GATHERING TO HIS NAME
The story of Open Brethren in Britain and Ireland
By Tim Grass. Authentic Media. 590 pages. £30.00
ISBN 1 84227 220 9
When this volume landed with a thud on my doormat I was delighted and excited. Here, I hoped, would be the account of the Brethren which earlier books had provided only in part. Would it provide an explanation for the disproportionate achievements of a relatively small Christian grouping? Would it help to clarify the various groupings among Brethren? Would there be an account of the apparent disappearance of Brethren churches in the past 50 years? As the commendations on the cover referred to the book as ‘definitive’, ‘comprehensive’ and ‘authoritative’, I suspected it might.
The author, formerly a Baptist pastor and now an evangelical Anglican, has family connections with the Brethren and aims to give a sympathetic but objective assessment.
