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PBCC Podcast

“Behind the Plymouth Brethren – a not-so Exclusive podcast” is a video series from the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC) designed to portray an image of normality to the outside world through the sharing of stories from a few of its 55,000 members.

It’s main purpose seems to be to counter intense opposition from sources such as the Get A Life Podcast, and negative press coverage.

Key Aspects

  • Host: The podcast is hosted by Lloyd Grimshaw, a PBCC spokesperson.
  • Purpose: To counter negative media portrayals and provide a platform for members to share their stories, including addressing topics like the role of women, separation, and critics’ claims about the church.
  • Content: Features interviews with various members, including a 4-part series with the 4 sons of the church’s senior leader, Bruce Hales.
  • Availability: The podcast is available on major platforms, including YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

The podcast, which quickly achieved over 100k views within a few days of its launch and now has over a million views, aims to provide a voice to the preferred narrative of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church.

Its content is widely repurposed in shorts and social media, which has the effect of reducing the visibility of negative coverage on the internet.

The First Episode:

Key topics from the Behind the Plymouth Brethren podcast:

  • Meet the Hales brothers (Ep 1 & 2): Four sons of leader Bruce Hales discuss myths, roles of men/women, and life in the church.
  • Raymond Lee – Choosing the Church: A Sydney father discusses his commitment to the church following family, work, and faith challenges.
  • Sisters and Brethren: Raymond Lee and his daughters discuss business life and media portrayal of women in the church.
  • Mara Stewart – PBCC in NZ: A new mother shares her journey and daily life as a woman in the church.
  • An Irish Brethren in America: Daniel White recounts his upbringing in Northern Ireland and move to America.
  • Big Ambition – Melissa Biggs: A Canadian member discusses her entrepreneurial journey and business ventures.
  • Small town traveller – Mike Bond: A Canadian member shares experiences of global travel from a small town.
  • Roaming the Globe – Nolita Leflaive: A young Italian woman discusses community life and working in the church.
  • Special ANZAC Day episode: Features stories of Brethren in wartime service.
  • Getting back to work – Joy Hutchison: A story of returning to the workforce after a personal loss.

Episode Highlights & Themes

  • Family and Community – Arne & Janet Wallace: Discusses balancing large families with business, and the tradition of “separation”.
  • Overcoming Tragedy – Eloise and Owen Holder: Shares how community support helped through personal loss.
  • Raising our Voices – Bill and Hannah Baker: Explores music, community projects, and the role of women in the church.
  • Peaceful path – Lee and Tami Admiraal: Explores the realities of raising a family in the church.
  • Returning to the flock – Harvey Edmonds: A story of a member who left, travelled, and chose to return.
  • Respecting your Elders – John Anderson & Charles Baker: Reminisces on leadership and family history within the church.

Controversies over misleading content on the PBCC Podcast

Ex-members say that the Podcasts are deceitful because they only tell half the story, or use misleading language, giving people outside of this secretive group an incorrect impression of what life is really like inside. For example:

Controversy example 1: Making out there is more freedom than there really is

In this episode, an older member fondly recalls her road trip holidays (holidays are no longer allowed), and the puppies they had (PBCC members have not been allowed to keep dogs as pets since 1964).

Controversy example 2: Showcasing an exception to the rule as normal

In this episode, the 1 and only female to set up and run a large business was showcased as though that’s commonplace.

Controversy example 3: Clever use of words to give a false impression

In this episode, which seeks to defuse the criticisms over involvement in the Australian election in 2025, carefully chosen words “I’m a voter” make it seem to a casual observer like this woman votes, especially following the spokesman’s question “do you vote?”. But being a registered voter does not mean you actually vote. As it is against the rules of the PBCC to vote, it is unlikely that this woman actually cast her vote, even though as she rightly claims in this podcast, she is a voter.

Is the podcast a central pillar within a broader reputation management strategy?

Yes; before the podcast was launched, the PBCC was already engaged in a range of similar activities:

  • The YouTube channel on which the PBCC Podcast videos reside was already established and contained a variety of similar content, e.g., a series of interviews with the neighbours of Brethren members called ‘Our Neighbours’, interviews with community members, and videos demonstrating engagement in charitable activities. Within this mostly passive mix of content, the “Behind The Plymouth Brethren” podcast stands out as a much more proactive drive to counter negative press coverage and social media narratives, which it describes as myths that need dispelling.
  • The church occasionally reaches out to major news outlets, providing them with carefully crafted stories about handpicked members to try to generate positive press coverage like this UK Daily Telegraph article and these Australian Daily Telegraph Articles, although these news outlets still include information from a mixture of sources and are therefore not always as positive as the church hoped for.
  • The podcast acts in tandem with other high-profile PR and outreach initiatives run by the church, most notably the Rapid Relief Team (RRT), which provides charitable support to communities and first responders. Critics point to the attention-seeking tendencies of RRT, including a preference for supporting high-profile events that will generate press coverage, extensive filming to provide content for PBCC PR, and actively seeking out influencer personalities to engage with.

This contrasts with the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 6:1-4, which says:

Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Matthew 6:1-4 English Standard Version (ESV)

Reactions to the Podcast

Within the PBCC community, most seem to regard the podcast as a needed counter-balance to what they regard as persecution and lies from those opposed to the group. Many seem to regard misleading content as a clever and necessary means of ensuring that they are not unfairly persecuted by a secular society that does not understand their beliefs or culture, and is simply part of being “prudent as the serpents, and guileless as the doves” (Matthew 10:16 in the Darby translation). Others seem to regard the podcasts as a sign of how things have changed under their current leader, and are starting to allow the things mentioned within the podcast content, unless there has been a reinstatement of a particular rule, like the one about not keeping pets, which has been confirmed by both internal and external sources in May 2026 after the Faith, Hope and Joy episode in December 2025 indicated that pets including dogs were OK.

Outside the community, reactions in ex-PBCC social media communities have been a mixture of ridicule, anger, and hope: ridicule about details such as the “worldly eyebrows” of the females that were never allowed in decades gone by, anger that they are displaying as normal behaviours that some ex-members were excommunicated for, and hope that those inside will have their eyes opened by the contradictions between the public-facing narrative and the internal reality for current members.

Several of the earlier podcast videos have now achieved over 100,000 views on YouTube, with the most popular episode currently showing over 200k, indicating that the videos are likely to be engaging viewers outside of the most obvious audience of 55,000 current members and a few thousand ex-members, while still being far from viral popularity levels. Most of the more recent videos show around 20k to 30k views, indicating that interest is waning over time. Comments on the YouTube videos are not published, and on Spotify there are only 5 reviews, with an average 3 out of 5 star rating.

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