Indian Brethren

Indian Brethren
ClassificationProtestant
OrientationPlymouth Brethren
PolityCongregationalist
RegionIndia
Origin1833
Congregations1929[1]
Members449,550 (including children)[1]
Ministers2800 (ordained ministers and more than 4300 elders)[2]
Missionaries250[3]
Tertiary institutions11[2]

The Indian Brethren are a Christian Evangelical premillennial[4] religious movement. Although they have some distinct characteristics, they have a lot in common, in both doctrine and practice, with the international Open Brethren movement, with whom nearly all of them are historically affiliated.[5]

The Brethren in India, as in most other countries, do not usually regard themselves as a denomination in the usually understood sense, but rather as a largely informal network of like-minded autonomous local churches. They remain linked mostly through common support of missionaries, area conferences, youth ministries, and the work of itinerant preachers, who are usually called evangelists. The Brethren do not ordain clergy, and each local church, called an assembly, is led by a number of Elders.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Mandryk 2010 408 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference A Great Way to do Church was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ The 'Brethren' movement - a briefing note, Jan 2013, p. 23, archived from the original on 1 February 2013, retrieved 12 Feb 2013
  4. ^ "What Brethren believe _ KeralaBrethren.net". www.keralabrethren.net.
  5. ^ Johnson C. Philip. "The Brethren Movement in India". Retrieved 2015-05-28.