Former Brethren member claims church prayed for his ‘demise’

A man with family ties to the Exclusive Brethren leadership has broken his silence on the sect's alleged dark practices, revealing why he left, and the traumatic aftermath.

A former member of an evangelical church has joined many others, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in branding the sect a ‘cult’.

A former member of the Exclusive Brethren has joined many other defectors, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in branding the church a “cult”.

‘Doug’, aged in his 30s and who has asked to remain anonymous, has made bombshell accusations against his former church, including that its members had “literally prayed for (his demise)” since he parted ways in a two-year process so wrought with emotion it was “still a blur”.

From living with children he said the Brethren had separated from their own family, to home visitors wishing “hell” upon him for leaving, the ex-member with family ties to Brethren leader Bruce Hales is still struggling to reconcile the two realities he’s had to traverse: the retrospective “falsity” of life inside the church, and his new beginnings away from it.

With roots in nineteenth-century England, the Exclusive Brethren, known to members as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, is an evangelical Christian group with its own bible translation, strict customs and family-dominated ethos.

The PBCC is now run by the highest leader and Elect Vessel, Mr Hales, a Sydney-based businessman who has commandeered the order since 2002 and, so ‘Doug’ claimed, transitioned the church into an age of “making money, and storing it”.

The Daily Telegraph scored an exceedingly rare invitation to a Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) service in Sydney. Picture: Supplied

The Brethren don’t watch television, they don’t tune into the radio, and they don’t break their rules.

They are notoriously wary of attention, barring the occasional media grab, such as in 2010 when this publication interviewed a local member.

The Daily Telegraph recently scored the PBCC’s first-ever invitation for Australian media to observe one of its Sydney services.

Inside, the Brethren prayed for peace, Anthony Albanese, and Donald Trump.

The Exclusive Brethren’s rules include head coverings for women, not having meals with people who have not taken part in the Lord’s Supper, discouraging dogs inside homes, keeping their children off social media, and not marking Christmas or Easter.

Their “doctrine of separation” encourages isolation from non-members, family separation should a member leave the church, avoiding business with non-Brethren, attending Brethren-run schools, and restricting media consumption.

‘Doug’ has shared his account of life inside the Brethren, the moment he first ate at a restaurant at 25 years old, and his struggle for normalcy after entering the “new world” outside the church.

He described the Brethren’s “way of living” as “somewhere between Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Amish”.

“They’re very conservative, but only when they need to be,” he said.

Usually, he said members dressed “very modestly”, but to serve political or financial ends — such as their public support for the Liberal Party in this year’s election — “suddenly the girls were wearing jeans”.

As with essentially all members, ‘Doug’ was born into the PBCC, and his early years prior to Mr Hales’ leadership were even stricter: “there were no phones, no computers”.

The Hales family, with PBCC’s worldwide leader and ‘Elect Vessel’ Bruce Hales (back, from left) Greg Hales, Dean Hales, Gareth Hales, Charles Hales, and (front, from left) Karen Martin, Jenny Hales, Bruce D Hales and Jane Henderson.

Soon after Mr Hales took over the PBCC reins from his father, dress codes relaxed somewhat, ‘Doug’ said.

“In that same time frame, the cult became centred around — almost to the point of obsession — making money and storing it.

“It’s not a hard-and-fast rule, but you are more respected and influential in the church if you own a business.”

The PBCC is associated with a significant number of businesses around the world, overwhelmingly manufacturing companies, including reportedly nearly 120 in Queensland, and at least 17 in the Wide Bay.

An excerpt from the Brethren Hymn Book. Picture: supplied for The Daily Telegraph

The national accounting division of Universal Business Team Australia was the critical intermediary between these companies and the church.

UBT is a global hub for business advisory, corporate training, and leadership mentoring for PBCC-affiliated entities.

In March 2024, the Australian Tax Office raided UBT’s Sydney headquarters, targeting their accounting division and others businesses associated with the PBCC, citing concerns of funding misuse by wealthy Brethren individuals.

The Precinct in Sydney Olympic Park, the site of the raid, is also the Australian headquarters of several global PBCC-affiliated companies, including their charity arm Rapid Relief Team, and their school network OneSchool Global.

UBT Australia’s accounting division announced its closure two months after the surprise raid, citing commercial factors.

It is understood no charges were laid over the raid, and UBT continues to operate in Australia.

‘Doug’, whose time in the Exclusive Brethren was spent in New South Wales, said a “massive portion” of profits made by Brethren-run businesses funnel back into the church through a variety of discreet channels.

“They know as soon as people find out it’s Brethren, there’ll be questions,” he said.

“Many members of our church run businesses, and what they choose to do with the profits is not dictated by the church,” a PBCC spokesperson told this publication.

“If they do choose to donate to the church, the money would be gratefully accepted and used for the upkeep, maintenance and security of our church meeting halls.

“This is no different to many other churches,” they said.

‘Doug’ said he grew up in the church’s new era under Mr Hales’ leadership, with more political involvement and tentative business-based interaction with non-members permitted.

Even so, as a young boy at a New South Wales public school, his mother would pick him up during school lunch breaks as “we weren’t allowed to eat with non-members”, ‘Doug’ said.

“I knew when I was a little kid that we were weirdos … but for me and everyone, you don’t know any different, you think you’re superior, that’s the belief.”

The Precinct, in Sydney Olympic Park, home to the Australian chapter of numerous Plymouth Brethren Christian Church organisations. UBT has its Australian headquarters here, which were raided by the ATO in March 2024. Picture: ELS Lighting

‘Doug’ said he was in Year 4 when he had his first ‘light-bulb’ moment — one that would snowball into his eventual departure from the Brethren.

During school-time lunch with his mother one day, she broke the news a relative had died, and after returning to school, a classmate asked him whether he was sad.

“I don’t think I am,” he remembered saying.

According to PBCC tradition, ‘Doug’ said “you don’t grieve, and you’re very separated from your emotions, that’s part of the control. It starts at an emotional level”.

“From then on, I was pretty sure I was going to be leaving this thing — it was a process of working out how,” he said.

The New South Welshman said he started to question the sect’s practices so entrenched in his upbringing they were normalised.

“They used to move kids around if it looked like one parent might leave (the church),” ‘Doug’ said.

When he was 15 years old, children from Queensland came and lived with his family for numerous years.

“It sounds insane to anyone that hasn’t been in a high-control cult ... but they literally just go and tell the parents that their kids have to go live with so-and-so 15 hours away, and that’s it”.

But the church has denied this.

Journalist Michael Bachelard published Behind the Exclusive Brethren in 2008, and has detailed concerning allegations of the church’s retaliatory actions afterwards, including reportedly praying for his death, and repeated efforts to silence him. He has also written about the PBCC’s alleged practice of relocating children between families.

“The Church is in no way involved in custodial matters or relocating children to any place for any reason,” the PBCC spokesperson said.

“Again, if this occurs, it is a matter for the families involved and likely the authorities, not a church.

“To suggest otherwise is false.”

Australian journalist Michael Bachelard, author of Behind the Exclusive Brethren, has detailed the church’s alleged practice of relocating children to other Brethren families if their parents fall out of favour with leadership, or are excommunicated.

At 25 years-of-age, ‘Doug’’s decision to leave was final.

“It took three years to get everything ready and to make sure I wasn’t going to regret the decision,” he said.

‘Doug’ said he still regularly saw a therapist to help unpack the tumult that followed that move.

“It’s very difficult to say (how I felt), just because a lot of that period, around two years, is completely blurred.

“It’s not just that you’ve had your network disappear, but that whole support network has now turned against you.”

Threats of being “ruined”, destined for hell, and bound for failure plagued ‘Doug’ as he tried to “work out how the world worked”.

Church members continued to visit his home and slip accusatory letters into his mailbox long after he had left the Brethren.

“They literally pray for my demise publicly in their church meetings,” he said.

“In their interpretation, I’m some form of an apostate. I’m worse than an outsider.

“For me to speak out, I would be deemed an opposer.”

‘Doug’ is not alone in his allegations of the PBCC’s threats and ill-willed prayers: Mr Bachelard made strikingly similar accusations against the church after he published Behind the Exclusive Brethren in 2008.

The PBCC spokesperson said:

“Like any church, we hope that people don’t decide to leave but wish them well if they do.

“If individual family members have a falling out then that is a matter for them, not the church that they happen to belong to, so we can’t comment on (‘Doug’’s situation) beyond pointing out that the church would not ever condone harassment of any kind.”

‘Doug’ said activities such as going to the cinema or eating at a restaurant, both expressly forbidden by the Brethren, were experienced for the first time as a 25-year-old man.

While he has next to no contact with his large family still in the church, he met his wife on Tinder seven years ago, and they are expecting their first child soon.

‘Doug’ said once his baby boy is born, he “owed it to him” to go public with his experience.