Inside, they are like no other 'church' you have ever seen. Since the 1960's, most Exclusive Brethren Meeting Rooms had chairs arranged in concentric circles. The old boards proclaiming "All are Welcome" are long gone. They are replaced by bleak 'Brethren Meeting Room' signs that offer no sense of welcome or warmth.

Today, like their corporate personality, Exclusive Brethren Meeting Rooms face inward...
into themselves.

Seating arrangements are specific. Whether you sit on the first circle or the second is of vital importance to ranking within the community. If you are a woman, you will have no choice - women are relegated to the rear.

There are stories of the local 'Hopefuls' standing in the Lobby area waiting for their names to be called from the 'Ranking Roster'. Expressions of relief will accompany hearing their names called and those who are not summoned into the Inner Circle will try to hide their discomfiture.

Rankings are based on perceived acceptability - sometimes referred to as being 'Approved'. The internal politics of the Exclusive Brethren dictate who is 'Front Row' and who is not.

Over the past few years, the Exclusive Brethren have mandated that the current 'Man of God' be nominated as a Trustee for all Exclusive Brethren Meeting Rooms. The intent behind this world-wide coup is to ensure that never again can an Exclusive Brethren Meeting Room be 'lost' as the result of a serious rift within the ranks.

This makes Bruce David Hales, the current 'Elect Vessel' or 'Man of God' a beneficiary Trustee of real estate worth many hundreds of millions of dollars. Real estate that you, the public, subsidise as these little fortresses are unbelievably designated as 'Places of Public Worship'!

For almost 40 years, the Exclusive Brethren have locked their doors once a service commences. When you combine this with the raising of traffic defences and locking the high steel gates, it is almost a miracle that there has not been serious loss of life from a fire or other disaster while the Meeting Room is occupied.

This typical Exclusive Brethren arrogance demonstrates a flagrant disregard of even the most rudimentary safety precautions and would prevent emergency vehicles attending a potential scene. We recommend that municipality officials investigate all EB Meeting Rooms for this reason alone.

The background reason for the EB Door Locking is obliquely referred to on the Exclusive Brethren website - "the doors shut where the disciples were". This strange and obviously dangerous doctrine ignores the historical fact that this scripture was written of the time immediately following the crucifixion of Jesus Christ when the disciples were afraid that they would be next. Not only is this irresponsible behavior, it is based on a scripture taken ridiculously out of context.

To lock their doors during services completely underlines the reason for this campaign - the Exclusive Brethren make it abundantly clear that they are not open to the public. They do not want you to attend their services. They do not want you to be able to even reach their locked doors.

Watching the arrival of Exclusive Brethren at one of their 'Fellowship Meetings' is quite an occasion. Each arriving vehicle is met by a 'Security' official who ensures the visitors are genuine EB. If not, they will be turned away - violently if necessary.

If you are not Exclusive Brethren, you are not invited!