The Aberdeen Incident 1970
At Aberdeen, Scotland, there was a hotly contested scandal in 1970 involving the group leader at the time, James Taylor Junior (JTJnr), that caused the last known major division when 1000s left the group then known as the Exclusive Brethren (now called the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church or the PBCC).
The claim is that JTJnr was found in bed with the married wife of another church member, during a fellowship meeting weekend that was marked by rowdy behaviour in the congregation, seemingly lewd language from JTJnr in Church, and heavy consumption of whiskey before and after the church occasions.
Audio Recording of the Aberdeen Meetings in 1970 with James Taylor Junior
A recording of the one of the Aberdeen Bible reading meeting is available below, to give a flavour of how perplexing this must have been for a group of mostly sincere and conservative Christians:
The authenticity of this recording is often questioned (without providing evidence) by current PBCC members, and as no written record of the meetings was ever produced, it is hard to be 100% certain that this is indeed a genuine recording. However:
- The content and style of the meetings matches very closely the written records of meetings immediately before and after this recording
- Eye-witness reports of the occasion from those both those who remained within the brethren and those who went out all corroborate to confirm unruly behaviour such as stamping and whistling, like you can hear in this recording
- The voices sound authentic when compared to other verified recordings from that era
- So we have no reason to doubt the veracity of this recording
Since the advent of tape recorders being used earlier in the life of James Taylor Junior, all meetings with leaders of the brethren have been recorded in written form, except these Aberdeen meetings.
The Internal Narrative
Current PBCC members are told that the Lord will never allow His servant to fail, that the incident was an ambush designed to purge out those who didn’t rightly belong in fellowship because of their lack of faith in the elect vessel, and that the reports of what JTJnr did in the house where he was staying are lies.
Disagreement with this narrative leads is regarded as extremely serious. Within the weeks following the incident in 1970, every Exclusive Brethren congregation globally had to confirm 100% belief in Mr Jim (as James Taylor Junior was known), and those who did not affirm their absolute support were withdrawn from.
Even today, in 2026, members are instructed to cease talking to anyone who expresses sympathy with any narrative different to the approved one, and the event is referenced in many of their Bible readings and preachings as something that every current day member needs to understand and get the gain of to avoid history repeating itself, and to help ensure that they remain within the PBCC until the end of their lives.
