Why we call ourselves a Gospel Hall
When Grand Bend Gospel Hall was founded in 1922, as a local Christian church, there was an intention to solely own the name of Jesus and meet in his name alone. The building's name is only to convey the high priority we hold in preaching the victory of the Gospel.
We are a group of men and women from all walks of life who have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour. Through His death, we have received the forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Jesus Christ. We are committed in Bible study each Wednesday night to obeying His word by meeting according to the teaching of the Bible every Sunday morning to remember His atoning sacrifice on the cross.
We call ourselves brethren and sisters because the bible teaches that we are each born into the family of God by faith alone. Because our standing is in Christ we have been reconciled back to God our Father. This assures us of Eternal Life and is found exclusively in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
"Indeed, one of the features which many people find attractive about their fellowship is the spiritual and intellectual liberty which is enjoyed there in an atmosphere of brotherly love."
Some Historical Background
Around the year 1825 believers who wanted to return to Biblical 1st century, early Church practices, began home Bible studies and meetings, for worship outside the established denominational barriers. The founders of the Brethren movement were a group of young men, mostly associated with Trinity College, Dublin, who tried to find a way in which they could come together for worship and communion simply as fellow-Christians, as recorded in the apostolic age in order to, as far as possible, encourage a return at maintaining the simple and flexible church order of New Testament times.
George Muller's brother-in-law, Anthony Norris Groves (1795-1853), has claims to be regarded as the first of the Brethren. He gave up a dental practice in Exeter to become a pioneer missionary, first in Baghdad and then in India. He was a man of large-hearted sympathies, who never forgot that the things which unite Christians are immeasurably more important than the things. which divide them.
The Brethren missionary movement launched by Groves continues to the present time in every continent, and over a thousand missionaries are engaged in it. Some Brethren missionaries have been pioneers in more senses than one Among these were two Scots, Frederick Stanley Arnot (1858-1914) and Dan Crawford (l870-l926), who explored uncharted areas of Central Africa, it was Arnot who first opened up Katanga to the knowledge of the outside world in the 1880s. Brethren missionaries are located principally in Central Africa, India and Latin America; they co-operate with other missionary bodies in the practice of mission comity. Their work is registered under the designation 'Christian Missions in Many Lands'.
DOCTRINES
So far as our doctrines are concerned, Brethren have no peculiarities. We hold the historic Christian faith, because we find it plainly taught in the Bible, which is to us, as to children.. of the Reformation, 'the only infallible rule of faith and practice'. We are wholeheartedly evangelical in our understanding and presentation of Christianity, proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the all-sufficient Saviour of those who put their trust in Him and as the only hope for mankind. For this reason many of us find it especially easy to co-operate in Christian witness with others who share this evangelical emphasis, and in many evangelical causes our influence is greater than our numbers might lead one to expect.
The beginnings of the Brethren movement were attended by a keen interest in the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy, and many of them are still characterized by this eschatological awareness. Their hymnody gives quite a prominent place to the Second Advent of Christ. But no single line of prophetic interpretation is held or imposed by them. Indeed, one of the features which many people find attractive about their fellowship is the spiritual and intellectual liberty which is enjoyed there in an atmosphere of brotherly love.
PRACTICES
It is practice rather than doctrine that marks them out. Among Brethren baptism is administered only to people who make a personal confession of faith in Christ, whether they are adults or children; and the mode of baptism is immersion. They observe the Lord's Supper every Sunday morning and hold that the Lord's Table is for all the Lord's people. This, in fact, is their most distinctive gathering. When they meet for communion, together with any Christians who care to join them for this occasion, their devotions are conducted by no presiding minister and follow no prearranged sequence, but are marked nevertheless by a reverent spontaneity and orderliness. Various brethren contribute to the worship by suggesting hymns to be sung, by leading the congregation in prayer and thanksgiving, or by reading and expounding a passage from the Bible.
The Brethren have no ordained, or paid ministry set apart for functions which others cannot discharge. A considerable number do give their whole time to evangelism and Bible teaching but are not regarded as being in clerical orders. The various local churches are administered by responsible brethren called elders or overseers, but these have no jurisdiction outside their own local churches, and inside them they try to guide by example rather than rule by decree.
NUMBERS
The Brethren have always manifested a supreme lack of interest in their numerical strength. Their numbers are difficult to assess, partly because no precise statistics are available and partly because there is no hard-and-fast line of demarcation between Brethren assemblies and other independent evangelical churches. A common estimate of their strength in Great Britain and Ireland is 100,000; but this is at best approximate. They are to be found in all grades of society and in all walks of life.
[Brethren in India - India claims the largest number of brethren assemblies outside perhaps the western hemisphere. Andhra Pradesh and Kerala states have the highest number of brethren.]
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