Needed Truth
Needed Truth Magazine is a Christian magazine which first appeared in 1888 in Scotland. The magazine discussed whether reception was to the Lord's Table, or if reception was to the assembly itself. This distinction had implications whether a believer from other evangelical churches could occasionally meet with the saints in a New Testament assembly.
Eventually, several assemblies who subscribed to the ideas of Needed Truth magazine separated out into what some calledNeeded Truth Brethren ("The Separation"). There are currently over 100 of these assemblies still in existence around the world in the UK, USA, Canada, Burma, India, Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Australia, Jamaica, Belgium (although they designate themselves as the "Church and Churches of God"). They operate a website - see http://www.churchesofgod.info/index.php. Needed Truth magazine still exists 120 years later, and was revamped into an A4 full colour format in 2008 with a new title - "NT".
Others, while they adhered somewhat to the Needed Truth ideas, stayed with the Open Brethren. They would receive to the assembly, those in fellowship in other local New Testament assemblies (of Open Brethren), but not from the other evangelical churches. Eventually, in the middle of the 20th century, many of the more conservative (who meet in Gospel Halls) of the Open Brethren in North America, began to decrease their fellowship with the others (the Bible Chapels). The brethren who fellowshipped in Bible Chapels often found they were no longer invited to the conferences held at the Halls, and many from the Halls stopped attending the conferences held in the Chapels. This is not yet a world-wide phenomenon, as the line of demarcation is not as pronounced in some countries outside of the North American continent. These North American assemblies holding similar ideas to Needed Truth (i.e. Church and Churches of God) have remained a separate group from the much smaller Needed Truth group.
External links
- Full-colour Magazine available from the website of Hayes Press Christian Publishers or see the Needed Truth website at www.neededtruth.net