The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, also referred to as the Exclusive Brethren, is led by Sydney based Bruce Hales. They have approx. 56,000 members, a member is classed as in fellowship with Bruce Hales. Australia and the UK is home to 63% of the brethren population, split evenly between the two countries. New Zealand accounts for a further 16%, North America 12%, with smaller communities in France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, The Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Argentina, and the Caribbean accounting for the remaining members.
The brethren are a highly organised, network of businesses and families, with a corporate structure that facilitates the control of all aspects of members lives. It could be argued they are much more a commercial organisation than a church. They claim to have a flat structure and no hierarchy. Research and information provided by former members, would suggest that this claim borders on the ridiculous. It is important to explain how the PBCC is organised.
The simplest way to explain the structure of the Plymouth Brethren is by comparing it to a large global corporation, with Bruce Hales as the Chairperson, Philip McNaughton as the Chief Financial Officer and Dean Hales as the Chief Operating Officer. Underneath them sits the executive board called the Global Advisory Panel (GAP), the board or panel is made up of senior members in Australia, New Zealand, UK, and North America. GAP is a registered PTY company in Australia, called GAP Global Pty Ltd, ABN 83 616 169 638.
GAP is responsible for approving all infrastructure decisions, spend, location moves, development, travel, business sales, and business investment. Current & Previous directors have included Dean Hales, Cameron Hales, Philip McNaughton, Caleb Hall, Jeremy Joyce, Lloyd Chirnside, Rod Diplock, Mick Strange, Logan Currie, John Rich, Jim Hazell, Glen Stacey and Brent Scott.
The brethren ‘corporation’ or as they call it ‘ecosystem,’ is then set up with different departments reporting into the Global Advisory Panel.
The brethren are a highly organised, network of businesses and families, with a corporate structure that facilitates the control of all aspects of members lives. It could be argued they are much more a commercial organisation than a church. They claim to have a flat structure and no hierarchy. Research and information provided by former members, would suggest that this claim borders on the ridiculous. It is important to explain how the PBCC is organised.
The simplest way to explain the structure of the Plymouth Brethren is by comparing it to a large global corporation, with Bruce Hales as the Chairperson, Philip McNaughton as the Chief Financial Officer and Dean Hales as the Chief Operating Officer. Underneath them sits the executive board called the Global Advisory Panel (GAP), the board or panel is made up of senior members in Australia, New Zealand, UK, and North America. GAP is a registered PTY company in Australia, called GAP Global Pty Ltd, ABN 83 616 169 638.
GAP is responsible for approving all infrastructure decisions, spend, location moves, development, travel, business sales, and business investment. Current & Previous directors have included Dean Hales, Cameron Hales, Philip McNaughton, Caleb Hall, Jeremy Joyce, Lloyd Chirnside, Rod Diplock, Mick Strange, Logan Currie, John Rich, Jim Hazell, Glen Stacey and Brent Scott.
The brethren ‘corporation’ or as they call it ‘ecosystem,’ is then set up with different departments reporting into the Global Advisory Panel.
PBCC Community Ecosystem: Global Funding Team documents
Departments and their objectives:
UBT & UBTA: Improve profits of community businesses.
OneSchool Global: Protect and educate our young
UBT Household, RRT, Orbit, Campus & Co, Onemedifund: Maintain our way of life.
HR100, UBT Assist, Vision Welfare: Elevate Circumstances
NAF, GFT, Vision Foundation, Tyremax: Fund education and welfare needs
The departments each report to GAP, which is the ’beating heart’ of the brethren, and each have a function within the ecosystem as follows:
UBT (Universal Business Team)
A business consultancy, training and buying group that provides services and advice to brethren member business owners. It is a fundamental part of the brethren operation and operates as a non-profit. Global revenues are circa $600 million a year with circa $150 million of profits going to into brethren charities. UBT is organised with a typical corporate structure, Caleb Hall being the CEO. In November 2025, it emerged that UBT had made a payment of several million dollars to the Australian Tax Office (ATO), under voluntary disclosure following the ATO raid in 2024. This was in regard to the Financial Benefits Tax and Salary Sharing matter. There are a further two matters still under investigation.
UBTA (Universal Business Team Accountants)
A subsidiary of the UBT, the accountancy arm provides accountancy services, tax advice, investment consultancy and assists with mergers and acquisitions. Again, this operates as a non-profit organisation. The Australian office ceased operations, not long after the ATO raid in March 2024. The New Zealand office also ceased business but immediately started again with a sole trader trading under a very similar business name.
OneSchool Global (OSG)
The brethren schools, with globally over 120 campuses, this is funded by the profits from UBT, alongside grants from the Australian Government and small fees being paid by the parents of brethren children. OSG enables brethren children to be kept inside the system and prevents outside influence on their beliefs. The structure is twofold, there is the central OSG team with responsibility for the curriculum, hiring of teachers and the commercial operation. Then there are local teams which run each campus, the local teams will often own the school premises and be responsible for maintenance and development of school buildings.
UBT Household (Universal Business Household)
A consultancy and advisory subsidiary of UBT. It provides advice on how to run a household and produces a monthly magazine providing advice of lifestyle, mortgages, food, etc. It also actively promotes the sale of UBT products and ‘church’ ministry.
RRT (Rapid Relief Team)
The public facing charity of the brethren, RRT provides catering to the Emergency Services and other charities, along with disaster relief services to the wider public. RRT is funded by donations from other brethren operated charities, it also receives government grants to undertake projects on behalf of Governments. RRT volunteers are all members of the Plymouth Brethren.
It is again a highly structured organisation with an executive board, country leaders, regional directors, managers responsible for identifying opportunities, down to the individual volunteers serving Coffee and Burgers. It is worth noting that the majority of those serving at events are from the lowest rungs of the brethren. I have evidence of how this charity is operated foremost as a PR campaign, volunteers have strict rules to follow at events and are told to ensure they are positioned for maximum visibility.
Orbit
Orbit is another subsidiary of UBT, it approves and organises all brethren member travel, this includes the chartering of flights for universal meetings, event planning, approving individual member travel requests. It is not unusual for Orbit to issue travel bans for individuals and globally. Examples include, that currently no brethren member from outside Sydney is allowed to travel to Sydney. It is also reported that Orbit charge high fees to businesses for travel.
Campus & Co
The idea behind Campus & Co was to create brethren member only retail stores in each brethren community and then invest the profits back in locally to the OSG schools. The stores operated as food and drink convenience stores. The organisation was again highly structured and operated centrally under the watchful eye of UBT, employing non-brethren retail specialists to set up a similar operation to mainstream retail operators such as Coles, Woolworths, or Aldi. At a local level, the stores are run by volunteer brethren members, retirees, and housewives. The local structure included regional directors, marketing initiatives, store managers, and staff. There was a global announcement of the closure of Campus & Co in the summer of 2025. The possible reasons behind the closure include time and effort versus minimal profits or the ongoing court case in New Zealand around Gloriavale and the claims for back pay for unpaid volunteers.
Onemedifund
This is the private healthcare business for brethren members, brethren companies and their employees. Operated as a non-profit, with profits going to brethren charities.
HR100
HR100 is another subsidiary of UBT and provides Human Resources guidance, advice to brethren member companies and provides career moves for community members from brethren companies needing to reduce their staff, to ones the are growing.
UBT Assist
Again, a subsidiary of UBT, there is UBT Board Assist which matches suitable consultants for brethren member companies that are seeking business assistance. UBT Assist also provides support services for IT and Telecoms, and the operation of Streamline3, Streamline3 is the monitoring and access control system for members phones and computers. Controlling and monitoring access to websites, also monitoring movements of members and employees of brethren companies.
Vision Welfare
Vision Welfare provides financial support to brethren members in hardship, for brethren pensioners and those that have ill-health. It is funded by other brethren charities, though in Australia operates as a standalone charity. At the recent Strive 26 meeting, it was requested that hardship requests are dealt with locally before calling on the support of Vision Welfare.
NAF (National Assistance Fund)
NAF are the “middleman” charities, operating in Australia, UK, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA. Its function is to receive the profits from UBT and other major brethren charities and redistribute funds by providing grants, to OneSchool Global.
GFT (Global Funding Team)
The Global Funding Team is yet another highly structured organisation within the PBCC. The GFT is responsible for setting the targets each year on the global requirements needed to fund all the different entities, such as OneSchool Global, Vision and the Rapid Relief Team. There are country directors, regional directors, community managers, whose tasks include getting the brethren companies and members to pledge their donations early in the year to ensure the funds are available to run the different entities, these are all volunteers but are provided with training and documentation to ensure they maximise the donations, particularly from the brethren companies. We have evidence of the claim that by donating that “good things” will happen within their own personal lives. An unbelievable claim! At the Strive 2026 meeting the funding required, named the "one number", was $261 million. Giving donors just 5 days to put in their pledges.
Vision Foundation
The Vision Foundation was set up with the aim of the brethren becoming self-funded. This means that if they invest enough in the various Vision controlled investment funds that the returns will fund the operation of the various entities and thus reduce the need for the Global Funding Team. Bruce Hales has said that if they can get a 25% return on $1 billion investment each year, then this would the fund schools etc. The Vision foundation is highly structured and covers not only investment in various funds, but also investment in brethren member companies through what is called the Vision Accelerator, which is another PTY Ltd company that exists in Australia. It is also worth noting that many of the brethren charities have large investments in the Vision Foundation.
Tyremax
A standalone company that acts as a non-profit, focused on the wholesale supply of Tyres in Australia and New Zealand. The UK version failed miserably.
Plymouth Brethren Christian Church Ecosystem
The above shows that that in all aspects of members lives there is a coordinated, structured and highly controlled infrastructure in place, covering business, household, education, charity, retail, fundraising and investment. It is of note that each year 100% attendance is required by all brethren members to a seminar, this seminar is called Strive. Strive could be summarised as the annual general meeting of the brethren covering business and household, reporting on the previous year, and setting direction for the following year. We have highlighted a couple of areas discussed at Strive 2026.
In this highly controlled, structured, and organised operation. Members travel, home moves, weddings are all controlled as well as their major business decisions.
UBT & UBTA: Improve profits of community businesses.
OneSchool Global: Protect and educate our young
UBT Household, RRT, Orbit, Campus & Co, Onemedifund: Maintain our way of life.
HR100, UBT Assist, Vision Welfare: Elevate Circumstances
NAF, GFT, Vision Foundation, Tyremax: Fund education and welfare needs
The departments each report to GAP, which is the ’beating heart’ of the brethren, and each have a function within the ecosystem as follows:
UBT (Universal Business Team)
A business consultancy, training and buying group that provides services and advice to brethren member business owners. It is a fundamental part of the brethren operation and operates as a non-profit. Global revenues are circa $600 million a year with circa $150 million of profits going to into brethren charities. UBT is organised with a typical corporate structure, Caleb Hall being the CEO. In November 2025, it emerged that UBT had made a payment of several million dollars to the Australian Tax Office (ATO), under voluntary disclosure following the ATO raid in 2024. This was in regard to the Financial Benefits Tax and Salary Sharing matter. There are a further two matters still under investigation.
UBTA (Universal Business Team Accountants)
A subsidiary of the UBT, the accountancy arm provides accountancy services, tax advice, investment consultancy and assists with mergers and acquisitions. Again, this operates as a non-profit organisation. The Australian office ceased operations, not long after the ATO raid in March 2024. The New Zealand office also ceased business but immediately started again with a sole trader trading under a very similar business name.
OneSchool Global (OSG)
The brethren schools, with globally over 120 campuses, this is funded by the profits from UBT, alongside grants from the Australian Government and small fees being paid by the parents of brethren children. OSG enables brethren children to be kept inside the system and prevents outside influence on their beliefs. The structure is twofold, there is the central OSG team with responsibility for the curriculum, hiring of teachers and the commercial operation. Then there are local teams which run each campus, the local teams will often own the school premises and be responsible for maintenance and development of school buildings.
UBT Household (Universal Business Household)
A consultancy and advisory subsidiary of UBT. It provides advice on how to run a household and produces a monthly magazine providing advice of lifestyle, mortgages, food, etc. It also actively promotes the sale of UBT products and ‘church’ ministry.
RRT (Rapid Relief Team)
The public facing charity of the brethren, RRT provides catering to the Emergency Services and other charities, along with disaster relief services to the wider public. RRT is funded by donations from other brethren operated charities, it also receives government grants to undertake projects on behalf of Governments. RRT volunteers are all members of the Plymouth Brethren.
It is again a highly structured organisation with an executive board, country leaders, regional directors, managers responsible for identifying opportunities, down to the individual volunteers serving Coffee and Burgers. It is worth noting that the majority of those serving at events are from the lowest rungs of the brethren. I have evidence of how this charity is operated foremost as a PR campaign, volunteers have strict rules to follow at events and are told to ensure they are positioned for maximum visibility.
Orbit
Orbit is another subsidiary of UBT, it approves and organises all brethren member travel, this includes the chartering of flights for universal meetings, event planning, approving individual member travel requests. It is not unusual for Orbit to issue travel bans for individuals and globally. Examples include, that currently no brethren member from outside Sydney is allowed to travel to Sydney. It is also reported that Orbit charge high fees to businesses for travel.
Campus & Co
The idea behind Campus & Co was to create brethren member only retail stores in each brethren community and then invest the profits back in locally to the OSG schools. The stores operated as food and drink convenience stores. The organisation was again highly structured and operated centrally under the watchful eye of UBT, employing non-brethren retail specialists to set up a similar operation to mainstream retail operators such as Coles, Woolworths, or Aldi. At a local level, the stores are run by volunteer brethren members, retirees, and housewives. The local structure included regional directors, marketing initiatives, store managers, and staff. There was a global announcement of the closure of Campus & Co in the summer of 2025. The possible reasons behind the closure include time and effort versus minimal profits or the ongoing court case in New Zealand around Gloriavale and the claims for back pay for unpaid volunteers.
Onemedifund
This is the private healthcare business for brethren members, brethren companies and their employees. Operated as a non-profit, with profits going to brethren charities.
HR100
HR100 is another subsidiary of UBT and provides Human Resources guidance, advice to brethren member companies and provides career moves for community members from brethren companies needing to reduce their staff, to ones the are growing.
UBT Assist
Again, a subsidiary of UBT, there is UBT Board Assist which matches suitable consultants for brethren member companies that are seeking business assistance. UBT Assist also provides support services for IT and Telecoms, and the operation of Streamline3, Streamline3 is the monitoring and access control system for members phones and computers. Controlling and monitoring access to websites, also monitoring movements of members and employees of brethren companies.
Vision Welfare
Vision Welfare provides financial support to brethren members in hardship, for brethren pensioners and those that have ill-health. It is funded by other brethren charities, though in Australia operates as a standalone charity. At the recent Strive 26 meeting, it was requested that hardship requests are dealt with locally before calling on the support of Vision Welfare.
NAF (National Assistance Fund)
NAF are the “middleman” charities, operating in Australia, UK, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA. Its function is to receive the profits from UBT and other major brethren charities and redistribute funds by providing grants, to OneSchool Global.
GFT (Global Funding Team)
The Global Funding Team is yet another highly structured organisation within the PBCC. The GFT is responsible for setting the targets each year on the global requirements needed to fund all the different entities, such as OneSchool Global, Vision and the Rapid Relief Team. There are country directors, regional directors, community managers, whose tasks include getting the brethren companies and members to pledge their donations early in the year to ensure the funds are available to run the different entities, these are all volunteers but are provided with training and documentation to ensure they maximise the donations, particularly from the brethren companies. We have evidence of the claim that by donating that “good things” will happen within their own personal lives. An unbelievable claim! At the Strive 2026 meeting the funding required, named the "one number", was $261 million. Giving donors just 5 days to put in their pledges.
Vision Foundation
The Vision Foundation was set up with the aim of the brethren becoming self-funded. This means that if they invest enough in the various Vision controlled investment funds that the returns will fund the operation of the various entities and thus reduce the need for the Global Funding Team. Bruce Hales has said that if they can get a 25% return on $1 billion investment each year, then this would the fund schools etc. The Vision foundation is highly structured and covers not only investment in various funds, but also investment in brethren member companies through what is called the Vision Accelerator, which is another PTY Ltd company that exists in Australia. It is also worth noting that many of the brethren charities have large investments in the Vision Foundation.
Tyremax
A standalone company that acts as a non-profit, focused on the wholesale supply of Tyres in Australia and New Zealand. The UK version failed miserably.
Plymouth Brethren Christian Church Ecosystem
The above shows that that in all aspects of members lives there is a coordinated, structured and highly controlled infrastructure in place, covering business, household, education, charity, retail, fundraising and investment. It is of note that each year 100% attendance is required by all brethren members to a seminar, this seminar is called Strive. Strive could be summarised as the annual general meeting of the brethren covering business and household, reporting on the previous year, and setting direction for the following year. We have highlighted a couple of areas discussed at Strive 2026.
In this highly controlled, structured, and organised operation. Members travel, home moves, weddings are all controlled as well as their major business decisions.