Monday, December 15, 2008

Interesting experience

I visited Stark Road Gospel Hall yesterday. It is a Plymouth Brethren church, although nowhere in their name or on their webpage does that appear (which I believe is fairly typical among the PB churches). It was unlike most Christian church services I have been in. Very familiar in a few ways, but very much not in others.

It was a stark contrast (no pun intended) with a church I visited a few weeks ago, a local Baptist church, very conservative, openly Calvinistic. The church building was, not putting too fine a point on it, opulent. The service was quite charming and wholesome, but carefully orchestrated. The music was well done, they had “worship folders” instead of mere bulletins. The crowd was middle aged for the most part, and quite clearly upper crust economically. Nice people but the service had an air of the stage to it.

The service we attended at Stark Road Gospel Hall was a polar opposite. It was simplicity in every respect (and I mean that as a compliment!) The building is functional but has very spartan adornment. Wooden chairs, no “Christian” flags on the stage, a simple pulpit, no choir loft. We sang one song without musical accompaniment from tiny hymnals people carry (there were no hymnals in the seats). A couple minutes of announcements and then two talks from two lay members. Clearly these men are not trained in preaching, their talks were very simple and lacking in flair, but that certainly is not a black mark at all. My understanding is that during the weekly service for the Lord’s Supper it is more extemporaneous and open, less formalized. The women almost all (95%+) had their heads covered, mostly with berets and hats instead of cloth coverings. They didn’t look oppressed or dominated, in fact they looked comfortable and modest. It was very interesting, sober and serious but welcoming and simple. It bears further investigation. Not everyone has had a positive experience with Plymouth Brethren churches, and I am thinking that theologically you get a pretty mixed bag (i.e. dispensationalism). Still, I am intrigued.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Arthur,

I have some books on the history of the PB movement if you are interested. Roughly speaking, there are two "types" of PBs. "Open Brethren" (commonly, but not always, called 'Chapels') and "Closed Brethren (often, but not always, called 'Gospel Halls'). [Note: you can't always go by the name, and it is a spectrum more than two camps].

The open/closed refers to the stance on Communion. The closed brethren are more conservative and tend to be more separate. The will generally not allow people other than regular attenders of their local church take communion. Open brethren generally do not "police" the communion table, though the indicate it is only for believers. The open camp also tends to be more soft on the headcovering issue (up to the families), and are not as extreme about silencing women (in most PB churches women cannot speak during the Communion.

FYI, both groups generally call Communion "Breaking of Bread". They both have animosity of anything that resembles "clergy" or the "pastorate", though the Open Brethren sometimes strike a middle position (full time workers with pastoral function but without overt pastoral authority). Furthermore, many Open Brethren have more of a "bible church" feel--but with headcoverings, weekly communion, plurality of elders, and non-centralized leadership.

I was greatly blessed by my time (13 years, all in my adulthood years) in an Open Brethren church, and still remain very influenced by their theological and ecclesiastical views.

Unknown said...

Ah, a meeting that uses the little black book....I miss that somuch.
I grew up going to Lawrence Bible Chapel in Kansas, and then switched for 3-4 years to Baldwin Gospel Chapel. THe second uses the little black book.
I miss Breaking of Bread so badly.
Paula

Arthur Sido said...

Paula,

That weekly breaking of bread is something I find really appealing, that we come to the table more often and make it more of an intergal part of out lives. It is unfortunately given short shrift by a large swath of the church.

Josh,

I may take you up on borrowing those books next time I am in the IR 'hood.

Bethany W. said...

Arthur,
Your experience at the PB church sounds lovely! I am going to go to the PB website today and look around! I appreciate the info from Josh in the comments above too.

We wish you blessings as your family seeks a new church family. Paul and I are praying for you (we both come here often to see what's going on with the Sidos!)

Bethany

Arthur Sido said...

I got some info from http://www.brethrenonline.org/ and if you go to wikipedia there is a lot of info as well. The webpage for the church we went to give lots of info as well: http://starkrdgospelhall.com/index.html

i am approaching it cautiously, i don't want to jump in to something without looking carefully at it. i am trying to be cautious without getting too jaded, there is no perfectly assembly of the saints this side of glory but we are seeking a fellowship that is in accord with the NT record.

Bethany W. said...

Arthur,

We did look into it on wikipedia. We also looked at the discussion panel at the puritanboard.com

Puritan Board is for Reformed Christians. It can be a bit overbearing at times, and there is always disagreement. (The board allows for paedo and credo both) I think you would enjoy the board. Even if you do not want to join (it can be addictive!), you can use it to search head coverings, plymouth brethren, frank viola, etc

Bethany