Plymouth, UK - DURING the early 1800's, some Christians began to feel uncomfortable about denominationalism, a clerical hierarchy, and certain "compromises" creeping into their churches. They resolved to simply read their Bible and try to gather in the same simple manner as Christians did in the New Testament. Early gatherings originated in Dublin and in Plymouth so others began to call them as Brethren from Plymouth.
The Plymouth Brethren movement was believed to be an independent work of the Holy Spirit - the true church established on the day of Pentecost. The two guiding principles were to be the breaking of bread every Lord's Day, and ministry based upon the call of Christ rather than the ordination of men. They follow and obey the Scripture, refusing to follow human tradition and creed. Others call them Brethren, but they prefer to be called Christians.
In 1827, John Nelson Darby joined this group. Darby saw the church as a special work of God, distinct from the program for Israel. This truth, integrated with his premillennial eschatology, led him to believe that the rapture would occur before the tribulation, and that during the tribulation God would turn again to deal specifically with Israel. Until Darby's time, some Christians believed that the church was a continuation of Israel, and some others believed that the church replaced Israel.
Some years later Darby then an old man sat on a bench in Central Park, New York City. His clothing, which had been black, was much the worse of wear. His head, which was bare, was bent forward, and his hat lay on his knees. A much younger man on passing thought him a beggar and dropped a dime in his hat. Darby, looked up from his prayer, and talked long and earnestly with the young man. That conversation led Charles Holder to devote his life to the service of the Lord Jesus.
Methodist Minister, F Moon, reported the visit from an agent of Plymouth Brethren to Current, Spanish Wells and Harbour Island. Cecil Cartwright confirmed that this was Charles Holder, sometimes called 'the crazy preacher', after whom the sect gained the name of Holderites. From 1880, The Holderites held services in private homes and by the Up Yonder Shipyard at Harbour Island until they were able to build their 'Halls'. Nassau merchant Thaddeus George Johnson built the first 'Bible Truth Hall' on Harbour Island and willed it to the Brethren on his death in 1921.
Of course the Brethren were disliked by the Methodist Missionaries as they caused division in the Church and George Lester remarked that 'the Brethren were of the darkest description and a score have joined from here and taken a wicked attitude toward the Church'. Cartwright told the story of the Spanish Wells man, who said of Holder:
"I wish some hailstones would fall from the sky and split his bald head open."
A few nights later some large hailstones did fall. Instead of Holder, the hailstones fell on the head of the man who had wished him evil and injured him so severely that he died.
After this incident the Brethren spread like wildfire through Spanish Wells and North Eleuthera. A small Brethren group remained faithful at Harbour Island. On Dunmore Street, about 50 yards south of the Wesley Methodist Church, The Bible Truth Hall, under Brethren preacher, Christopher Knapp in the 1930s, operated until the 1980s, when the lack of members closed it down.
Christopher Knapp born 1870 was the son of Calvinist German immigrants from Albany New York. At 19 years old, he went west to study for the Presbyterian ministry in South Bend, Indiana. While in South Bend, he attended meetings at the YMCA (which in those days included "gospel" meetings) and there came to truly know the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. Knapp gave up his purpose of becoming a Presbyterian Minister, and identified himself with the Brethren.
At the turn of the century, Knapp came to the Bahamas and opened up Christ to the folk of these islands - both black and white - who came to have fond appreciation for him. While preaching here and across the straits of Florida in Miami and Key West, he met his future wife,
Helena Johnson (formerly of the Bahamas), and they married on June 3, 1904.
Another Brethren missionary to the Bahamas was August Van Ryn (1890-1982) of Switzerland. In 1916, Van Ryn met Robert Stratton and his Bahamian wife Lilah. Stratton invited him to the Bahamas, where he met Lilah's sister Persis Roberts. They married and lived in the Bahamas for the next thirteen years - their marriage for fifty six years until death of Persis parted them. Together brother Stratton and August carried on itinerant gospel work, using Evangel, a 52-foot yacht which they built.
Van Ryn describes his 1926 visit to Cherokee Sound, Abaco--near the Van Ryn home in Marsh Harbor: "We would talk to anxious souls till late at night and again early in the morning, besides the regular meetings. A number confessed the Lord. And then, toward the end of two weeks, the fishing fleet came in. Long before the boats reached shore, the men aboard were waving their hats and shouting. When we finally heard what they were saying, it was, 'There's been a wonderful revival on our ships; lots of men have been saved.'" While the Lord moved hearts on their boats, unknown to them, He had saved children, wives, sweethearts, or parents back home. What rejoicing! About one hundred were saved in that little town.
Soon they left for Spanish Wells. When those there heard about the awakening in Abaco, they said, "We hope we'll see something like that here." By eight o'clock that morning, 35 souls had been saved while alone in their own homes! The meetings continued and about one hundred were saved. From Spanish Wells, the work spread, "God working without any human preparation, or methods or machinery."
In the 1953 census, the members of Brethren were listed as Harbour Island 20, Spanish Wells 289, Abaco 429, Eleuthera 188 and New Providence 1434 - a total of 2,360. In October 2009 the number of adherents to The Assemblies of Brethren in the Bahamas was listed as 83.