The Exclusive Brethren are a branch of the Plymouth Brethren movement that originated from a definitive split in approximately 1848. This division separated the original movement into two distinct factions: the Open Brethren (Brethren II) and the Exclusive Brethren. The central disagreement concerned church authority and discipline. The Exclusive Brethren believed that congregations were spiritually interconnected, meaning that disciplinary decisions made by one congregation—such as excommunication—were binding on all others within the fellowship. By contrast, the Open Brethren held that each congregation was autonomous and not required to enforce disciplinary decisions made elsewhere. While the term "Exclusive Brethren" is used by sociologists to describe a family of distinct sects sharing a common origin, almost all modern media references to the name refer specifically to the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC). This group represents roughly 30% of the Exclusive branch, while the remaining 70% consists of various other sects that remain largely invisible to the public and do not share the PBCC’s centralized structure. Source: Wikipedia (en)