Although they have some distinct characteristics, they have a lot in common, in both doctrine and practice, with the international Open Brethren movement, with whom nearly all of them are historically affiliated.
[5] The Brethren in India, as in most other countries, do not usually regard themselves as a denomination in the usually understood sense, but rather as a largely informal network of like-minded autonomous local churches.
They remain linked mostly through common support of missionaries, area conferences, youth ministries, and the work of itinerant preachers, who are usually called evangelists.
Some Indian Brethren disclaim the missionary connection, instead making a case for continuity with an unbroken line of Christians going back to what they believe were evangelistic endeavours of the Apostle Thomas in the First Century.
In 1872, the Brethren movement was spearheaded in Kerala by Mathai Upadeshi, a disciple of John Arulappan, who took the baton from Groves.
In December 1894, a well-known gospel preacher, Tamil David visited Kerala and preached on assurance on salvation, winning many converts.
Mammen (Kumbanattu Achen, a Priest of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church) attended these meetings and was subsequently baptised in Kunnamkulam by missionary Handley Bird.
The Brethren movement was subsequently spread by the work of missionaries and evangelists like Volbrecht Nagel, Handley Bird, E.H. Noel, Mahakavi K.V.
The evangelical publication Operation World estimates 135,000 adult believers in 1929 assemblies throughout India (449,550 if children are included).
The closely related Assemblies Jehovah Shammah were founded by evangelist Bakht Singh and are organized largely on Brethren principles with adaptations to Indian culture.