of them are assigned to each case or person who needs them. This is usually if the person comes clean about something they feel guilty about or if someone tells on them about something they are doing wrong.

What does it mean to be confined also known as shut up? This is the first stage usually it is when you have done something wrong and need to get “in the clear” about it. You must spend time in prayer over the sin and you must ask for forgiveness from the brethren. In this stage you no longer attend church, but you can still live in your family’s home.

What does it mean to be withdrawn from? This is the second and final stage. It can be in view of you getting “in the clear” or it can be because you show no desire to get “in the clear”. In this stage you are treated as if you are dead to them. They can’t or won’t talk to you unless it is to preach at you. You can’t eat with them or live with them. Although in some cases you can live in the basement of their home. They must have separate living quarters.  

In both cases if you live with your family or another brethren family, they must go to another member’s house before going to church, so they are coming from a “clean” home.