Check.Church

KLC (Kelly and Lowe-Continental)

Brethren · 1926 · Britain; North America

The Kelly and Lowe-Continental brethren merged in 1926. A letter signed by 57 brothers said they had met "not seeking to apportion the blame" for the division of 1881.

KLC (Kelly and Lowe-Continental) was formed in 1926. It ended as a separate body in 1940, entering KLC with ex-Tunbridge Wells. KLC (Kelly and Lowe-Continental)'s institutional line runs back through Kelly Brethren, The Brethren movement, Church of England, Roman Catholicism to the post-apostolic church. No body on this tree is the assembly of Acts 2; where a body claims that, the claim appears in the claimed-lineage layer.

Between the post-apostolic church and KLC (Kelly and Lowe-Continental) stand 4 divisions along the institutional line, counting separations and disputed forks, not mergers, renewals or national organizations.

At a glance

Formed
In 1926
Family
Brethren
Region
Britain; North America
Ended
It ended as a separate body in 1940, entering KLC with ex-Tunbridge Wells.
Cause tags
Governance
Also known as
Kelly-Lowe-Continental Brethren

Is the KLC Biblical?

Left divine ground.

1926. The Kelly and Lowe-Continental brethren merged.

A letter signed by 57 brothers said they had met "not seeking to apportion the blame for that division {1881}, but rather to humble ourselves before the Lord". Huebner answers: "Humbling over pride and insubjection is ever right, but using that to avoid the point of departure being the point of restoration, and etc., is ever wrong." Huebner says all these mergers took place on the basis that the divided companies "were all gathered (together?) to Christ's name while in division".

Sources: R. A. Huebner, How the Leaven of Evil Mergers by the KLCs Came About (PTP, 2nd ed., 2007), pp. 4–5.

This verdict concerns the ground of gathering, not the salvation of any individual. Whoever truly believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is a member of the one body, wherever they gather; ‘[The] Lord knows those that are his’ (2 Timothy 2:19).

What it was organized out of

Bodies organized out of it or separated from it: KLC with ex-Tunbridge Wells.

On the tree

KLC (Kelly and Lowe-Continental) and the institutional line back to the post-apostolic churchAD 33The church at Pentecost: On divine groundThe church at Pentecost: on divine groundtoday1004244314511054153418271881190919261940The post-apostolic church (The spine)The post-apostolicchurchDepartureChurch of the East (Church of the East)Church of the EastChurch of the EastThe conciliar church (The spine)The conciliar churchDepartureThe Chalcedonian church (The spine)The Chalcedonian churchDepartureOriental Orthodoxy (Oriental Orthodox)Oriental OrthodoxyOriental OrthodoxEastern Orthodoxy (Eastern Orthodox)Eastern OrthodoxyEastern OrthodoxRoman Catholicism (Catholic)Roman CatholicismNot gatheredChurch of England (Anglican)Church of EnglandAnglicanThe Brethren movement (Brethren)The Brethren movementOn divine groundKelly Brethren (Brethren)Kelly BrethrenLeft divine groundLowe-Continental Brethren (Brethren)Lowe-ContinentalBrethrenLeft divine groundKLC (Kelly and Lowe-Continental) (Brethren)KLC (Kelly andLowe-Continental)Left divine groundKLC with ex-Tunbridge Wells (Brethren)KLC with ex-TunbridgeWellsLeft divine ground

Solid lines are separations and unions; dashed lines are renewals that began inside a body; dotted gray lines are national organizations of one communion or branches of one family; a diamond marks a fork event where neither side is drawn as the one that left. Every line runs back to the post-apostolic church; no body descends from the assembly of Acts 2. Dashed gray boxes mark the institutional line after the apostles, shown as departure; no line of descent is drawn from Pentecost. A verdict appears on a box once its section is published.

Sources

  • R. A. Huebner, How the Leaven of Evil Mergers by the KLCs Came About (PTP, 2007), p. 4 — courtesy of Present Truth Publishers

Brethren division and merger chronology: R. A. Huebner, courtesy of Present Truth Publishers (free PDF).

Research compiled July 2026. Page data built 2026-10-31.