Talk:Gospel Halls

Corrections
I wrote that Gospel Hall is not limited to a particular group, but Baptists, Presbyterians, and even Pentecostals, have known to use the word "Gospel Hall" for their building. Please check my references, and see their credibility.

The tone of this article is rather misleading. While other groups may ocessionally call their buildings Gospel Hall, the name is usually associated with various groups whose origin can be traced back to the Plymouth Brethren movement. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.164.167.40 (talk) 09:58, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

How different
While the author of this article may well be correct in identifying a different (Scottish) origin for Gospel Hall Brethren, I would question whether this article serves a useful function:
 * Is there a recognisable difference between them and Plymouth Brethren?
 * Is there a separate denominational organisation today? I of course appreciate that denominational organisation is minimal anyway.

If these questions cannot be answered in the affirmative, I would suggest that the article be merged with Peterkingiron 17:21, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

I wrote this article because I saw that although the "gospel hall brethren" have a page, nobody bothered to explain what precisely a gospel hall is. So I made this page. Sorry about no cited sources; as a member of a gospel hall assembly, I just used my history with the gospel hall brethren. As they all are pretty much the same (at least the ones in Mexico, South America, the US, Ireland, and the UK and Canada are) I didn't really use any particular online source. I did use Norman Crawford's short book "Assembly Truth" for some information about gospel halls in general.

In answer to your questions... the gospel hall brethren are similar to but not the same as the Plymouth Brethren. Whereas the Plymouth Brethren take a name (the "Plymouth Brethren" or simply "the Brethren"), so-called "gospel hall brethren" do not take any sort of title other than Christians. Any name given to them is given to them by others, not by themselves. The Plymouth Brethren are very much a seperate union (I shrink from using "denomination" because the "gospel hall brethren", if not both groups, is nondenominational.) and have no real fellowship with the "gospel hall brethren". The gospel hall assemblies are all linked by common beliefs, origin and traditions, few (if any) of which are shared with the Plymouth Brethren. 204.38.47.171 16:17, 31 October 2007 (UTC) (Alinnisawest)


 * What is written above is very much nonsense. First, to say that "Gospel Hall Brethren" take no name other than "Christian" is only true in theory.  Ask the evangelists what they put as their religious affiliation when they perform a marriage ceremony.  You will find it is often "Christian Brethren".  Many in the GHB refer to themselves as "Brethren", and there is no amount of denying this that can detract from the reality.  Secondly, you outright contradict yourself.  You say, "the gospel hall brethren are similar to but not the same as the Plymouth Brethren".  Then you go on to say, "few (if any) of which are shared with the Plymouth Brethren".  So how can they be similar, yet share "few (if any) of the beliefs and traditions"?  From your comments, I suspect you know very little about "Plymouth Brethren", of which the so-called, "Gospel Hall Brethren" are a sub-set.


 * I am an outsider to the distinctions among the various groups of Brethren, though I have long been on the fringes and in some degree still am. I am familiar with the distinction between Exclusive and others (usually called Open).  There was a previous article Gospel Hall - please look at its history to see what it said - which was deleted and redirected to Plymouth Brethren after a WP:AFD debate.  If this article is to survive, you need to provide much more detail of how the Gospel Halls that you describe differ in practice from what outsiders (at least) call Plymouth Brethren.  I appreciate that with a movement that is so amorphous, this may be difficult.  It helps if you can log in before editing (or commenting here), so that other editors can see who the contribution is by.  The numerical internet addresses that appear otherwise are rather anonymous, which is convenient to vandals, something I certainly do not accuse you of.  Peterkingiron 23:33, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I'm logged in now. I didn't make this page to talk about the group that meets in gospel halls, only to talk about what a gospel hall is. As far as I know, the Plymouth Brethren do not call their gathering places "Gospel Halls", so I felt an article specifically explaining the name was appropriate. The group that meets in gospel halls is under Gospel Hall Brethren, I think. As far as I know, that article explains the differences between the fundamentalist Christians meeting in buildings referred to as "gospel halls" and the Plymouth Brethren. Alinnisawest 16:10, 1 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Some of the Exclusive Brethren circles do indeed call their buildings "Gospel Halls", for example, the Tunbridge Wells group of Exclusives. Also, significantly, a major break-away from the Open Plymouth Brethren, the Needed Truth Brethren (also known as Churches of God) call their buildings Gospel Halls.  If you know anything about Plymouth Brethren history, you will find that the early leaders of the Needed Truth brethren were connected with the early leaders of the Gospel Hall Brethren, although the GHB did not agree to go along with the Needed Truth Brethren at that time.

Since this article is supposed to be about the name of a building (I'm not even sure if that qualifies as an article in itself), I have removed much of the material that is extraneous to discussions on buildings. In my opinion, this should be added as a paragraph (or sentence) to the main article on Gospel Hall Brethren.

Significantly Different
As a member of Saville Road Hall, Skelmanthorpe (which could be referred to as a gospel hall) I would like to make a couple of suggestions, that may, or may not be helpful.

The article does not read smoothly, could prove confusing and is lacking in certain necessary details, as follows: Primarily there are different issues that face the description 'gospel hall' in different countries (for example in Canada or the USA the believers who meet in a Chapel are often very similar in belief and practice to those who meet in a Gospel Hall, however, those who meet in a Gospel Hall would tend to be less 'Open'). Including the term 'Gospel Hall Brethren' in the opening sentence is very misleading. A gospel hall is a building, not an organization - there is no such thing as a defined organization of Christian groups called 'The Gospel Halls' or even 'Gospel Halls' (which is why the title of the old article 'Gospel Hall' was better). The saints/Christians/brethren/assembly/local church/company (for they will use any of these terms and others) that meet in the 'gospel hall' will be an independent gathering that will support and encourage other Christians in other places anywhere in the world that meet with the same principles. HOWEVER, each assembly is autonomous - they have no governing body or hierarchical structure that enables them to be filed under a particular denomination (usually there will be a group of Elders/Shepherds within the group who are responsible for it's guidance, though they are not seen to be 'above' any other church members. Often there is no Pastor/Minister but the responsibility of preaching is shared by able members of the assembly and surrounding assemblies). I think it would be helpful to indicate at the end of the article that 'gospel hall' simply denotes a 'hall' where the message of the 'gospel' (good news) of Jesus Christ is preached. It is often not a clear indication of the exact principles of those who meet in the building, but it does indicate an adherence to basic New Testament church teachings as laid out in the Holy Bible. (Similarly, I moved from Pamber Heath Gospel Hall and now meet at Saville Road Hall - no clues there - but we meet to the same principles.) Layout Issues: The first sentence needs to be laid out as a paragraph. It currently merges too quickly with the following sentence which is concerning the term's history. Josh.beckett (talk) 00:29, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

hi does anyone now who's in charge of a gospel hall if anyone does add me on moshimonsters my name is sayyer on it and tell me what the anwser is plzzzzz —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.239.18.109 (talk) 16:40, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Good question someone asked Harold Paisley at a funeral "who's your head man?" he replied "He's gone away but not to stay He's coming back again." he was referring to the Lord Jesus Christ and words attributed to him in John 14:3 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also." In short then there is no head man but in a well functioning "Gospel Hall" leading men would be immediately apparent and would answer your question with enthusiasm and show a concern for your welfare. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.74.244.68 (talk) 11:03, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Expansion about doctrines
I question the wisdom of expanding this article to deal with the belifs of those who meet to worship in Gospel Halls: the article should (in my view) be limited to a description of the nature of the buildings. The place for a description of their doctrines is Gospel Hall Brethren. However, others may like to comment before this is reverted. Peterkingiron (talk) 23:36, 12 December 2008 (UTC)


 * I agree, and have removed the extraneous discussion. Ultimately, I believe this page should be deleted, however to be fair, the Jehovah's Witnesses have a special page for their building, The Kingdom Hall. [anon]
 * I disagree about eventual deletion. I suspect that there is something to be said about the architecture of typical Gospel Halls, as being simple, often being little more than an unadorned rectangular hall.  In any event, the article should (in principle) not be deleted but might be converted to a redirect to Gospel Hall Brethren.  I think that would be inappropriate, since this is about the buildings and that about the people who worship in them.  Peterkingiron (talk) 14:11, 8 May 2010 (UTC)