The early days of the Brethren shone bright with many evangelists coursing through the land involved with pioneer work, bright with gospel testimony. Mr. Darby reported that in the early days of his gospel work in Ireland the conversions were upwards of 600 to 800 per week at one point! Those were revival days. Since then, much great evangelistic work was done in many places among Brethren. This activity flourished well in to the 20^th century. Today there are many young peoples Camps and other missionary works still pressing ahead for God in the salvation of sinners. This is successful and is commendable. However, there is a lack of real gospel witness at the local level that is alarming. Many assemblies maintain Gospel/ministry meetings on Sunday evenings. However, personal evangelism and soul winning, which is at the heart of all public evangelistic work is sadly neglected in many areas. A few assemblies have dwindled for lack of new converts and baptisms. Gospel campaigns are not unknown, but are rare in comparison with the past.

Reliance on the past

There are three areas for an assembly to look, Upward to Christ, Outward to the lost and Inward to examine self. Many Christians look inward at the problems of Brethren 100 or more years ago. They try to re-fight those battles and thereby turn inward. Introspection is good at the Lord’s Supper, "let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of that cup." 1 Corinthians 11. However, looking inward at the historical issues of Brethren may serve to provoke more than a warning about repeating the mistakes of the past. Some may be tempted to replay the events of the past in the present.

While history or men’s writings serve to warn us that we might not repeat the mistakes of the past in doctrine or practice, a reliance on what early brethren said or did not say is never a substitute for fresh research into the Scriptures. Some are tempted to quote Darby. Darby was a brilliant scholar with invaluable writings. However, the Scriptures alone are infallible and are inspired Those great nineteenth century Brethren were great because they were men of the Book. They had no one to quote but "thus sayeth the Scriptures."