Assemblies Jehovah Shammah

Assemblies Jehovah Shammah
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Independent / Plymouth Brethren
Polity	Congregationalist
Region	India, Pakistan; some congregations elsewhere
Origin	1842
Congregations	910 (in India)
Members	310,000 (In India, including children)

The Assemblies Jehovah Shammah are an Evangelical Christian network of churches that originated in India, which is still home to the great majority of them. The Evangelical publication Operation World estimates their numbers, as of 2010, at 310,000 adults and children in 910 assemblies, as their churches are generally known. Other sources estimate upwards of two thousand congregations, with a large presence in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The movement was founded in 1942 by evangelist Bakht Singh, whose theology and ecclesiology were much influenced by the Open Brethren. Although historically distinct from the Indian Brethren movement, which originated from missionary endeavours, the Assemblies Jehovah Shammah have a lot in common with it and are sometimes (but not always) considered a part of the Brethren movement worldwide.

Theologically, the Assemblies Jehovah Shammah are a conservative Evangelical movement placing a great emphasis on the preaching and expounding of scripture. They are a lay movement with no ordained clergy, and each congregation is led by elders who take responsibility for the spiritual needs of those in fellowship. Assemblies Jehovah Shammah do not have a formal membership, but regard any Christian who has been baptised as a believer and attends regularly as being part of their fellowship.Holy Communion is celebrated weekly as part of a largely informal worship service, with any believer in the congregation who feels "moved by the Holy Spirit" offering prayers, sharing scriptures, or suggesting hymns. This period of free worship is followed by an hour-long sermon. In these matters, the Assemblies Jehovah Shammah greatly resemble the Open Brethren, but with certain adaptations to Indian culture, such as seating the congregation on mats on the floor. Unlike much of the wider Brethren movement, however, the Assemblies Jehovah Shammah have never restricted women from participating audibly in worship; until the last two decades, the great majority of Brethren assemblies around the world had a policy of reserving the "vocal" roles in worship to men only. Much (though not all) of the Indian Brethren movement remains very conservative and resistant to the changes that have occurred in some parts of the Brethren world in the last generation. This is one of the lines of demarcation between the Assemblies Jehovah Shammah and the older Indian Brethren movement.

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