their stanch Trinitarian stand, this has caused much discussion.

The Old Catholic movement, though very small in Britain, has never produced an episcopal succession to satisfy everyone affected. The valid ordination has been claimed by the Catholic Christian Church, the Old Catholic Church, Orthodox Catholic Church, Old Catholic Orthodox Church, Liberal Catholic Church and the Old Roman Catholic Church. Another group, the Independent Old Roman Catholic Church, claims no succession.

The Pentecostal movement, which had its birth principally in the Welsh Revival of 1904-5, is now represented by six main denominations. The largest of these are the Assemblies of God, organized on a locally autonomous principle; the Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance, which holds to a foursquare testimony of Christ, the Saviour, Healer, Baptizer in Holy Spirit and Coming King; and the Apostolic Church, the direct descendant of the Welsh Revival, with headquarters still in South Wales. Another group, the Bible Pattern Church Fellowship, was first formed in 1940 after George Jeffreys, founder of Elim, had resigned owing to internal strife. This section, together with the smaller United Apostolic Faith Church, holds to the British-Israel theory. The Full Gospel Testimony Fellowship completes the main Pentecostal bodies, which, combined, have a membership of just under 50,000.

Some minority groups stress one particular aspect to justify their independent existence. The Old Baptist Union and the similar International Old Baptist Union claim to return to the original practice of Baptists set out in seventeenth-century confessions of faith. The Churches of Christ (Old Path) reject instrumental music as a part of worship and condemn the other Churches of Christ body for having digressed “from the original impregnable New Testament position held by the pioneers.”⁶ The Hutterian Brethren, who believe in a religious community life based upon Acts 2:44, 45, established a “Bruderhof” (a place where brothers live) in the Clee Hills, near the Welsh border, and in 1958 a new community was opened at Gerrards Cross on the outskirts of London.

THE FUTURE FOR MINORITIES

With but few exceptions, minority denominations in Britain continue to dwindle. Many are even now on the verge of extinction. The Christian Israelites have only one congregation left, the Dependents (sometimes called Coglers) have only a few chapels, mostly in Sussex, and the Seventh-day Baptists hold meetings only in London and Hull. Others in a more flourishing condition have still had severe losses of membership. From a peak of 16,596 in 1930 the Churches of Christ (the main body known in America as Disciples of Christ) had dropped to 7,854 by 1959. One group of Exclusive Brethren closed eleven out of 123 meeting places in three years, and the Catholic Apostolic Church has a similar tale to tell. The two Swedenborgian sections (also called the New Church) have lost more than a third of their members since 1943, from 6,700 down to 4,200.

Why do minorities continue to lose ground yet fight extinction? Family tradition plays an important part. Members of minority sects take pride in being different and often they can number descendants of their founder among their own family or relatives. They tell glowing stories of their great-grandfather’s stanch stand for the new faith, and this in itself is sufficient to ensure their own unwavering adherence. Many sincerely believe that the religion of father should be the religion of son, irrespective of whether it is a correct way of worship or not. As members grow old and die numbers are not replaced by new converts and often the leaders themselves complacently watch the dying embers of their spiritual fire, occasionally warming their hands in a brief revival.

True Christianity will always be in the minority in this present world, but it must be vigorous, emulating the early Christians. Comparing Jehovah’s witnesses with Dr. Buchman’s Oxford Group, one writer comments: “Religious conviction takes on many forms, but that of the Jehovah’s Witnesses was so much more strenuous than that of the Groups, that the witness of the latter often seemed to be little more than the pleasures of the long week-end.”⁷ This past year a peak of 47,126 ministers was reached in the British Isles, compared with 6,861 in 1939. In numbers, therefore, Jehovah’s witnesses have in twenty-one years surpassed some twenty-one other minority denominations including the Quakers, Unitarians, Mormons and Seventh-day Adventists.

Jesus said concerning the need for more teachers and preachers: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. Therefore, beg the Master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.” (Matt. 9:37, 38) How many of the minorities in Britain today show any sign of begging for more workers? Often the existing church members are not found really working in the harvest themselves, not even recognizing the time of harvest. Jehovah’s witnesses call regularly on most homes in Britain and, though still a minority group, they see the fruits of their harvest labors.

No matter what your religion may be, whether a member of a minority group or not, can you see the fruits of progressive Christianity manifesting themselves? Is vigorous growth to maturity evident in your denomination? Are all its members fulfilling Jesus’ command to “go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations”? If not, your search for the true way of worship is still on.—Matt. 28:19.

REFERENCES

¹ The Customs of the Churches of Christ, 1908, page 8.

² A Treatise on the Lord’s Supper, with Biography, by John Glas, Edition of 1883, page 11.

³ Historical Sketches of the Rise of the Scots Old Independent and the Inghamite Churches, 1814 (Copy in the British Museum).

⁴ A Discourse on the Faith and Hope of the Gospel, by B. Ingham, page 5.

⁵ The Flame, Vol. 21, No. 4, 1955.

⁶ The Scripture Standard, Vol. 20, No. 10, October, 1954.

⁷ Religion in Britain Since 1900, by G. S. Spinks, page 213.

Not at Home in Christendom

In answer to the question, “What would happen if Christ appeared among us today?” cleric Ralph W. Sockman, Christ Church, New York city, said: “The public wants a more comfortable religion than Christ came to give. Jesus was no salesman offering a way to pleasant social adjustment and financial success. Sensation-seeking crowds and superficial-minded churchgoers would find Jesus disappointing and cease to listen.

“What judgment would Christ pass on our civilization? He would say what he said to his own capital city of Jerusalem: that we do not know and practice the things that make for our true peace. He would condemn our excessive materialism which blinds us to the things that are invisible and eternal. He would scathingly denounce our narrow nationalism, our social castes, and our racial barriers. Christ would not feel at home in many of the churches erected in his name, because they have allowed ecclesiasticism and worldliness to destroy the simplicity and sincerity of his original gospel.”—Cosmopolitan, December, 1958.