Although this is their official legal title, other Christians often classify them as a very conservative strain of the Plymouth Brethren, connexional in nature, and holding themselves separate from what they consider to be erroneous practices.
(The Plymouth Brethren movement as a whole had, from the beginning, seen itself as practicing a return to fundamental New Testament principles which denominational organizations had lost sight of.)
Their basic doctrine regarding the functioning of the local church can be viewed as summarized in Acts 2:41 - 42, which is seen by them as consistent with all other New Testament teaching.
Evangelists like Alexander Marshall and Donald Ross did much work in spreading the gospel, and starting assemblies.
This teaching became the basis of fellowship and reception in many Gospel Halls, yet they never joined with the assemblies who separated out as Needed Truth Brethren.
Marshall believed that, "Where two or three are, having been gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" was sufficient proof that, in his opinion, the Needed Truth brethren were not following the New Testament Pattern.
As to their principle of government, it was understood from Acts 15 that cohesion among the local churches of God was maintained by a united elderhood.
As this Needed Truth teaching gained influence in Gospel Halls in the period 1892–1896, many left their former association with the Brethren Movement.
In claiming to deal scripturally with these difficult issues, the church has lost followers in some places while growing in others — notably in the developing world.
Throughout the history of the continuing Reformation through ‘the Brethren Movement’ and on into Churches of God, separation from error was essential at each stage.