An Anatomy of an Exclusive Brethren Meeting Room

The Exclusive Brethren were formed when they broke away from the Plymouth Brethren in 1848 – not the other way round. It is estimated that there are approximately 1.5 million Plymouth Brethren meeting around the world today. They were once the main force behind missionary activity in many parts of the world. The Plymouth Brethren – often called Open Brethren to ensure their distinction from the notorious Exclusives – are easily distinguished by their friendly welcome, their evangelical bias, the windows in their Gospel Halls, the sound of a piano or organ accompanying their hymns and their sincere ‘All are welcome’ signs outside their indisputably tax-exempt premises.

There has been much confusion in various parts of the world between the Exclusive Brethren cult and the truly evangelical Plymouth Brethren. The Exclusives have encouraged this confusion, often calling themselves ‘Christian Brethren’ or the ‘Exclusive Brethren Christian Fellowship’ ! They also have started referring to their Meeting Rooms as ‘Prayer Halls’ and  ’Gospel Halls’ – a blatant attempt to mislead the Planning Authorities into thinking that this is to be the prime purpose of the sought permissions. Indeed, there has been a trend in physically renaming the legal names of their Meeting Rooms to Gospel Halls – even though tradition and legal documentation has historically always referred to the premises as a ‘Meeting Room’.

Probably the best way to ensure who you are dealing with is to simply look at the Trust Deed for the Meeting Room in question.

All Exclusive Brethren Meeting Rooms are owned by a Trust.

All Exclusive Brethren Meeting Room Trusts follow an identical template.

It is therefore entirely possible to recognize an Exclusive Brethren Meeting Room by checking the clauses within the Trust document. You will discover they are unlike any ‘church’ or ‘Christian organization’ you have ever seen:

The Trust Purposes -or- Purpose of the Trust is always a dead giveaway …

If you find the above clause you need look no further. On older Trusts, the list of names stops with ‘Mr. J.S. Hales’ – the father of the current ‘minister of the lord in the Recovery’.

The next area to check would be the definition of the ‘Congregation’.

Hang on, we haven’t finished …

Clause (3) is the key – they have to be in fellowship with Bruce Hales. It’s simply not good enough that they partake in communion or could attend the monthly ‘care meeting’ – they have to be in fellowship with the world-wide leader of the Exclusive Brethren. And as you’ll see, Bruce Hales determines whether they in fact are or ever were in fellowship with him.

Just in case you’re not sure who the ‘minister of the lord in the Recovery’ is, we’re left in no doubt in another mandatory clause:

The Trust quickly moves into it’s primary focus – the distribution of money.

Note the fact that there is no real restriction on the movement of tax-free and interest-free ‘loans’ to any other ‘charitable corporation’ or ‘any trust which is a charitable trust for purposes which are substantially Trust Purposes…’. That’s a pretty wide definition!

But of course there are checks and balances. There would have to be.

So as long as Bruce Hales agrees, the Trustees can do just about anything. Regarding the ‘unanimous resolution of a meeting of the Congregation’? We’ll come to that in a minute.

First of all let’s talk about liability.

Huh? Does that mean what it seems to mean? ‘… and in particular he shall not be bound to take any proceedings against a co-trustee for any breach or alleged breach of trust committed by such co-trustee’. So an Exclusive Brethren Trustee doesn’t have to report another Trustee to the authorities? It does appear that he might be liable only if it is ‘… directly attributable to his own dishonesty or gross or wilful neglect’ – but as his fellow Trustees are not ‘bound’ to take any proceedings, we assume that the errant Trustee must ‘fess up’ of his own accord.

To recap, if a Trustee is bad, his fellow Trustees don’t have to report him. Perhaps that is what ‘Discretion’ means?

OK – so what if one of the Trustees decides to burn down the Meeting Room?

So, if a Trustee burns down a Meeting Room, his fellow Trustees (and the arsonist) ’shall not be personally liable’ and because it’s not allowed to be insured, one would hope that the Exclusive Brethren really do own all their Meeting Rooms!

Surely the role of a Trustee means that you ‘look after’ the property entrusted to the Trust. This isn’t about burning down Meeting Rooms. It’s about money.

Let’s get one thing straight – no member of the Exclusive Brethren is allowed to be a lawyer. Full stop. But there do seem to be one or two Accountants floating around. Now who’s a well-known Accountant in the EB?

So none of the Trustees can take any money personally … unless they’re an accountant.

And indeed, no ‘private pecuniary profit’ … unless they’re an accountant.

To summarize, an Accountant can take personal money and can make ‘private pecuniary profit’. At least that is entirely clear.

It’s good to be an accountant in the Exclusive Brethren. It is particularly good to be an accountant in the Exclusive Brethren if your name is on every Trust of every Meeting Room, and on every Trust for every Exclusive Brethren school (they have two Trusts for each school – one for the premises and one for the staffing). They also have a so-called ‘poverty trust’ in every locality which is used occasionally to hold and then pass on funds.

Moving on – what if a Trustee is ’slipping away’ – falling out of favor, or not following the universal lead? He can obviously be removed.

Unlike any other Trust of this type, a removed Trustee has access to the highest court known to the Exclusive Brethren – Bruce Hales. A Trustee would have to move fast mind you – he only has seven days and that letter would seem to have to be mailed, received, replied to and returned during that period. If Bruce doesn’t reply in time … oh well!

At least it is clear – Bruce has the ‘final and conclusive’ word in every conceivable situation. Another way of stating this is that Bruce Hales has the right to ‘fire, hire and grant immunity’ to every Trustee associated with every Exclusive Brethren Trust. World-wide.

“See?”

And if you do fall foul of the ‘minister of the lord in the Recovery’? They want everything back.

So do the Trustees have no say in this at all?
Surely they can amend the Deed of Trust?

Sure …

As long as Bruce Hales agrees to the amendment.

He really does seem to have this tied up rather nicely, doesn’t he?

But it seems that the Congregation has a voice in the matter too …

Darn! So Bruce decides who is and who isn’t a member of the Congregation at any specific moment in time.

… states who the remaining Trustees are …

… and if necessary, boot out all the other Trustees and put the original offender back in.

Ladies and Gentlemen – that’s called Power!

And if Bruce can’t do his job properly, for whatever reason, most of this power can be delegated. That makes sense perhaps, but do notice clause 13.4 (d):

a delegation may be made to … ‘a person who is not a Member of the Congregation’. That is rather unusual to say the least! Does that perhaps refer to the days of Tony McCorkell, at that time a non-EB, who briefly acted as spokesman for the Exclusives? One could state that he was ‘delegated power’ for the purposes of acting as spokesman. Or is it simply that Bruce can decide whoever he wants at any given time?

It can be argued that (e) would preclude a non-Member of the Exclusive Brethren from receiving such powers (like a lawyer or a McCorkell), but remember clause 12.1 earlier – Bruce Hales decides who is and who isn’t in fellowship with him at any particular moment in time.

So what is the definition of a Congregation … and just how do the Trustees and the Congregation work together? You will have noted that they do have a say in the matter – after all, it is their Meeting Room isn’t it?

OK so the Trustees or two Congregation members can call a Meeting. Cool.

Do note how completely fair this is:

- ‘it shall not be necessary that notice be given to each Member…’

- ‘or … be sufficient to enable him to attend the meeting…’

- ‘or that the nature of the business … be specified’.

Frankly, it isn’t even necessary for many of the Congregation to be there at all!

And as long as neither of them dare to object …

And if one of them does have enough courage to do so …

Bruce Hales gets the final word in any case. As you can see, his word is final and has the same effect ‘… as if it were a unanimous resolution of a meeting of the Congregation held on the day on which the declaration is made.’.

Of course a Trust can be wound up …

… as long as Bruce Hales agrees and the Congregation (of two or more) are unanimous, but even if they are not, it’s what Bruce Hales said anyway.

And if the Trust is wound up, the assets must pass to another Exclusive Brethren Trust.

___________________

In Summary then, an Exclusive Brethren Meeting Room Trust:

• can loan any amount tax-free to another Exclusive Brethren Trust for any reason.
• Bruce Hales must of course agree to (or presumably suggest) such a transaction.
• Accountants are specifically mentioned as being able to make personal profits out of any Exclusive Brethren Meeting Room Trust.
• Trustees do not have to take action against each other.
• Trustees are not liable for anything.
• The Meeting Rooms are not to be insured.
• Bruce Hales can remove or appoint any Trustee he so wishes.
• Bruce Hales can delegate his full authority to anyone he so wishes, including non-Exclusive Brethren.
• Bruce Hales could therefore appoint any lawyer he wishes – the other named profession that is allowed to make a profit.
• Bruce Hales decides who is and who is not in fellowship in a Congregation.
• Even in a Congregation of hundreds, only two members constitute a quorum. (Remember, Bruce decides who’s a member.)
• In the event of a non-unanimous decision, Bruce Hales makes a decision as if he was the Congregation.

The sum impact of these far-reaching powers and authorities makes Bruce Hales one of the largest real-estate controllers in the world. He also has the ability to move limitless funds (as tax-free and interest-free loans if necessary) between thousands of Exclusive Brethren Trusts in at least 12 countries. These Trusts span all Exclusive Brethren Territories.

The single common denominator is currently Bruce Hales, ‘minister of the lord in the Recovery’ as from 2002, and who lives in Sydney, Australia. Bruce Hales is a qualified Accountant, as was his father John S. Hales who was the world-wide leader of the Exclusive Brethren until his death in 2002.

We consider that the above anatomy and analysis will enable any Municipality, Lawyer, Government Investigator or other interested authority to establish whether they are dealing with a genuine Plymouth Brethren Gospel Hall or Exclusive Brethren Meeting Room.

Once you have established who they are – do you really want to ask your tax-payers to subsidise this cult in your own community? After all, be in no doubt, when they are in session or when they are not, the only time that steel-barred gate is not padlocked is when their cars and people-movers are entering or leaving.

(The majority of this article first appeared in the Peebs.Net Forums Sept, 2008)