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The '''Plymouth Brethren''' or '''Christian Brethren''' is a small Protestant denomination which arose in Britain in the 1820s with the goal of returning to the beliefs and practices of the New Testament church. The structure of the Brethren denomination (speaking in generalization) is designed to replicate as accurately as possible the organization of the Pauline Christian Church. In this sense, with a caveat for the exclusives, the emphasis on organization is on locally founded and locally organized assemblies of bible believing and bible practicing Christians. This facet of the movement has made writing about it very difficult, as each locally organized assembly determines in theory its own doctrine and day to day matters. Generally speaking the denomination is loosely organized and does not have ordained clergy; the three main groupings are the "Open Brethren", "Closed Brethren" and "Exclusive Brethren", which due to the lack of doctrinal standardization refers largely to Communion practice, an early splitting point for brethren.

They are best known for devising the theory of [[Dispensationalism]], especially as formulated by Anglican priest [[John Nelson Darby]], later the founder of the "Exclusive" grouping. This theory became a core belief of [[Fundamentalism]] in the 20th century.