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Behind Closed Doors: A startling story of Exclusive Brethren life
A gripping and revealing first-hand account of one family's experience in the Exclusive Brethren community in New Zealand.
Ngaire Thomas grew up, married and raised her children within the Exclusive Brethren church in the Palmerston North area. In plain, non-judgemental style, Ngaire describes life inside this community with its strict rules. She says: 'By the time I was nine, I had developed an independent spirit . . . [which] usually meant that a person had begun to think for themselves rather than obeying the M.O.G. [Man of God] - an undesirable trait that needed to be dealt with.'
Behind Closed Doors tells of the struggles Ngaire and her family went through in order to remain within this close but challenging community. She and her husband Denis, a very devout man, had a strong and committed marriage, raised five children and attempted to live a good life within the church. However they were eventually excommunicated and went to live 'on the outside'. Ngaire describes the trauma of adjusting to life on the outside and its devastating effects on her children.
Ngaire Thomas grew up, married and raised her children within the Exclusive Brethren church in the Palmerston North area. In plain, non-judgemental style, Ngaire describes life inside this community with its strict rules. She says: 'By the time I was nine, I had developed an independent spirit . . . [which] usually meant that a person had begun to think for themselves rather than obeying the M.O.G. [Man of God] - an undesirable trait that needed to be dealt with.'
Behind Closed Doors tells of the struggles Ngaire and her family went through in order to remain within this close but challenging community. She and her husband Denis, a very devout man, had a strong and committed marriage, raised five children and attempted to live a good life within the church. However they were eventually excommunicated and went to live 'on the outside'. Ngaire describes the trauma of adjusting to life on the outside and its devastating effects on her children.
249 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 9, 2020
Not well written but fascinating insight into the Exclusive Bethren, they dispute being a cult but their extreme attitude to 'worldly' people and their incredibly strict rules for their own members to adhere too seems to identify with a cult.
March 9, 2018
A compassionately written, informative book.
April 8, 2020
It gave an interesting insight into life as an exclusive brethren but I found it a bit dull.
June 25, 2013
Ngaire Thomas was an Exclusive Brethren until 1974 when, in her mid-thirties, she and her family were 'withdrawn from' and had to find their place in the outside world. The book has no literary flair, Thomas tells her story in a straight line from start to finish. At times it is slow, but in places it is fascinating, although I did find Thomas' very 'Brethren-Baptist-Spiritualist' approach to life very hard to relate to. The most interesting thing for me was just how irrational, unpredictable and abusive the Brethren Elders were, and how hard it was for Thomas and her family to cope with life on the outside. They didn't know how to trust people, how to make decisions, or how to interact in normal daily social interactions. I had always seen people who left exclusive communities as gaining freedom, but I had never thought about how terrifying and devastating leaving the security of the only life they had ever known, not to mention their families, would be.
April 10, 2014
A great biography - Themes - Cults, New Zealand, Religion, Family relationships
This is a first hand account by the author Ngaire Thomas, of her life in the Exclusive Brethren.
It tells of her experiences with her family behind windowless buildings… how the laws of the Brethren constantly changed at the will of the current MOG (Man of God) … how she confronted her father over abuse …. her marriage to a member and the children she had within the Brethren … of members who were excommunicated and never allowed contact with their families again … of her and her husbands trauma of adjusting to life on the ‘outside’ and the devastating effects leaving the Brethren had on her children.
An informative look at a way of life we will most likely never know.
This is a first hand account by the author Ngaire Thomas, of her life in the Exclusive Brethren.
It tells of her experiences with her family behind windowless buildings… how the laws of the Brethren constantly changed at the will of the current MOG (Man of God) … how she confronted her father over abuse …. her marriage to a member and the children she had within the Brethren … of members who were excommunicated and never allowed contact with their families again … of her and her husbands trauma of adjusting to life on the ‘outside’ and the devastating effects leaving the Brethren had on her children.
An informative look at a way of life we will most likely never know.
April 6, 2010
Ngaire was born into a family of Exclusive Brethren and at eighteen married a devout man of the same persuasion. Throughout her growing up years she never felt committed and constrantly rebelled and strained against the ever-increasing strict rules of the sect. Eventually both she and her husband were excluded from the community and at age 31 she had to learn to live in the outside world. An easy to read account of one person's experiences. A survival story butnot without great cost. I spent some time after reading it researching further into the sect and found it concerning reading.
November 23, 2014
An amazing account of the lives of a family who lived in the realms of the exclusive bretherens.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews