Brethren Wealth

How much are the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church worth?
How do they compare to other Churches like the Church of Scientology or the Church of England?

According to data we have found in 2023 there are just over 54,000 members of the exclusive Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. The largest country for the brethren members is the United Kingdom with 18,457, Australia follows with 16,294, New Zealand with 9,003 members, USA 4,282, Canada 2,338, France 1,558 and then there are a smaller number of members across Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Argentina and the Caribbean adding up to a further 2,717 members. 

A pretty reliable rule of thumb is that if you multiply the UK or Australian numbers by 3 then you get the global total. This is based on a third in the UK, a third in Australia and a third for the Rest of the World.

We have split the wealth into the following four categories:

• Brethren Charities, Non Profits & Investment Funds
• Brethren Meeting Rooms & Education Trusts
• Brethren Members Companies assets
• Brethren Members personal assets

Brethren Charities, Non Profits & Investments Funds

We calculate that the global wealth for this category is a minimum of AUS$1.2 billion. We have been able to obtain accounts for the below and are therefore 100% confident that the value is at least $1.2 billion.

Brethren Meeting Rooms & Education Trusts

Our calculations that the global assets of the brethren meeting rooms and education trusts (owners of the OneSchool Global property & Campus & Co retail stores) is AUS$2.25 billion. We have been able to ascertain the value of the meeting rooms and education trusts in the UK and have used our 'Multiply by 3 rule of thumb' to calculate the global assets. Therefore this is an estimate.

Brethren Member Companies

Universal Business Team (UBT) literature states there are over 3,000 companies operated globally by members of the brethren. We have reviewed the assets of 1,000 of these companies and found that they held assets of $5 billion. Using the 'Multiply by 3 rule of thumb' this would give overall global assets of these companies of a staggering AUS$15 Billion.

Brethren Member Personal Assets

We have seen data for 2023 that shows the number of brethren households globally for the 54,000+ members of the brethren. That total is 16,570 households. 

We have then extrapolated using AUS$1.6 million as the average assets held by each household. Our estimate of $1.6 million is based on the brethren living in vast detached properties as part of their doctrine not to share a drain with non-brethren neighbours. Our research looked at circa 200 home addresses for UK brethren and their current Zoopla valuation. We have not included any personal wealth, other than property.

We have seen information that would suggest that amount owned to mortgage companies equates to approx. 30% of the value of personal properties. We have therefore used 70% of $1.6 million as the number to calculate the personal wealth and multiplied it by the number of households. This would give a global total of personal assets of circa AUS$18.5 Billion. This we believe to be a very conservative estimate!

A property owned by a brethren member.

Total Brethren Wealth

Adding the four categories together gives a total wealth within the brethren ecosystem of 

• AUS $37 Billion.
• UK £18 Billion
• US £24 Billion

A truly breath-taking amount for a "church" with just 54,000 members.

Comparison with other churches

Wikipedia has an estimate of the wealth of various churches, we assume this doesn't include personal or company wealth. The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church though is an ecosystem where every effort is made to keep the brethren dollars inside the brethren where possible. Just this week there has been a global reminder that any travel including for business must be approved by the local elders.

Other Churches (in US dollars)
Scientology $2 billion (40,000 - 50,000 members)
Church of England $12 billion (1 million members)
Catholic Church in Australia $20 billion (5 million members)

The wealthiest church is the Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormon) with a wealth of $236 Billion, though it does have 17 million members!

It is always interesting to note the above accumulation of wealth for "churches" with the added benefit of being able to facilitate their charitable status, in fund raising, education, meeting rooms and investments.