Retrenchment and Mainstreaming

This final chapter presents a case study of Brethren IV, known today as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC). It starts with a discussion of the legal case before the British Charity Commission, which lasted from 2006 to 2014, and finally led to the recognition of the PBCC as a bona fide religious body. The case is analysed in the context of controversies surrounding in various countries the PBCC and its schools. Some Christians accuse the PBCC of being heretic, and some secular ‘anti-cultists’ see in the PBCC a ‘cult’ harmful to its members and particularly to children. In general, these accusations fail to recognize how the PBCC is changing and evolving by adapting itself to its various host societies, without however renouncing its most distinctive (and controversial) characters, including the strict separation of believers and unbelievers.